Two Letters Re: Storage Without a Basement

Hugh,

I saw your entry and reply regarding the difficulty of maintaining preps and self in hot areas without electricity. You referred to Backwoods Home magazine, but you may want to just refer folks to “Zeer Pots” or “Pot in Pot” coolers:

I’ve used them and they work pretty well, especially when you stack the deck, as in the second article above. I don’t know if anyone has tried to scale them up to locker/container size, but I’d be interested in reading about it if you put out the word and got a reply. – T.J.

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Good afternoon, Hugh,

On July 2 you posted a note from MM regarding basement-less storage, and one from PlainJanePrepper on a similar issue.

First, MM’s issue: You suggested “taking” a couple feet from adjacent rooms to build a hidden storage area. My builder, without realizing it, did that for me. He constructed a 30-inch wide linen closet adjacent to a bathroom that’s 7 1/2 feet deep with an 8 foot ceiling. I built a thin pallet to keep the boxes off the floor and filled the back 6 feet with my freeze-dried food. The front 16 inches is wire linen shelves from the local big box store with a light plywood back, painted to match the walls. Opening the door, one sees towels and sheets in front of a painted wall, without a hint of the 120 cubic feet of food behind it.

When it’s time to use the food, the wire shelves pop out, and removing 4 screws allows the painted 1/4 plywood panel to be removed. I wouldn’t store anything in that space I needed quickly, or that needed frequent rotation, such as canned food, but for things needing only annual or semi-annual access, it works well.

As for PJP’s problem, you’re right, without a basement there’s only a storage building as an option. I’d suggest making it as small as possible but large enough to add to resale value as a garden shed. A couple recent issues of Fine Homebuilding magazine (Spring 2014 time frame, which she can probably find in her library) had articles on building insulated slabs to reduce heat loss through the concrete in cold climates, and how to “hyper insulate” walls with two-part, closed cell spray-in foam. Having lived in the south for over two decades, I can testify that the same techniques used up north to keep heat inside during winter work just as well in the south to keep heat out during summer. Thick, tight walls, full of insulation, with highly reflective exterior coatings are your friend.

“Up north” one sometimes sees what is called a “cold roof” to prevent ice dams caused by heat escaping from the living space, melting snow which freezes into ice, blocking gutters and allowing water to seep under the shingles and into the house. It’s just a second roof, spaced a couple inches above the sheathing over the trusses or rafters, vented at the peak. As the roof warms in the sun, cold air rises from the eaves, taking with it any warm air that’s leaked through the first sheathing layer, preventing the snow on the exterior roof surface from melting. The same concept applies in reverse during summer, when a fly is placed over a camper’s tent; the fly shades the tent “roof” and allows air movement between the top of the tent and the fly. PJP might look into that type of roof construction.

Very bright white paint is your friend in the south, as is a white or aluminum-colored metal roof surface, whether single layer or “cold roof” type; make the building as air tight as possible. Any air infiltration will be hot and humid. Remember, before commonly available refrigeration, ice was harvested in the winter and stored all summer in very well insulated, ice houses, and they didn’t have the insulation and sealing technology we have now. – N.K.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Gun Thief – Nawlins’ former Mayor Ray Nagin – Gets 10 Years in Prison

Nagin was also a member of Mike Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns pressure group. (Yet another mayor from that group is headed for a long stretch behind bars.)

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Good information about a snake bite experience on the M14 forum. – L.L.

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Identifying and Treating Spider Bites. – J.W.

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If Tuberculosis Spreads …

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Several readers commented on the unavailability of JWR’s recommendation “Where There is No Vet”. SurvivalBlog reader P.M. was kind enough to send in the link to a place that has them in stock at a reasonable price.

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It Begins… US Citizen Goes to Jail for Collecting Rain Water. – B.B.

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A Raging, Out Of Control EPA – Sanctioned Theft From Americans. – B.B.

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Straggling bull gores Pamplona survival guide author

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“I preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and am ready to give a defense of my doctrine and faith to all men, and at any time it is demanded of me. And if there be any priest, monk, or any other, whosoever he be, who can prove to me that I have taught anything contrary to the Word of God, I ask not only that you drive me out as a menace to your city, but also that you punish me with such severity that no man dare preach who is not well addured of his doctrine.” – Pierre Viret

Notes for Wednesday – July 09, 2014

Today we present another entry for Round 53 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $11,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be 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,
  3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear,
  5. A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value),
  6. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  7. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  8. A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com, (currently valued at around $180 postpaid),
  9. Both VPN tunnel and DigitalSafe annual subscriptions from Privacy Abroad (a combined value of $195),
  10. 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,
  11. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit, and
  12. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate.

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. Acorn Supplies is donating a Deluxe Food Storage Survival Kit with a retail value of $350,
  4. The Ark Instituteis donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, 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,
  5. $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P),
  6. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  7. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value),
  9. Dri-Harvestfoods.com in Bozeman, Montana is providing a prize bundle with Beans, Buttermilk Powder, Montana Hard Red Wheat, Drink Mixes, and White Rice, valued at $333,
  10. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  11. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  12. RepackBoxis providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. 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,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security,
  5. A MURS Dakota Alert Base Station Kit with a retail value of $240 from JRH Enterprises,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Ambra Le Roy Medical Products in North Carolina is donating a bundle of their traditional wound care and first aid supplies, with a value of $208, and
  8. SurvivalBased.com is donating a $500 gift certificate to their store.

Round 53 ends on July 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.

Frustrations of Prepping with an Unsupportive Spouse, by B.C.

I actually began writing this as an email to a close friend in order to vent my frustrations. After several conversations, I realized that there may be others going through the same struggles, and hopefully what I share can help them.

I think in order to fully understand the situation, I need to share some information about myself as well as my wife. I believe the best way to understand where someone is coming from is to know WHERE they come from. I feel that Eric Haney in his book “Inside Delta Force” captures this best for me:

“The larger part of my family line is made up of the Scots-Irish, a people descended from that peculiar mixture of the Celts of the northern British Isles and the invading Danes and Norsemen. The result was a landless, illiterate, anarchic, and warlike people who were always difficult, if not downright impossible, to govern. They were a race the British Crown rightfully viewed as dangerous rebels, and consequently exiled to the New World by the tens of thousands.

On arrival in the American colonies, these people fled as far as possible from government control, many of them crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains and migrating from there throughout what eventually became the highlands of the southern United States. They were the original “backwoodsmen” of American history.

What did I receive from this lineage? Things I consider to be very valuable: a good raw intellect and a good tough body. A sense of independence and a realization that wherever I am is my home. A sense of humor. A sense of personal honor that results in a touchiness common to our people. We are easily offended and prone to violence when offended. When the only thing you own is your sense of honor, you tend to protect it at all costs.”

To sum it all up, the clan or family was the most important. The members of the family did what they needed to in order to survive. They were hardworking people who relied on no one but each other. There was never any outside assistance, and taking help from the government was almost sinful.

Now my wife’s family would be considered truly middle class. They are skilled workers who live in the semi-rural areas around a midsize city. She’s descended from English settlers who received land grants from the King and who, even today, don’t seem to even think about what is going on outside of their bubble. If it doesn’t affect them, then not much thought is given. Now don’t take this to mean that they are self-centered, as they are hardworking, Christians who will give the shirt off their back to help those around them and actually have done so while working missions. They just prefer to not give much thought to things they feel they can’t change or impact.

I’ve said all this to lay the foundation for the problems I’ve encountered. We were brought up with widely varying views on the world, which I attribute to our family’s past. I distrust outsiders and really anyone not a part of the family clan. I believe you only have yourself and your clan to rely upon; everyone else is a liability. I have an engrained distrust of authority and government, which is ironic since I work for the local government. My wife is more trusting and has called me paranoid many times.

My entry into the world of prepping began back around 2006 when I was finishing college. While I lived at home to save money, my mom and stepdad had moved away from the rest of my family in the hills of North Carolina and the upstate of South Carolina, so I was disconnected from most of my family. I was engaged to my wife at the time, and I was giving serious thought to this big change upcoming in my life. I stumbled across some books that were dystopian in nature and about the U.S. government scrapping the Constitution and turning citizens into subjects. Being a history major with a concentration in U.S. and military history, these appealed to me because at the time I couldn’t see how this could ever happen. My eyes were opened and this whole new world was revealed to me. I began to read as much on any topic that was even remotely related to prepping. That of course led me to this site, and I’ve been a follower ever since.

At the time I didn’t have a full-time job, and the money made from my part-time job went to buy basic necessities and help pay my share of the bills at my parent’s home, which was something I insisted upon doing. What little money I had left, I put away, as I was getting married soon. After my wife and I married in 2008, we were broke. I was four months from starting my full-time job, and we had bought a house together in the fall of 2007 that she lived alone in until we married. We struggled for the next couple of years but I/we refused to rely on anyone other than ourselves to make it work. I still tried to prep when I could, but I mainly relied upon my birthday and Christmas money to score any prepping items.

When I took a new job (and a new career path in LE) in 2010, we started to actually have a savings account. During this time I really started trying to talk more about prepping with my wife. I began small and talked about natural disasters or I would share a news story from somewhere, but I got nothing in return. She said, “God will provide; we don’t need to worry about it.” I changed tactics and used the Bible to try and reinforce my ideas. I tried to use how Noah prepared ahead of time for the flood, but she dismissed that. I then read Prov. 22:3 “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty.” Once again she said, “God will provide.” While I full heartedly agree that God will provide, I also feel that we are to take responsibility for ourselves. My final Biblical attempt to persuade her was to discuss the “Seven Years of Plenty.” She responded by saying, “when God speaks to you and tells you to store up grain, then you go ahead and do it.” I seized my chance right then and there. I explained that I really did feel that God had called for me to do this. I had never given this any thought and then all of a sudden out of nowhere the whole idea of prepping was revealed to me, and I was filled with such desire that it could only be God-inspired. She relented, slightly and agreed to store away some items, but only a small amount at a time and ONLY if it didn’t get in the way.

I started with canned goods at first, but this didn’t last long. We don’t have a lot of storage space, and they were taking up room in our small pantry. I tried to move them elsewhere, and this created another issue; I was taking up closet space. After reading an article on here, I couldn’t believe I had overlooked the unused space beneath our bed and guest bed. Money became tight again as we had unexpected bills arise, so I backed off of buying canned goods for awhile and shifted my attention elsewhere.

Canning was a common occurrence in my home when I was young. At the time my grandparents were raising me as my parents had divorced. I fondly remember helping my grandmother with this chore many afternoons. My wife and I had started a garden in our backyard and we had excess vegetables. I wanted to can them, but she had no experience with this. Since it had been a while since I had last canned, I called my grandmother and had her walk me through it. When I had finished canning tomatoes, squash, and beans, there was quite a mess in the kitchen. My wife stated she didn’t have time to help, so I had to do everything on my own. She complained about the mess, and it infuriated me. In my mind here I was trying to not only save us some money down the road by canning, but I was trying to look out for our future and all I was getting was grief. I blew up; I couldn’t understand why she couldn’t see things the way that I did. I remember reading all the time on different survival sites about married couples or families prepping together and how they supported each other. I felt like not only was my wife not supporting me, but she was actively trying to interfere with what I was doing. I believed that as the husband, it was my responsibility to provide for the family and to ensure our safety and prosperity and that my wife was to support me in this. When she didn’t, it really put a strain on our marriage. This leads to the next issue and very big mistakes made by me.

Having grown up in the country where I shot my first firearm before I learned to ride a bike, having a firearm (or several) around the house had never been a foreign concept to me. I thought everyone had firearms in their homes. For my wife, this was something new. She had never seen a firearm in person before we were together. I tried to take her shooting, but she refused. When we were married, she didn’t like the idea of guns in the home, but she knew that I was adamant about having one so she didn’t put up too much of a fuss. After the first year when I received one for my birthday and one for Christmas, she said that was enough. Now in my mind, you can never have enough firearms, but we were newly married and I wanted to keep the peace so I compromised and said I wouldn’t get anymore any time soon. I couldn’t afford to buy them anyway, so I didn’t see this as an issue. Fast forward three years; I can afford to purchase more. I bought a small .22 rifle, which caused a huge disagreement. In retrospect, I should have talked to her about it, but as I said, I never saw the issue with firearms so it didn’t occur to me. A few months later, a friend told me someone he knew was selling a Mosin Nagant for $80. My wife and I have a $100 a month limit for purchases without consulting the other. I felt that I was under the limit, so it shouldn’t matter, but I also remembered the argument that ensued with the .22 purchase. This is where I made the first HUGE mistake. I hid the purchase from her. Then I compounded it by lying about it. She asked what I spent the $80 on, and I said odds and ends for around the house. I got away with it, but it caused me to slide down that slippery slope. I made another firearms purchase and many ammo purchases without her knowledge. She found out after using my iPad and seeing an email discussing purchasing an item from someone. She asked me what I had done that day and I lied to cover it up. This caused lots of trust issues in our marriage that I am still trying very hard to overcome and to rebuild that trust.

During this time, I had been talking to a friend of mine who I consider my brother. I had actually given him a copy of JWR’s “Patriots” to read, and he immediately began prepping as well. He was single at the time and able to purchase anything he wanted without someone looking over his shoulder. I was jealous. This increased my frustration with my wife for her lack of support. I decided that I would continue prepping, but I would do so in secret. My friend and I would go in together on purchases, and he would keep them at his house or if I purchased something I would take it to him to store for me. All this did was to keep my lying to my wife about what I was doing.

I’m sure you are wondering how I was able to keep the purchases secret at this point. First, I only dealt in cash. I knew she would see any purchases by our debit card on the statement. I also knew that if I withdrew money, she would know also so I had to find an alternative way to get money. I would barter for many items, but I also did a few small jobs on the side that paid cash. If I got $100 for the job, I would take $50-$60 and put it in the bank and stow away the rest in cash.

In 2012, my wife became pregnant with our first child. This immediately upped my desire to prep. Now, I was not only responsible for myself and my wife, but we were bringing a child into this world who was 100% dependent upon us. I soon realized how expensive a child can be. I came to the conclusion quickly that I wouldn’t be able to continue trying to prep the way that I had.

My friend called me and said he wanted to start storing away dried goods. He said he had read about using old two-liter soda bottles and juice bottles for storage. I had a lot of those every week between the one or two bottles of soda we would drink and the many bottles of juice that we had for my daughter. When we finished the drink, I would rinse the bottle thoroughly and let it air dry. I would then put the cap back on it, and I stored them in boxes in the garage. I had accumulated close to 100 of these bottles. One day I was at work, and my wife was home when her family came over. They went into the garage to look for something, and my wife saw all the bottles. I had actually told her that I was keeping some bottles in the garage to store things in for in the future. I guess she didn’t realize how many I had. When her family asked what they were for, she said that I’m preparing for the end of the world. They laughed and thought it was amusing. My wife became embarrassed by it. She then threw all the bottles away. When I came home, she told me what had happened. I couldn’t believe what she had done. I was so angry with her, and then she said she was tired of all the “stupid prepping”, that I embarrassed her, the only books I read were about prepping or surviving, and that she was done with my lying.

I finally realized what was happening. I was so focused on her not supporting me that I failed to realize that I was causing as much if not more of the tension between us. While my wife was never 100% behind my efforts, her anger over my lying and deception was focused on the issue of prepping. In her mind if I wasn’t so focused on prepping then I wouldn’t have lied or deceived her and then the lack of trust in our marriage wouldn’t be there. The thing is, she’s completely correct. I allowed my frustration with her lack of support to cloud my judgment to the point where I felt it was not only acceptable but, as it was the only way I could continue prepping, the right thing to do. I sat down and seriously thought about what was going on and here is what I came up with:

  1. I was prepping in order to provide a chance for my family to survive a SHTF scenario.
  2. I resorted to deception and lying to continuing prepping.
  3. #2 led to tension in my marriage.
  4. If left unchecked and something didn’t change, I could see myself losing my family.
  5. If I lost my family, then the entire reasoning behind prepping was for naught.

The decision I had to make was easy. I stopped actively prepping. I completely stopped talking to my wife and really anyone else about prepping outside of a few very close friends. I decided that we would have to rely on what I had stored to that point and pray for God’s provisions thereafter.

We are now a year later. While I am still not actively prepping, my wife has started to come around. She’s seen how hard I’ve been working to rebuild trust in our marriage. She also feels that her non-support was a contributing factor in my behavior. Regardless of whether or not she supported me, I should not have resorted to lying and deception. We’ve worked hard to rebuild what was lost.

Looking back, I hope that others can see and learn from the mistakes that I made. Yes, my wife did not support my belief that we needed to prepare, but the mistakes I made were of my own doing and actually made things worse instead of better. There is no justification for lying and deception in any relationship. Maybe one day I’ll begin to actively prep again. Maybe one day God will open my wife’s eyes the way he did mine. Maybe one day I’ll be able to send in another letter about how things have changed, but if that day doesn’t come I’ll sleep well knowing that I saved my marriage, saved my family, and I still have a few preps put aside for a rainy day. Hopefully, the family clan can pull together, as we have done for centuries, look out for one another, and get through the dark days to come.

Letter Re: Storage Without a Basement

Hugh,

I cannot remember the source, but I read of a simple solution for storage of fresh fruits and vegetables. Purchase a galvanized trash can, and bury it to where there is about six inches above the ground. Pick a shady area with good drainage. In the winter, cover the lid with a little hay for insulation. We live in North Texas and have been using this for the past couple years with good results. – R.S.

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Hi Hugh,

Regarding cool storage, this will cost a bit of money, but it might work.

You could buy 4×8 sheets of 2″ Styrofoam and make a large box with it, say 8x8x8 or even 8x8x4 and then, either:

  1. Cut a rectangular hole to fit the front edge of a small refrigerator with the door removed and make sure the hole seals good around the entire edge, or
  2. Remove the refrigeration components from a small fridge and install them (the cold side) in the Styrofoam room.

That could most likely cool down the room very substantially without using a whole lot of power.

Another possible option is to bury a plastic water tank in the ground, put 2″ Styrofoam over the top (even a couple of layers of it), before covering the top with soil. you’d have to calculate the buoyancy of the tank and put enough cement in it (or scrap steel, cast iron, etc) to make sure it didn’t float, if the ground is saturated. Of course, the top entry would have to seal tightly to keep moisture from getting in.

Thanks for all you do. – P.B.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Germany to spy on US for first time since 1945 after ‘double agent’ scandal – G.P.

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More Illegal Immigrants from China Crossing Border . – P.M.

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A Call to Vigilance – B.B.

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You knew the “Global Warming Crises” was junk science to begin with. Now there is proof: Government Data Show U.S. in Decade-Long Cooling

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America’s Most Likely – and Most at Risk – Gun Owners? People Over 65 – RBS

With the concept of a “Doctor’s Note” being kicked around to be able to exercise your 2nd Amendment right, this article is setting a dangerous precedent.

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Armed militias planning to take over US border to thwart illegal immigrants – H.L.

Notes for Tuesday – July 08, 2014

Seed for Security is running a great sale right now. Their Super Survival Pack is 20% off. You get a total of four pounds of survival seeds and two pints of healthful grains. All of their seeds are heirloom, non GMO, and none are hybrid. This offer is for a limited time only.

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Sparks Grid Down Comm Course is being featured at the Midwest Comm Connection on Saturday and Sunday, September 13 & 14 in Horicon, Wisconsin. It’s your opportunity to learn effective radio comm tactics to use when times get tough. Check out this flyer if you’re interested.

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Today we present another entry for Round 53 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $11,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be 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,
  3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear,
  5. A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value),
  6. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  7. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  8. A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com, (currently valued at around $180 postpaid),
  9. Both VPN tunnel and DigitalSafe annual subscriptions from Privacy Abroad (a combined value of $195),
  10. 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,
  11. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit, and
  12. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate.

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. Acorn Supplies is donating a Deluxe Food Storage Survival Kit with a retail value of $350,
  4. The Ark Instituteis donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, 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,
  5. $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P),
  6. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  7. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value),
  9. Dri-Harvestfoods.com in Bozeman, Montana is providing a prize bundle with Beans, Buttermilk Powder, Montana Hard Red Wheat, Drink Mixes, and White Rice, valued at $333,
  10. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  11. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  12. RepackBoxis providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. 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,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security,
  5. A MURS Dakota Alert Base Station Kit with a retail value of $240 from JRH Enterprises,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Ambra Le Roy Medical Products in North Carolina is donating a bundle of their traditional wound care and first aid supplies, with a value of $208, and
  8. SurvivalBased.com is donating a $500 gift certificate to their store.

Round 53 ends on July 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.

A Get Home Plan, by H.H.

First, I want to thank all the contributors for all the time and effort that they have put into this blog. I won’t say I have read all of them, but I have considered a significant portion of them not only in my own lifestyle but in my preparation. My own situation is that I work in a large city in the south and the family is miles away. I have been prepping for a few years now and would just like to offer a few observations. I have done all the normal things at the retreat, including food to last years, medical supplies, ammo, and guns– basically the beans, bullets, and band-aid thing. However, I will have this problem one-hundred and sixty five miles door to door! It makes me tired just typing it. If you’re in a large metropolitan area I think you will need more than one escape route. As I started my prepping I became more observant on my travels back to the apartment where I live while at work. What would happen if:

  1. the Route had no electricity (stop lights weren’t working),
  2. the Route had electricity (stop lights worked) but I was trapped behind stalled cars,
  3. the Route had an overpass jammed or an off ramp jammed, or
  4. I had no transportation because my vehicle is not functioning (get a bicycle)?

Then I started thinking what routes are pointing the way out of town. I thought about roads, railroads, power lines, gas lines, septic systems, and even rain drainage. Okay, so I pulled up Google Earth and started looking around. (Use the “add path” function to highlight, and if you have the snipping tool on Windows it’s great for copying the map.)

  1. Roads— They’re the normal mode of travel. I planned out at least one route that did not involve off-ramps, overpasses, highways, tollways, etc. Okay, so now I have two routes– my normal route and one involving city internal arteries.
  2. Railroads—They’re all on Google Earth. Mark the ones you need. In my case I am now up to a total of four routes home and four routes out of town.
  3. Power Lines—These are also visible on Google Earth. Power companies usually have some type of road for maintenance purposes. However, you might need a bolt cutter to use them!
  4. Gas Lines—Although they’re not so visible, still keep in mind that those stations sticking up out of the ground do lead somewhere.
  5. Septic systems and rain drainage. Well, I think you are probably getting the idea.

Anyway don’t get functionally fixed about what is showing you possible routes, just G.O.O.D.

What will it be like? First some highlights of an economic breakdown, civil unrest, or nuclear or solar grid-down situation. Just pick your poison. Here’s just a quick review.

  1. People will want what you have (food).
  2. People will probably try to take what you have (vehicle gas, water).
  3. Muggings, gang violence, assorted personal crimes will be rampant (car/bicycle theft).
  4. You will probably be chased down for anything you may possess. (medical attention required)
  5. You will consider fleeing the inner city any way possible, but it will be a fight all the way out. (lose weapon, out of ammo)
  6. You might find a place outside the city (country) that will offer temporary refuge.
  7. The gangs of people will eventually leave the city for one reason or another.
  8. Et cetera. I am sure, for the most part, I am preaching to the choir here. Of course, I considered all the normal arteries and methods.

Highways, if available and not clogged with stalled cars, are an option. Just a reminder, if you’re reading this and thinking about using the highways, watch those ramps and overpasses that you might have to use. One stalled car on that ramp or overpass and you’re stuck. These arteries could be jammed with people walking and wondering what happened (if EMP is the event), so this was not my first choice in an EMP event.

Otherwise, the highway will be my first choice if I have an automobile that is operational. Also keep in mind the socio-economic areas (slum) that might be surrounding these highways. (How’s that for being politically correct? Translation, does it go through the ghetto?) I don’t want to get lost in the weeds here too much because those middle class neighborhoods you will go through are more likely to have weapons. This brings us to interior roads.

Residential interior roadways are an option, but here I see the problem being that they are residential. With a grid-down situation, people will not necessarily be in their residence. The bike is a good plan and one I also have as a backup in this scenario. I believe that the probability of more numbers of people being out and about will be higher. So my plan in this scenario involves traveling at late night. The advantages with this scenario are that the availability of water will probably be high (swimming pools), if you have a good activated carbon filter, and the availability of stores.

A few years back, I had experience with electrical overhead distribution. Don’t dismiss this as a viable, although not paved, road. Most of those lines you see overhead need to be maintained and at regular intervals there will be structures to offer shelter. Needing to be maintained means, that they need to be accessible by trucks and other heavy equipment. Also, if you have previously studied the way they are laid out, it can be better than a map about the direction you are headed.

The same general principles apply to gas lines and other public utility structures. They can offer a means of not only direction but also escape. It might be worth your wild to at least become basically familiar with how these roads are laid-out.

Let me offer how I came to a conclusion. I was watching a show that my son likes on TV, and it was a show that had to do with a group of people escaping zombies. I was struck by the similarity between eluding the zombies and eluding “gang-bangers” or any type of rogue band of militia-ish type personnel.

This band of people had trouble organizing the very basics. Just to escape they had to:

  1. Avoid the zombies and get food.
  2. Avoid the zombies and get gas.
  3. Avoid the zombies and get water.
  4. Avoid the zombies and get transportation.
  5. Avoid the zombies and take care of the wounded.
  6. Avoid the zombies and get weapons.
  7. Avoid the zombies and get ammo.

Is this starting to sound familiar? If by the grace of God you manage to do all of these (and numerous other daily events we take for granted), avoid the zombies, and still “get out of Dodge”, there is some good/bad news: Zombies generally do not have GUNS. In the real world, that will be different.

In addition, if you “waited to evac” the gangs are probably going to have weapons from the National Guard or are going to be the National Guard.

This is from J.W.’s book:

“Provisional Government President Maynard Hutchings”

 “At least twenty-eight million are estimated to have been killed in lawless violence.”

My personal belief is that this is very conservative. It will boil down to two people meeting, and one wants what the other has, “one is usually not walking away from this confrontation”. I believe in very short order (probably no more than a few days) the population of urban areas will be cut in one-half. (One didn’t walk away. Multiply this by hundreds of millions of confrontations.)

Some advice to J.H. regarding the question Letter Re: Prospects for the Eastern U.S. in a Societal Collapse. I don’t think I could add any more to your issue than to offer similar advice to the one offered in the letter of Mar. 30 2012 by D.S.A.

“The dichotomy is that people are the biggest threat, but you can’t survive without the cooperation of other people.  You can’t make it through the listed events alone; you have to rely on other people to pool all your resources to survive. Every event on that list will cause people to lose their minds and cause chaos. Give it a couple of days, then the looting, crime and civil unrest explode like a powder keg.  Sure, you can crawl in your bunker, but for how long? You can buy 20 guns, but you can only shoot one at a time. You need to get organized, with a group of trusted friends/family, to provide, protect and plan your hopefully short term situation.  The well-organized, well-armed groups will get passed by the marauders for easy pickings down the road.”

  1. Plan your escape first! G.O.O.D or urban “AREAS” as the case may be.
  2. Get a like-minded group together and plan. “Prepare to get mobile”
  3. Like the people escaping from the “zombies” follow the list.
    1. Avoid the marauders and get food.
    2. Avoid the marauders and get gas.
    3. Avoid the marauders and get water.
    4. Avoid the marauders and get transportation.
    5. Avoid the marauders and take care of the wounded.
    6. Avoid the marauders and get weapons.
    7. Avoid the marauders and get ammo.
  4. I applaud you if you have the resources/opportunity to get to the “American Redoubt” but if you don’t, pick a spot to retreat to and that will offer refuge at least temporarily.

Now, I am probably going to say something that will cause a lot of you to cringe. I would not be picky about who owns this retreat, so long as it doesn’t get you shot! The fact is that in these types of situations “ownership becomes a relative term”, whether it is an apple or a parcel of land in the middle of nowhere is not going to mean a thing, hence the reason for weapons.

Now the good news is that I do believe that there are good people out there who are prepared not only for themselves but for the possibility of helping others survive. Also, we realize that there must be “in some fashion” a continuation of the species. I am not advocating that you act like a band of “Rogue-Marines”. This will get you shot, eventually. What I am saying is that you should get to a place that has water, some hunting or fishing, regroup, and move-on “if you must”. This is exactly what happened to our intrepid band of zombie avoiders in the TV show.

(Hugh Interjects: Yes. I cringed when I read this. Even if you are in a life-and-death situation, you should not just “take” what someone else has stored. I understand using enough of the supplies to keep yourself alive, but you should replace them at the first opportunity to do so. You may be “taking” supplies that someone else may be depending upon to live. Further, just because the “rule of law” has broken down in society does not mean that ethics and morals no longer apply. God’s law always applies and He is watching. After all, what makes you different than those who got us into this situation in the first place? Hopefully, it is your sense of morals and the ethics that you follow. As Christians, we have the highest of standards that we should adhere to.)

I agree with J.W. in that the cities (urban areas) will become death traps and that TEOTWAWKI, should propel you to G.O.O.D.

Now, as I sit here writing this in Texas (with relatively mild winters), with my own retreat approximately 165 miles away, I am reminded that when you EVAC in the north, winters will probably kill many. Even a mild one with rains will probably be lethal. In general, I would plan to get somewhere south and stay warm.

Now, generally, I recommend you consider your own survival skills!

  1. Can you hunt?
  2. Can you fish?
  3. Can you track?
  4. What kind of physical shape are you in?
  5. Can you make a fire?
  6. Can you hide a fire?
  7. Can you construct a basic trap or snare?
  8. Can you set a makeshift tent?
  9. Do you have basic medical skills and material?
  10. Are you prepared to live in the wilderness for months/years?
  11. Are you prepared to pray?

Well, that’s my experience/opinion. Here is praying you are not made one of the zombies. Maybe you will watch a few zombie shows/movies in a new light.

Best to you and yours, and good luck to us all.

Two Letters Re: So You Think Starting a Garden Will Be Easy After TEOTWAWKI

Hugh,

Finally someone has addressed something that has been on my mind for quite some time. Thanks Dr. Prepper for pointing out that gardening alone will be an insufficient means to provide adequate food when the SHTF! Your 2000 cal/day figure easily shows the shortfalls of relying solely on a vegetable diet, but under the high stress and increased activity levels that will be required when the SHTF a 3000cal/day requirement often is used as a more realistic figure. This would increase the required amount of the harvest by 33%! I wonder what the net caloric gain is with the amount of labor required in gardening and of course processing and storing the harvest and seeds for the next years crop. Of course all this only addresses caloric requirements and not the benefit of necessary vitamins and fiber derived from the harvest. Some method of providing high calorie meats, eggs, and dairy products is going to be necessary. – DC

Hugh – Many thanks to you, JWR, and all the staff and contributors for the best survival info on the net!

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HJL,

This year we’ve a half acre of vegetable plots. We are experienced farmers and do all the work ourselves. Not mentioned as a great crop are field peas, such as cowpeas and southern peas. Our bunny rabbits do not eat any of the plant. These plants are rather indeterminate and will make peas over several months. They do, however, need a long very warm growing season. Our yield data are some 20 lbs of dry peas per 100 feet of row. One may buy a small great motorized pea sheller that efficiently shells the dry pods. This is a great labor saver. This pea yield is a better yield than the best pole bean we’ve tried, “Turkey Craw,” with 16 lbs dry beans per 100 feet of row. Yields from bush dry shelly beans are substantially below that of the better pole beans. Rattlesnake pole beans seem to have better drought resistance than other cultivars we’ve tried. Our yield from “Bloody Butcher” heirloom field dent corn is some 40 lbs of shelled, dry corn per 100 feet of row. We prefer this cultivar because it has the best prop roots this ancient farmer has ever seen, and the ears are so high off the ground the raccoons cannot get to them. Get a ole timey corn sheller to save your hands. We have one that is a floor model with a huge flywheel. We have a huge and growing patch of Egyptian Walking Onions that will soon make us self sufficient in onions. Read up on these; they are very interesting. Instead of flowers on the flower stalk, they make bulblets. We’ve harvested some 15 lbs of these bulblets, which will get planted in late September, and the bulb in the ground will divide into 4-6 bulbs in the spring. We leave these in the ground all winter. Each year we do our own field trials of cultivars of pole beans, shelly beans, field peas, tomatoes, and peppers. Everyone’s climate and soil will be different, and such field trials we believe are quite important to maximize yields.

Storing food is at least as important as growing it. We both can and dehydrate a huge amount of veggies. We prefer this over freezing, as the grid may well be cyber attacked. We put dehydrated tomatoes and peppers in pint canning jars, put a tiny hole in the center of the lid, put on a Pump ‘N Seal seal, pump out the air, and place in our cool, dark, root cellar. The book Root Cellaring is a must have. If cans of dehydrated tomatoes freeze, no damage is done. The degradation of food depends on pH, light, temperature, moisture, and oxygen. All these parameters are minimized in our storage of dehydrated tomatoes and peppers. Moreover, this storage method requires only a fraction of the room of canned tomatoes. We recommend the All American Canner as the el primo canner. No rubber seal. Built like the proverbial Russian brick toilet in Wisconsin. The Ball Blue Book is a must have for canners.

We use commercial fertilizer and suggest that a big stockpile of this and stabilized fuel to run farm implements is a must. We put commercial 15-15-15 in 55 gallon plastic used pickle barrels that have a big O ring seal and the fertilizer does not turn into a rock. We do the same for 46-0-0 (urea). Get a full tilt boogie soil test for both macro (NPK) and micro nutrients. Add lime as needed to get the pH into the range your veggies like. Gypsum is great for loosening heavy clay soils. Field peas are excellent crops to improve the soil, as they will add maybe 120 lbs nitrogen to the acre and a lot of organic matter. We make heavy use of winter cover crops as annual rye, hairy vetch, and Austrian winter peas. The latter two are legumes and will add some 140 lbs nitrogen per acre. Annual rye suppresses the germination of a huge number of weeds.

The best money I ever spent was for a KingKutter 4′ wide PTO three point hitch rototiller to go onto our Kubota B7510. I also recommend the use of a subsoiler to break thru the “hardpan” that tends to from over time in cultivated ground. We discovered a fabulous use for this implement– before setting out seedlings in a veggie plot, go down the row with the subsoiler. This makes digging the holes for the seedlings an order of magnitude easier, and it lets the roots and the rain go deep into the row.

As the gardening posts truly say, there is a long steep learning curve in growing one’s own food.

News From The American Redoubt:

Three brilliant young men from the University of Idaho are launching a company that synergistically employs 3D Printing and cloud computing: SkyForge. Throw them a few bucks via Kickstarter, and see what happens.

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Is the Pacific Northwest Ready to Deal with a Catastrophic Quake?. – T.H.

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Small group protests Idaho’s wolf management plan. – RBS

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Oregon aims to be first state to map GMO fields. – H.L.

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New Boise scam entices victims to ship stolen goods. – RBS