Here are some fascinating country-living related books from Project Gutenberg. Some may be a little dated, given recent technological developments though… Livestock feeder’s manual The Making of a Country Parish A Woman’s Wartime Journal (circa U.S. Civil War) Home pork-making Dry-Farming Electricity for the Farm Everyday foods in wartime (WWI) On Horsemanship (Xenophon!) Regards, – Jonathan W.
Before I begin discussing bugging out or Getting Out of Dodge (G.O.O.D.), I want to be clear on one point: Any travel during a disaster is dangerous. After TEOTWAWKI, it could be deadly dangerous. If you can avoid it, you should. Mr. Rawles is a strong advocate of living year round at a well-stocked and well-chosen remote retreat location, and I couldn’t agree with him more. This is a great compromise that will get you through a whole variety of problems. Unfortunately, not all of us are so well postured and are forced to make due with a lesser solution. …
The end of the world may happen tomorrow or who knows when. Hard times are happening now and may get even harder. A food storage system and MREs act as a life jacket when times get tough. But you need to have a plan for when things get even tougher or if your finances or food supplies run out. Once established, perennials can be a simple, minimal labor answer to a permanent and reliable food source and first aid kit. Perennials have the advantage of being planted once and then being around to enjoy for many years without the limitations …
I was standing in the living room, watching CNN and saw the devastation of Haiti when it struck me how important a bug out bag was.. I listened to how help is coming and arrived almost immediately. Logistical issues hampered “helps” immediate aiding of the people in Haiti. Chile got hit by a massive earthquake as well. With Chile’s government not wanting any support at first, watched how Chile succumb to riots and looting in just three days after the quake. Haiti broke down as well after five days of no food, water, or shelter. Many people in Chile had …
I’ve spent the better part of the last decade in service to our nation. First as a Marine in Iraq and the last three years in Afghanistan as a civilian “security” contractor. And I’ve spent more of the last three years in a very rural valley in north-eastern Afghanistan than at home. In the last year with the birth of our first child, and the destruction of the ideals our country was founded on I found myself thinking more and more about the state of affairs in the world today and began to prepare for TEOTWAWKI. Starting as many beginner …
So since the balance of power change in the Federal Government I thought I was sitting pretty good for my ability to survive a possible TEOTWAWKI . Man was I so wrong. I have learned in the past three months that I am so far behind that if The Collapse happens in 20 years I will still not be as prepared as I thought I was. Yes I have some basics and am a bit off of the beaten path, but there is still so much more that I am not ready for. Let me explain. I have lived in …
You’ve seen it in the movies: the very pregnant woman gets stuck in traffic, or an elevator, or wherever on the way to the delivery room. (Although, a very pregnant woman was recently rescued by Sheriff’s helicopter on I-40 during the recent floods here in Middle Tennessee!) On the screen she usually makes it to the hospital with some stunt driving from a frantic father or some Samaritan will deliver the baby in the back seat. The whole affair ends with smiling patients and doctors happily mewling over a freshly swaddled newborn. Then everyone heads home in their nice family …
Captain Rawles: I am a fairly skilled soldier in the U.S. military. Without going into details suffice it to say that I am extremely capable mentally because of my military experience as well as a healthy desire to educate and train myself in my free time. However, I travel most of the time. I have no stored food and don’t own any possessions that won’t fit in my car. Due to travel I don’t even own my own firearm, even though I am trained in the use of dozens of arms and explosives. Assume that I’m am the perfect soldier …
James Wesley, Mrs. C.J. had some excellent ideas in her article, and I’d like to add a couple of suggestions about laundry/cleaning supplies. Since we have a septic system, I’m always mindful of the substances we’re putting into the ground. The Internet is a great source of recipes for homemade cleaners of all types, using ingredients that are a lot cheaper and safer than the store-bought items. For example, I use a few drops of tea tree oil (an antibiotic) and a squirt of Ivory Liquid in a spray bottle, add water, and have a great all-purpose cleaner for the …
Food production is the most important skill in survival. Without sufficient food you’re sunk. You won’t have the energy to protect yourself or your supplies, you won’t be able to get firewood to keep warm, or water to stay hydrated. So yes, you can live for weeks without food, but only if other people are there to take care of you and they have enough food! And meat is one of the best energy foods. Unfortunately most meat production is a high feed/time endeavor. It takes a lot of feed and time to get that cow to butcher size. Two …
Hi, I have only started reading your web site recently and I must admit I am a little nonplussed. I am a farmer living on the far edge of the Western Australian Wheatbelt, 400 km from Perth (capitol city) and I grow a vegie garden, we buy food in bulk and have at least 6months in the pantry,being a farmer I have a rifle( I generally only use it to kill crook sheep and shoot rabbits), we have a 50 tree fruit orchard and preserve our own fruit, we are on the power grid but we do have a generator …
James, I just read [Chet’s article in] the blog on urban and suburban gardening. I wanted to suggest something because I’ve been seeing people want to be more self sufficient by growing their own gardens. I don’t want to come off as a salesman for these two products made by the same person. I’m not someone that sells these items. But to give credit where credit is due, I’m impressed with buying both of these items. I picked up a DVD from Linda Runyon about a year ago, and bought her “Wild Cards” card set for identifying wild plants. The …
Sir, Digital Archives and Your One and Only Mortal Life articletoday. Unable to sleep last night, I took my new 4 Gig USB [“memory stick”] drive and downloaded your entire site. It was nice to read how wise I’d been the day after! It is far easier to permanently protect a USB drive than all computers. Figure that if any of my computers are fried, there will be one available somewhere that isn’t! I still print out the more salient pieces on your site for nighttime reading, though… I already have a monumental JWR library! I’ve been a “prepper” since …
James: While DeWalt is a good choice for tools, in order to save at least 30% off your next purchase look into the factory reconditioned web sites of DeWalt or in my case Bosch Tools. I used the Bosch 12 volt DC drill, in a production factory setting 10 hours a day for a year as a test. The battery only needed swapping once a day. The results were that I gave all our corded drills to the employees and purchased seven of their 12 VDC drills for the production floor. Bosch also has the 6 foot drop test on …
I want to thank JIR for his article and the efforts he went through showing us how to construct and supply underground caches. I just wanted to suggest an alternative to the custom made containers by using a 300 gallon spherical below ground septic tank. They are made of watertight plastic with a o-ring sealed lid and weigh around 110 pounds. (See the Tank Depot web site.) The rough size of the tank is 54″ in diameter and 51 inches tall with a 20 inch manhole cover. You would also only dig 118 cubic feet for a 5 foot diameter …