A Six-Month Trial of TEOTWAWKI, by J.P. in Occupied Territory

I have been living a real life trial of TEOTWAWKI for the past 6 months and wish to share what I have learned. My wife and I have made a decision this past spring to pack up and move closer to her parents. He is 90, and she is in her 80’s and has developed Alzheimer’s. During one of our visits last winter, her father, who I don’t believe ever asked for anything from anyone, asked if we could come back to help. Both my wife and I are in health care, and she has spoken of caring for her parents for many years. We agreed that if a reasonable position opened in the area, I would attempt to secure that. God, doing what He does best, touched us that evening. While getting ready for bed, my cellphone pinged a message with a job opportunity in the town where they live. So, what do you do with that? You apply, interview, secure, and sell the home. That is exactly what happened.

LESSON 1: Trust in the Lord!

I gave my notice, which was four months, due to my contract agreement. We decided to build our home to be able to accommodate the in-laws as well as future retirement needs. After finding a nice spot in the hills well away from the Golden Horde byways, we started clearing. We also put the current house up for sale believing it would take a few months before it sold. Wrong! Five days later, it was under contract, and 28 days later we closed and were homeless, plus we had to leave behind the most splendid garden we have grown to date. The new owners (a young couple) were very pleased and excited.

LESSON 2: Be humble and gracious for what you have and have to offer.

Luckily, my wife’s brother has a cabin near the new homestead, and we were able to move there temporarily. For the first couple of months, she spent the time at the cabin making it “home” with the dogs, cat, and also the chickens, which we had just decided to start about the day we made the changes. I had to continue with the current position and was lucky to have friends who allowed me to housesit. I would go up on the weekends, which became old quickly, as it was a three hour journey but well worth while seeing my wife. The cabin is a rustic log cabin. At 18×24 feet, it is not large, but it is homey. Her brother and I built it by hand, often with no power tools. It has running water, as long as you run and get it. It does have a solar panel that is charging two deep cells, which we use for 12v lights. A large composting toilet is in place as well. We have been using it as a deer camp for many years, so it is not uncomfortable.

LESSON 3: Be thankful for manual skills you have learned, and if you have not, learn how to use simple tools.

The time is NOW! Being able to use a hammer, nails, saws, brace, and bits, and so forth will be of utmost importance if there is no one to simply call for repairs. Besides, a lot of this is fun to do. As there is no running water for bathing/showering, we obtained a couple of EZ UP canopies with walls. After securing them with sand bag ballast to help stay in place during storms, we purchased a camp shower. This is one of the 5-gallon solar bags. I created a mast for it off one corner of the canopy and placed a hook to hang from. This allowed a nice warm-to-hot shower after working at clearing the land for the house.

LESSON 4: Be sure to put the bag out early, to maximize the sun’s benefits when you live in the north.

A cool shower on a cool day is not necessarily great. Worse is a cool shower after a cold front goes through. BRR. We also started heating water on the wood stove after a while, as the sun’s energy is way too shallow at this time of year. As mentioned, there is a nice old wood/coal cook stove. This has been heating the cabin since the weather turned. It has a small wood box, so it burns relatively quickly and needs to be stoked several times a night. It’s not a big thing during the fall when an extra blanket will work, but come deep winter there will be some tiredness.

LESSON 5: Have your wood ready.

We had been using it on weekends when we would come up, so having multiple cords was not an issue, but now it is going daily, and we are out looking at all the standing dead and recent falls to get somewhat dry wood for the winter.

There is a large, cleared area, which she began to turn into garden area almost immediately. Being cut from the forest, it needs a lot of help. Thankfully, through the use of Craigslist, we found a local farmer who was having trouble getting rid of his manure. Taking advantage of this, we enlisted the use of her father’s and brother’s trucks as well as our own and made multiple trips to the farm. Now the field is like the government: full of crap. We have worked it into the soil at different levels. Having a father-in-law who is a master gardener has its perks! In the spring we will be making many raised beds as well as in-ground beds.

LESSON 6: Don’t be afraid to get dirty.

Dust to dust, trying to stick with the current easy ways only will lead to certain demise. Grab a shovel, rake, and other implements and get that garden worked. Again, there’s nothing like good solid work to make you feel better, exhausted, but better. During the warmer months, the second canopy served as the cook tent. Two propane grills adorned the area as well as a picnic table. This was a multipurpose table in that it was a prep spot, dining spot, as well as cleanup area, if needed. We tried to maintain a separate cleaning station, but thunderstorms would prevent us from using it, being fully exposed to the elements. Overall, this setup worked very well. We found that if we were lazy or distracted and did not take care, critter and bugs would invade gladly.

LESSON 7: Practice good hygiene.

Mosaic law gave the Hebrew people rules, many of which pertained to health and hygiene. Again, God knows what is best for us. Keeping the bugs and critters out is not only healthy but also safer, particularly if you have Yogi and Booboo hanging around your mountain. As mentioned above, we had running water when we ran to get it. Water is life. Not having a way to obtain and store it is simply unacceptable. Thankfully, we have a nearby running spring, which we could drive the truck down with large containers and fill. Now, if the grid dropped, we would have had to make some decisions on how to most effectively obtain the water, including perhaps using the bicycles. This would have changed everything, as the return trip is up 700 feet. This is not a fine thought. As the new home was being constructed, we prayed that we would have at least usable water with some flow from the drilled well. With some local’s wells reaching to 800 feet and producing only two gallons a minute, we accepted this possibility. I will tell you that we are truly blessed! The Good Lord opened the ground at 138 feet with a current ongoing overflow of 35 gpm. I now have a regular system built in as well as the emergency overflow, which we will be using to build a small trout pond in the spring.

LESSON 8: Do not underestimate the power of prayer, ever!

As the seasons changed and the cold weather has settled in with darker days, we found ourselves indoors more often. This posed a new complication, as her brother, who is a single gent had decided that we are not so far off on our concerns about this society and has sold everything in his city life and moved up with us. We had anticipated being in our new home, but complications in building arose (of course) and now three adults and pets are in this cabin. Oh, yes, the boy has returned, blessedly safe, I might add, from the Army service. He is now with us as well. This made things very tight and cozy to the point of discomforts. Differing opinions, the fact that her brother is the “owner” of the cabin, and just too close of quarters with no breaks pushed us all to certain limits.

LESSON 9: Be sure there are clearly outlined definitions, roles, and expectations for a group.

Having a sudden surge of family or friends descend upon you in a TEOTWAWKI situation is going to make for higher stress and anguish. We are close but not having discussed each role prior nearly took us to a bad place. Thankfully, we are all well with no long-term damage. Plan for your medical emergencies. Throughout this journey we have been taking pretty good care of ourselves. However, the undue stress of slow building processes, alterations, close quarters, and the new job, not to mention the main reason we came up, had accumulated in my system to point when one Sunday morning I awoke to an odd sound. As I lay there quietly, I exhaled and heard a bubbly sound, much like listening to Rice Crispies in milk. That, my peers, is what pneumonia sounds like. I knew instantly. I did not have a fever or a cough before this, but I sure did later in the day. Planning ahead, I did have the correct medication to start; however, by Monday, I was worsening and needed another added medication. This I did not have in my preps, and so I simply went to my practice and was a patient rather than a practitioner. I am now better, but I do wonder how this would have turned if not for the current system.

LESSON 10: Check all your preps routinely, and don’t sneer at those “overkill” items.

I sure could have used the Rocephin in my stocks had it been a real disaster. Now it is Christmas. I am sitting here comfortably in my new home with its modern fineries, but also with its hidden securities. Up the hill, we have multiple cordage and both her brother and ourselves have coal ability too. The hand tools are put up and ready for work. The relationships are secure. The water is tasty, cold, and still flowing. I am well as is my lovely and most wonderful wife. I still have a few items to tweak, but it is all here. Am I ready for the event? Who truly is? Most likely I am not, but I have learned a lot of what I was missing before– LESSON 1: Trust in the Lord. May you all be safe, secure, well, prepared, and blessed.

Letter Re: Some Harsh Lessons of Beekeeping

HJL,

I’d like to respond to Gilpin Guy on his response to Some Harsh Lessons of Beekeeping. The new Honeyflow system is amazing when it comes to collecting honey. I don’t see how it addresses any of the problems from the original post. It wasn’t honey collection that caused the hive failure, it was pests, and the Honeyflow won’t help with those. Here in Florida, colony collapse is close to 40% every year. This incredible number is not due to honey extraction.

Also, the letter states that “since you don’t need a bee suit, smoker, or honey extractor. “ I have bees. I can think of a couple of dozen reasons you’d have to open a hive other than to collect honey. Here are a few:

  • Marking a queen
  • Re-queening
  • Inspecting for pests – mites, ants, moths, beetles, mice, viruses, foul brood, wasps
  • Making sure a queen is laying sufficiently (if not, she has to be gotten rid of)
  • Replacing a box (they will have to be replaced eventually)
  • Transferring bees to the new box
  • Cleaning
  • Splitting a hive
  • Reenforcing a weak hive with brood from another
  • Adding the initial bees and queen
  • Inspecting capping before harvest

If bees can’t expand, they will swarm and leave. So you’ll have to somehow connect another expensive box to the piping and flow of the rest of the system to give them room.

Please don’t attempt these things without the proper equipment.

I think it would be a very large mistake to assume that you can buy a Honeyflow system and next to none of the other equipment that goes with it. The manner of taking the honey out of the hive has nothing to do with the maintenance and upkeep that comes with having bees.

Keeping bees is a craft as detailed as raising and caring for any other living creature. Automated cow milking didn’t stop any of the other problems that come with raising cows. Imagine just focusing on making it easier to milk a cow and not a single bit of thought on their environment, upkeep, or general well-being. Go to a long-time cow farmer and tell him that there’s a new milking product out there that means that you don’t have to have any of the other stuff that goes with keeping cows.

Over harvesting is a common mistake of greedy beekeepers. Bees make honey for themselves, not for us. They don’t want to eat sugar water and will not do nearly as well eating it instead of honey. Turning on a valve makes it very easy to take everything in that hive.

How are you going to inspect the combs to make sure the bees are finished capping and removing water before you harvest, without opening that hive up? Just seeing honey from the back doesn’t mean that it is ready to be harvested, not by a long shot.

Bees build out of wax. The Flowhive is plastic. Honey lasts as long as it does because the bees seal it off and the water is removed (the back of those plastic combs is a lever operated opening). Bees don’t use or like plastic; it doesn’t vibrate or regulate temperature like wax. Bees raise their young in those same combs. The comb is part of the living hive, it is even used for communication. I cannot see a single benefit of replacing that with plastic.

Another thought of mine is that you are dealing with flowing honey. Anyone that has ever gotten honey on a surface top or side of a jar know that it sticks quick and will become a cleanup problem if allowed to sit. It makes me wonder what will happen after you allow a few quarts of honey to flow through that hive and those tubes, with moving parts. What about colder climates? Someone is going to have to clean and un-jam that equipment. The bees do not have access to the flowing pipes in the back of the hive. Once honey goes through it, who is going to clean and disinfect it? What about bacteria? Mold? Pathogens? Is it going to keep flowing time and time again without someone running hot water through it?

That won’t be done without opening that hive and disrupting the bees.

My personal opinion is that the flowhive is an untested product for people looking to take shortcuts. Several opinions that I’ve read and heard seem to be of the nature that the Flowhive is going to make taking honey easy and every other problem with keeping bees is going to go away. Even the knowledge of how to handle basic problems is glossed over.

Take care of your animals (or insects), and then benefit from good husbandry. Focus on bees first, honey second, not the other way around. – D.D.

Economics and Investing:

Gold Undervalued Due To Massive Stock Dilution & Debt

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The Herd Is Heading For A Cliff – Sent in by J.Q.

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Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

Puerto Rico Avoids Loan Default by Dipping Into Cash Reserves (Washington Post) The real headline should be this statement from well within the article itself… ““The use of over $100 million in reserved funds to make debt service payments for several of the Commonwealth’s issuers should underscore that the Commonwealth is running out of options to pay its debt…”

Brutal Economic Warning Sign from America’s Midwest (Business Insider) Excerpt: “This is about more than just the Midwest. The Chicago PMI report also signals what could come from the national ISM manufacturing reports we get next week.”

Labor Force Participation Rate Will Drop to Nixon Era Rates (Washington Examiner) Here come those darned demographics again! Excerpt: “U.S. labor force participation will fall over the next decade, scraping lows not seen since the Nixon administration…”

Oil Ends 2015 in Downbeat Mood (Reuters) An interesting take, except that a rebalancing of market suppliers may not be the objective of the geopolitical players involved. Once again, time will unfold the story. Excerpt: “The immediate outlook for oil prices remains bleak. Goldman Sachs has said prices as low as $20 per barrel might be necessary to push enough production out of business and allow a rebalancing of the market.”

USDA Catfish Program is Embarrassingly Wasteful (Taxpayers for Common Sense) Seriously, folks. Catfish? Excerpt from the Letter: “The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has targeted USDA catfish inspection as part of its effort to get rid of wasteful government programs a total of nine times…” The article continues: “After USDA spent $19.9 million to develop and study the catfish inspection program, it then told GAO it would cost the federal government an additional “$14 million annually” to run the program. This after GAO found FDA currently spends “less than $700,000 annually to inspect catfish.”

International News

High Flying Emerging Markets Had Their Wings Clipped (NPR) Excerpt: “A few years ago, emerging markets seemed like islands of prosperity. In fact, they even had their own acronym: BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Among investors, BRICs represented the future of the global economy, places of hope and promise. But by 2015, the BRICs had begun to go broke.”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

Top Ten Worst Scams of 2015 Consumers Should Know About (Clark Howard) Although these scams made the short list of “top ten” for 2015, don’t count them out for the coming year. Thieves tend to recycle these over time, even as we watch for new tricks of the criminal trade coming!

Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog reader G.P. sent in this link to Building a Motion Detector Alarm That Reports Time and GPS Location Data. An interesting concept as long as the network stays up.

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Swedish Society Collapsing Amid Horrific Crime Wave From Muslim Refugee Swarm – Now Trying To Stop Onslaught…. – Sent in by B.B.

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Krayton Kerns welcomes his 15th grandchild into this world with a special letter: My Letter to Number 15

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The gun I got for Christmas: Photographer captures everyday Americans showing off their new weapons at the firing range the day after Christmas – including a woman’s custom-made pink anti-tank rifle – And only one picture of a finger-in-the-trigger. That’s encouraging, despite the fact that UK readers are gasping over the concept. I’m not sure that the UK site actually grasps what the concept of a “powerful” gun is though.

Notes for Friday – January 01, 2016

John Cantius Garand (January 1, 1888-February 16, 1974) was born in St. Rémi, Quebec. John Garand designed one of America’s best known battle rifles, the M1 Garand. General Patton praised Garand’s design, writing to Chief of Ordnance Lt. Gen. Levin H. Campbell, Jr., (January 26, 1945): “The M1 rifle is the most deadly rifle in the world.”

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Good news for those who read SurvivalBlog on a mobile device, but whose eyes are not as sharp as they once were…pinch zooming has now been implemented on the blog.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 62 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value),
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chromlined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have quick change barrel, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul pmags 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  5. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  8. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  9. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 LifeStraws (a $200 value)

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knifemaker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  8. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  9. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).

Round 62 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Building a Redoubt Kit, by M.C.

Anyone who has seriously considered preparation for TEOTWAWKI knows that the ultimate preparation is to have a well-outfitted redoubt, located in a remote location. Unless you’re rich and you can purchase one with all the trimmings or you’ve been working on it for several years already, you’re feeling significant apprehension as current events imply time is short and you are unprepared.

Why Have a Redoubt Kit?

Now, if you are the diligent one that built a well-stocked redoubt but find that over time civilization has overtaken the area, this is for you also. Finally, if you have your redoubt, it has not been encroached on by civilization, and you think you’re fat, dumb, and happy, you still may want to consider a redoubt kit. Why? Things change, stuff happens, and if you ever have to abandon your redoubt, you’re going to want to do it with a lot more than a bug out bag. An example of this is in Rawles’ book Patriots, where the group had to flee the redoubt because of impending forces. If that happens to you in a typical Montana winter your chances of survival are very slim, unless you have a redoubt kit.

Most of us have carefully assembled our bug-out bags, spent time educating ourselves on how to survive, and acquired new skills—all of which make us feel better. However, the more educated we become, the more we are confronted with the reality that true survivability is attained by reaching a state of “sustainment”. Unlike having a year’s worth of supplies stored, sustainment serves to provide an endless or perpetual supply. Growing and preserving food while harvesting the seeds for the next season is an example of a sustainable supply. Having a solar electrical system to provide power for lights and other amenities is another. A redoubt contains these and many more products and processes, that when put together provide a relatively comfortable and sustainable living. This is not to say that bartering with others for expendables or skills you don’t have is a failure to reach sustainment. On the contrary; this factors in the larger concept of a redoubt community.

I believe the redoubt to be essential to sustainable survival, though it can take different forms. Native American tribes demonstrated this before the explorers disrupted their way of life. Everything they needed came from the environment where they lived. Some were nomadic hunters, and some were farmers of the land. There were those, like the Apache, who lived in high mountain deserts of the southwest, and by contrast there were the Inuit, who traveled the icy sub-zero temperatures of the arctic. Survival sustainment can be achieved just about anywhere, but you must have the skills and knowledge of the environment you’re in to be able to be successful. It’s a lot of work, and it’s a full time job, make no mistake.

The natives made their own tools out of what was available, and these served them well until the invaders came with firearms and cannon, which were a definite game changer. I bring this up because acquiring the skills of the Native American in an environment of your choosing would not be enough today. The population expansion in the United States alone is a game changer in that it leaves fewer places for a redoubt to exist and in harsher environments. So, there’s no doubt you need a redoubt (pun intended). I believe time is short and if you don’t have a lot of money or you haven’t been working your redoubt and are nearly complete, there is an alternative for you to consider– a redoubt kit.

What’s a Redoubt Kit?

The redoubt kit is like a big bug-out bag, except that instead of being designed to keep you alive for a short term, it’s designed to get you into a state of long-term sustainment. The kit can be a small-to-medium sized trailer, depending on what items you need to support yourself in the environment you choose. It could also be buried in or near your location or some combination of buried and trailered. Maybe instead of a trailer, you need a boat. There are too many variables to cover here. Folks want to be in an environment they are comfortable with, because that’s what they know. From a Louisiana swamp to the mountains of Montana, it’s really about where you choose to find your redoubt and for that reason the first step is to identify the location. You really can’t plan or build your kit unless you know where you’re going.

Selecting a site for your redoubt kit is very similar to buying one except you won’t own the land. You’re not even going to rent it. For this reason, your target areas should be places like national forests, BLM, state preserves or reserves, and other governmental lands. Why? Because unlike private properties that will likely be protected by hostile owners, the government employees entrusted with managing these lands are not going to be working after TEOTWAWKI debuts. Their posts will very likely be abandoned.

Am I advocating that you be a “squatter”? I have no right to give you permission to do so. It is not the ideal solution and carries potential legal ramifications, depending on where you go; you should know that. If you have financial means to purchase a property, then do it. If not, you have to consider less than ideal options and your alternative is staying in a city under siege where your family will eventually succumb to looters or worse. I’d rather be judged by 12 than carried by six.

Where?

The same rules that apply for a conventional redoubt, also apply here. Start looking in locations or areas that are just over the distance that a tank of gas would get you from a large-to-medium sized city– about 350 to 400 miles. This a bit different for those using a boat, but the idea of separation is the same. Those who would come to steal the provisions of others will think twice if their chances of success are slim. Imagine you are a pillaging thug and you have a vehicle with a full tank. Would you risk extending yourself to a one-way trip, if you didn’t have a reasonable assertion of finding fuel and provisions when you arrived?

Thugs aren’t the only ones who will trouble you either. Imagine a reasonable upstanding citizen who flees the city to get away from the thugs, but he carries only what he can get in the vehicle, which is probably food, water, some camping equipment, and maybe a gun or two. It’s all good, until he runs out of provisions and becomes desperate. He will impose on those who have achieved sustainment, and he won’t come alone. You may not have to go so far away, but you will have a better chance of avoiding conflict if you do.

What?

What goes in a redoubt kit? That will depend on where you’re going. Mountains will require different items than the prairie, and a swamp is different than a desert. Your personal needs also factor in. Do you have medical issues, physical restrictions, or special care needs? Those have to be considered as well. The best place to start is with the “List of Lists” offered for free on the survivalblog.com website. It’s very comprehensive and covers most all the bases. I know it’s overkill for a redoubt kit, but you can use it as a prompt to identify items you may not have thought of or included in your kit. Unless your bug out vehicle is a semi-truck, you couldn’t carry everything on the list anyway. Imagine yourself at the redoubt and consider the activities you would need to accomplish in order to sustain yourself. Also, consider your arrival at the worst time of the year—what would you need? Let me use my own circumstance as an example.

I live near the Rocky Mountains so the worst time of year to bug out is winter. I’ve already chosen a place that has water nearby and good hunting. I also considered a low enough altitude to have a growing season for a garden. It’s the onset of winter, and the snow is already a foot deep. First, I need to get there safely. I have a four-wheel drive vehicle, not a sports car. Next, I’m going to need shelter for the entire winter. My choice is a canvas lodge tent with a wood-burning stove. Do not consider a stove requiring fossil fuels, as you would eventually run out. (Remember, think long-term sustainment.)

I’m already near water and I can hunt, but I need food to sustain me until I can bag some meat. Also, I can’t live on meat alone, I need other nutrients and vitamins—so, I need to bring enough food to get me through a growing season. After that I can sustain myself with vegetables from my garden. Of course, after I harvest my garden, I’ll need to preserve my harvest in order to sustain myself until the next growing season. This little exercise just prompted additions to my list– tent, stove, food, vitamins, cooking items and utensils, gun, bullets, knives to skin and butcher, axe for wood, garden tools, seed for crops, roll of chicken wire to protect crops, way to irrigate crops, canning jars to preserve crops, canning equipment, and the list goes on. The more you think about it, the more you’ll add to the list. Don’t worry about organizing the list just yet. The important thing is to get it on paper.

Now, you need to consider how you’ll accomplish sustainment. You need to accumulate knowledge. Going back to our little exercise, do you know how to hunt, maintain guns, butcher, garden, process seeds for the next season, or can food? Did you get heirloom seeds? Missing that little item could cost you and your family their lives. If you don’t know what they are, you need to do more research. What if you have an accident with the axe or knife? Do you have medical training? If you don’t have these skills or knowledge, then you must acquire them. Add that to your list and insure you get paper books, as the Internet isn’t going to be available. In short, increasing knowledge is likely the most important thing you can do, and it’s the most neglected.

The canvas tent was good for a temporary home, but now you need to consider building a more permanent one. For me, it’s a log cabin. I had to educate myself on how to build one and discovered I needed log togs, chisels, hammers, and a few other things as well as a blueprint. Maybe you’re planning to be on the prairie, and you need sod house tools and plans. Your tool set will be different from the guy who lives in the swamp. Adjust accordingly to your redoubt circumstance.

Prioritize

After you’ve compiled your list, you’re going to have to prioritize. If you’re like me, you have about a half of semi-truck worth of materials. It’s time to cut down. Start with identifying items that are essential for establishing long-term sustainment, followed by “nice to haves”, and finally (if you have room) comfort items. Some of your essential items do not qualify for sustainment, like the tent, but are required until you can sustain with a permanent structure.

Do the same with acquisition of knowledge and skills. Home-building, canning, and medical training rank higher than basket weaving and stitchery, though those things are very desirable. Start learning now!

Test

This is a very important step and can be challenging depending on your circumstances. If you own a property, that’s ideal. Use the kit to establish the redoubt. Make alterations or changes as you go. If TEOTWAWKI doesn’t happen before you finish your redoubt, good for you. Your kit is perfect, because it was responsible for actually building it. Now, reassemble it, and prepare for a potential bugout. Locate a future location in case you are forced to leave your redoubt, and keep it updated. Your kit is ready.

If you can’t afford a property, as described in the beginning of this article, take your kit to an area where you can practice and maybe camp for a few days without drawing undue attention. Getting a wood-cutting permit for public lands is a good choice here. This is where I was reminded of an item I didn’t have on my list by the blisters on my hands—a good pair of leather gloves. I also added a chainsaw and container of stabilized fuel. I know it’s not a long-term device, as it has a limited supply of fuel, but it sure kick-started the effort. I could have done it with hand tools, but it fell in the category of “nice to haves” and I had room for it.

Start Today

There’s no time like the present. Do not procrastinate! Whether you already have a complete redoubt or you’re just starting out, you need a redoubt kit, no doubt. Everyone is vulnerable.

Letter Re: Some Harsh Lessons of Beekeeping

Keith K,

Thank you for that informative write up on beekeeping. I’m jumping in to beekeeping this spring with an innovative new hive called the Flow Hive. You can check out their product at honeyflow.com. I have no experience with beekeeping, but this seems to be a revolutionary product that might make enough of a difference to you that you’ll give it another try. I think the non-invasive method of collecting the honey may help with your mortality rate and level of effort since you don’t need a bee suit, smoker, or honey extractor. The method also doesn’t remove the honey comb or disrupt the structure of the hive, so it’s much less “stressful” on the colony. Good luck! – Gilpin Guy

Economics and Investing:

‘Cash has run out’: Debt-ridden Puerto Rico heads toward New Year’s default – RBS

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Reader GP sent in a link to this map showing which states are in the red: Is Your State Busted Or Busting Loose?

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Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

The Formlessness of Progressivism (Mises Institute) Excerpt: “As vague and misty as most modern leftist ideals can be, they do share one solid, bedrock principle: the need for continuous expansion of the government’s role in our lives. The government’s heavy handed regulation of our industries has imposed unbelievable barriers and costs to the supply of goods and services.”

Now Comes the Great Unwind: How Evaporating Commodity Wealth Will Slam the Casino (Contra Corner) Excerpt: “But the point here is that China is not some kind of one-off aberration. In fact, the less visible aspects of the credit ponzi exist throughout the global economy and they are becoming more visible by the day as the Great Deflation gathers force.”

Oil Prices Become a Problem for US Steelmakers (Bloomberg) Excerpt: “…makers battered by plunging prices have been quick to blame a flood of cheap Chinese shipments. But with imports nearing four-year lows, another culprit is emerging: the energy collapse.”

International News

China’s Unprecedented Real-Estate Bubble is Collapsing (Business Insider) Excerpt: “Guess what happens when the bubble wealth in real estate that has built up in China finally collapses?”

Saudi Arabia Says It’s Ready to Meet Any Additional Oil Demand (Market Watch) Excerpt: “We will satisfy the demand of our customers. We no longer limit production. If there is demand, we will respond. We have the capacity to respond…”

IMF’s Christine Lagarde Warns: Economic Growth Will Disappoint Again in 2016 (The Telegraph) Excerpt: “Rising U.S. interest rates, a Chinese slowdown and disappointing world trade will all weigh on growth prospects in 2016…”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

21 Ways to Deal with Your Post-Holiday Financial Hangover (Living on the Cheap) Excerpt: “This year’s hangover may be the last straw for you. If you’re tired of going through this every year, use this as a catalyst for permanent change. It can only make your life better in the long run. There are more important things in life than having a lot of stuff.”

Odds ‘n Sods:

The story of Obama’s executive end-run around the constitution (yet again) are starting to become known: Obama set to unveil curbs on gun sellers

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Chuck Baldwin has written an excellent treatise on how the Republicans have sold out the American people who put them in place to stop Obama: Republicans Write Obama A Blank Check

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A little humor for the new year. (You can’t make this stuff up!) Fight breaks out at Newark anti-violence rally

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Run and Hide! It’s a sad state of affairs when we teach people to run and hide and to be a passive victim: Demand for ‘panic rooms’ growing – Sent in by G.G.

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Tennessee troopers set up ‘no refusal’ checkpoints with mandatory blood draws through Jan. 4 “The assault on basic human rights in this country continues as Tennessee troopers will be conducting mandatory blood draws at ‘no refusal’ check points through Jan 4th. If you’re one of the lucky drivers who get caught in this dragnet, just remember that giving up your rights for safety is the duty of a slave.” – Link sent in by D.W.

Notes for Thursday – December 31, 2015

December 31st is the birthday of Dr. Cynthia Koelker, SurvivalBlog’s Medical Editor. It is also the birthday of Frederick Selous (born 1851, died 4 January 1917).

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Reader J.K. sent in Jim Sinclair’s excellent article on preparedness that goes well beyond the usual financial things covered in his blog: Be Prepared!

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Today, we present another entry for Round 62 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value),
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chromlined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have quick change barrel, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul pmags 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  5. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  8. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  9. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 LifeStraws (a $200 value)

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knifemaker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  8. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  9. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).

Round 62 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Some Harsh Lessons of Beekeeping, by Keith K.

I would like to share my experience with beekeeping to help others decide if it might be for them. My initial interest in beekeeping began before I moved to the Redoubt. My wife and I attended a beekeeping night at a local library and later took a four-day (four Saturdays) beekeeping course. We learned a lot. We found that beekeeping hobbyists were very enthusiastic and touted the many benefits of beekeeping along with the fun of it. It was very easy to be influenced by all of the positive and energetic people. Ultimately, we decided that beekeeping would be part of our efforts when we found a homestead.

We eventually moved to a homestead in the Redoubt and began the work of transforming a rural plot of timber with an old, overgrown pasture into our version of a homestead. We began by planting a small garden (including both traditional and raised beds), berry bushes, and fruit trees and installing a deer fence to keep the larger critters away from our efforts. We also purchased a small 8 x 10 greenhouse for starting plants and storing tools.

I offered my services as free labor to a local commercial beekeeper in order to learn more about bees first hand. It was a great experience and very hard work. One day, the two of us collected over 400 pounds of honey from about fifty hives located in different locations around the county. I knew right then that I did not want to be a commercial beekeeper, but I was very thankful for the experience. I eventually purchased the equipment I would need to maintain two hives on my property at a cost of approximately $500, which included hive bodies, tools, smoker, bee suits, feeders, et cetera. The following spring, I purchased two nucs (nuclear hives) for about $125 each. A nuc is a starter colony with five frames already drawn and populated with larva (or filled with honey and pollen). Package bees are less costly but are only the bees with queen, so the colony must start from scratch.

We brought the nucs home in early April, so I had to feed the bees until flowers began to emerge in quantity toward the end of May. I tried various methods of feeding the bees with different types of feeders. There were pros and cons to each. Some were messy. Some drowned more bees than others, and some required daily refilling, while others allowed for a more hands off approach. One thing I learned during this period was that beekeeping is not always the “put ’em in place and leave ’em alone, there’s no effort to it” hobby that so many of the enthusiastic hobbyists had led me to believe.

All was going well into early August. Both hives were collecting pollen and making honey at a good rate. Then, one day, I noticed that one hive had more bees flying around it than the other. There seemed to be no diseases and there appeared to be brood on the frames. I asked my friend, the commercial beekeeper, to inspect the hives. The conclusion was that one of the nucs I had purchased had a queen that was only laying drones (male bees who only have one purpose– mating with queens. They do not labor to benefit the hive, like workers which are all female. This meant that workers were not being created to replace those that died from age or loss while out foraging. One solution would have been to re-queen the colony (a new queen can run about $30) and another was to kill the bad queen and let the colony raise a new one. The colony knew it was in trouble and had already begun to raise a new queen, so I decided to take that option to see what would happen. The eventual outcome was that the newly raised queens either died or did not mate, and that colony died out in late August. I chose this path without input from the commercial beekeeper, which was a bad decision. In hindsight, I have figured out that if the bad queen was only laying drones, the remaining workers’ efforts to raise a replacement queen were doomed from the start because the selected larva, even if fed royal jelly (a substance bees use to transform a worker larva into a queen larva), was likely missing the right bee DNA to produce a viable queen.

The other colony had been doing well. Bees were everywhere, and they seemed very strong, so I only checked on them every two weeks. During one inspection, in September, I noticed that there were considerably fewer bees in and around the hive. We determined that the hive had swarmed, meaning that the queen decided to move elsewhere and take half of the workers with her. Swarming is not uncommon. The remaining bees were attempting to create a replacement queen, but that late in the season it was unlikely that they would succeed in time for her to mate. I also was not able to locate a queen to purchase that late in the season either, so that hive also died out.

Throughout this experience, I also found that the first, weaker colony was under constant pressure from ants and yellow jackets. (A strong, healthy hive can deal with these attacks, but weaker colonies struggle from the pressure.) I learned about and employed a number of actions to discourage the ants and yellow jackets. These efforts were mostly but not completely successful.

The many, enthusiastic beekeepers I had met always said to begin with at least two hives in case one did not survive. Still, the “insurance” of a second hive did not work for me. Perhaps it was just bad luck, or perhaps I was a failure as a bee dad, but the end result was loss of the productive part of my investment. After much reflection, I decided that beekeeping was not for me, and I sold my equipment to another individual who wanted to give beekeeping a try.

Finally, the reason I am sharing this experience is to provide the following for consideration by anyone thinking about beekeeping:

  1. If all goes well, you will be able to harvest honey and add pollinators that will presumably help with your fruit and vegetable success.
  2. Beekeepers, particularly hobbyists, will simply gush with enthusiasm, because they love the hobby. They will also tell you bees are very little work. I found beekeeping interesting and approached it as something beneficial to the homestead but not as a hobby that I enjoyed. I actually found bees, like other livestock, to be a lot of work. To me, the bees were just another chore; maybe that is why I did not make it as a bee dad. Hobbyists, in contrast, love their chosen hobby and do not view any of the upkeep as work.
  3. I had a 100% loss rate. The commercial beekeeper that I worked with told me that his colony loss rate is in the 60% range, due to disease, predators, weather, environmental issues, et cetera. What other livestock has such a high mortality rate? My guess is that mortality rates may be less in warmer areas, but even a 30% loss rate would be huge in comparison to other livestock.
  4. I found that my area has strong populations of native pollinators (other bee species, bumble bees, certain types of flies, butterflies, and so forth). I discovered that I did not need honey bees to ensure good pollination for my garden. Although honey would be a nice benefit, the bees’ work is not necessary in my area. I suspect that honeybees, which are not native to North America, are viewed as necessary for pollination of crops because factory farming has destroyed environments suitable to maintain thriving populations for native pollinators. That is probably true in areas mostly devoid of natural habitat because of large-scale farming. This is just an informed observation; it’s not meant to be an attack on farming. No flames, please.
  5. There are alternatives to honeybees. As mentioned earlier, there are natural pollinators. Also, orchard bees can be purchased to add to the native pollinator population in your area. Orchard bees do not produce honey and do not require hives. They are purchased in tubes that serve as their home or as individual cocoons, if you want to populate tubes or other nest sites that you already have. I have not purchased orchard bees but understand that they are an alternative to honeybees without the upkeep.
  6. In making my decision not to put further effort into honeybees, I considered whether the benefits of honeybees were worth the effort and expense to maintain them. I also considered that with the high mortality rate, would honeybees be a reliable source of food (honey) and pollination in a TEOTWAWKI situation in which bee medicines, bee food (pollen patties, sugar for syrup, et cetera) would be hard to find or not available at all. I concluded that, for me, keeping honeybees was not worth the time, effort, and expense.

I did not write about my experiences to discourage anyone from becoming a beekeeper. I just decided that I would share my experiences so that others will be better informed in their decision to keep bees or not.

Two Letters Re: Good Samaritan Bag

HJL,

As an addition to the note on a “Samaritan Bag”, I have had good results using a food vacuum sealer with the longer rolls of plastic to shrink and seal heavy winter jackets and blankets. The items are well protected by the heavy plastic and can fit in small locations in your car, such as under the seats. They are low bulk, out of the way, and there when you need them. – Tom

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HJL,

We try to keep a few gallon Ziploc bags in our vehicle to hand to beggars with peanuts, trail mix, hand wipes, crackers, granola bars, soap, tooth brush, razor, band aids, Kleenex, wash cloth, mints, bottled water, comb, et cetera. We usually also include a couple of dollar’s worth of quarters. I know pay phones have pretty much gone the way of the dinosaur, but the idea is to enable them to call family if necessary. Sometimes we’re able to add in a $5 McDonald’s gift card. – J.P.

Economics and Investing:

No Inflation, No Interest, No Recovery. Printing Money Enslaves the Middle Class – T.A.

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$2,957,000,000: U.S. Taxpayers Will Fund Lion’s Share of UN Budget Again in 2016 – RBS

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Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

Puerto Rico is on the Brink of a BIG DEFAULT (CNN Money) From the Article: “I don’t take risks – at least I didn’t think I was taking a risk…” Commentary: This is a story that could easily repeat itself across the U.S., and there are lessons to be learned for everyone from this report. Many people are financially invested in ways they do not understand and facing risks about which they may lack information. If you’re an investor… Get the facts. Know your risks. Understand your worst case scenario. Govern your choices, and plan accordingly.

The Guy Made Famous by “The Big Short” for Predicting the Housing Crash has a DARK WARNING (Business Insider) From the Article: “We are building up terrific stresses in the system, and any fault lines there will certainly harm the outlook.”

Oil Producing States Battered as Tax Gushing Wells are Shut Down (Bloomberg) It’s a radical idea, but perhaps government offices dependent on the property tax base for revenue might consider reducing their costs? From the Article: “In Kern County, California, one of the nation’s biggest oil producers, tumbling energy prices have wiped more than $8 billion from its property-tax base, forcing officials to tap into reserves and cut every department’s budget. It’s only getting worse.”

Lax Auditing Encouraged Overcharging by Medicare Advantage Plans (Taxpayers for Common Sense) Another example of financial exsanguination. From the Article: “Despite facing mounting evidence federal officials were overpaying some Medicare health plans by tens of millions of dollars a year, the government dialed back efforts to recover as much of the money as possible…”

International News

China December Official: PMI Likely to Show 5th Month of Contraction (Reuters) From the Article: “Activity in China’s manufacturing sector is expected to have contracted for a fifth straight month in December, a Reuters poll showed, likely consigning the world’s second-largest economy to its slowest annual growth in a quarter of a century.”

Shale’s Running Out of Survival Tricks as OPEC Ramps Up Pressure (Bloomberg) From the Article: “For an industry that already was pushing its cost-cutting efforts to the limits, the new declines are a devastating blow. These drillers are “not set up to survive oil in the $30s…””

Personal Economics and Household Finance

Couple Duped by Fake Craig’s List Movers Lose Everything (Clark Howard) Be very careful. From the Article: “The U-Haul truck – and the couple’s estimated $30,000 worth of stuff – never made it…”