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

Odds ‘n Sods:

This has been covered before, but its importance bears repeating. Extent of US dependency on prescription drugs revealed: UN report shows 6% of American adults hooked on pills. – T.P.

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MS-13 gang members and jihadists let in over the border as children. – B.B.

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Why are police shooting so many family dogs?. – G.B.

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IRS Spending: Administration v. Refundable Credits. – PLC

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Four librarians gagged and threatened with prison time under the Patriot Act. – H.L.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“War is the most regrettable proving ground. Those who rush to launch it, and those who seek to create heroes from it, should remember its legacy. You have to be there to appreciate its horrors – and die to forget them.” – Vernon J. Baker, U.S. Army, Medal of Honor

Notes for Monday – July 07, 2014

Survival Medicine 101 Workshop to be held August 4-6, 2014 in Bessemer, Alabama with Dr. Cynthia Koelker, Medical Editor of SurvivalBlog

Classes feature suturing, minor surgery, casting, splinting, clinical labs, infection, chronic illness, and much more. Register online at www.armageddonmedicine.net.

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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.

Surviving the Collapse, Not Only Physically But Spiritually, by F.C.

So often, we hear about how to prepare for the future collapse. We hear, and correctly so, that we should store up food and other essentials to survive in the future. However, what will life really be like after the collapse has taken place? What will we do besides just survive? What should we do?

Let’s assume that there is no longer any electrical power, either due to an EMP, general societal collapse, terrorist attack, natural disaster, or some other reason. This means there is no more Internet, cable or satellite service, television, Facebook, video gaming, and texting, and it means there are no more cell phones with service at all. Now, if you happen to have purchased a solar kit with inverter and deep cell battery (or if you have a gas or diesel-powered generator), you should be able to power up some of these devices, for a limited period of time. However, it’s only a matter of time before the fuel runs out.

In our so-called modern world, so many of us derive our feelings of happiness and self-worth from material things. It doesn’t matter that the I-phone 5 we have is working fine. We now convince ourselves we have to have the new I-phone 6. I don’t know about you, but I feel our society has become absolutely addicted to electronic devices. Just yesterday, we went out to eat at a restaurant, and I noticed a family with several children ranging from about six to teenagers. At least four of the kids each had their cell phone out, either texting friends, checking Facebook, cruising the Internet, or playing a video game. It used to be that when a family sat down to eat, it was a great time for social interaction– the family members communicated problems they were having at school, work, and home and collectively offered solutions. It used to be a great time to laugh, tell stories, learn new vocabulary, and learn how Dad and Mom and kids overcame obstacles to succeed in life. Remember, this restaurant meal may have been the only time this family actually sat down to eat together this week. People nowadays are always so busy, popping in and out of the house, and wolfing down a quick snack before running off to soccer practice, the health club, or to attend a meeting.

Now, in a post-collapse situation, we, as families, will need to re-acquire, or in some cases, to learn for the first time, how to really communicate without hiding behind such artificial and isolationist barriers as cell phones, video games, and other busy activities. This, I believe, will be one of the biggest challenges facing the collapse survivors of the future. Suppose you have been a prudent prepper and have stored up plenty of canned goods, both self-canned and store-bought; several 5-gallon containers of rice, beans, and other essentials; and you have a reliable water source. Suppose there is also plenty to do around your bug out location, including tending the garden, feeding the chickens, and collecting and splitting firewood. All of these are essential tasks that will most probably need to be done in a post-collapse world. However, when the work is completed, what do you say to your child who whines, “There’s nothing to do!” Suppose you have also stocked up on many different genres of books and board games. These are all excellent activities, which I think will help immensely to give us something to do to educate, alleviate boredom, and to bring the family closer together.

However, sooner or later, many of us will begin reacting to the drudgery of life, which will now resemble 1874 instead of 2014. Some people, especially those who previously lived for shopping at the mall, taking the boat up to the lake, spending endless hours texting or on Facebook, or playing video games, will probably exhibit symptoms of withdrawal. These unfortunate souls will react much like a drug addict who cowers in a corner, shaking with stress, as the physical and emotional reality slowly sets in that life as he or she knew it before, has changed abruptly and permanently. Others, however, will meet the new challenges with a positive outlook, and successfully adapt to this simpler, back to nature lifestyle.

The collapse will bring out the best and worst in all of us. Many of us will question why the collapse has happened. Many of us will wonder if God is punishing us for our personal or collective national sins, including abortion, promiscuity, pornography, drug addiction, and allowing other types of idols to creep into our lives. Now that the deceptive shackles of toys, gadgets, and other distractions have been stripped away, many of us will be sincerely looking for answers to some difficult questions: Why did my best friend die, but I survived? Why are there so many people who are dying of hunger? Why doesn’t the government do something about it? Is it really true that some people purposely caused this to happen? How could they be so evil? How could a loving God allow all this suffering and death to occur? Am I going to be the next one to die?

I really believe that it is in such a situation that more people than ever before in human history will be open to hearing about the gospel message. As long as so many of us were comfortable in our pre-collapse cocoon, there was very little urgency for many of us to ponder spiritual matters, unless some major trial came along. However, now, when faced with a true life and death situation, many of us will really dig deep down inside of our innermost beings and ask the truly important questions in life: Is this all there is to life? Why am I here? Now what?

So, if someone told you ahead of time that there will be a very large number of people in the future looking for answers to these spiritual questions, what should you do? Besides preparing physically for the collapse, how can we be prepared for it, spiritually? Obviously, first and foremost is to draw closer to God, in prayer and holiness. However, what else can we do right now to help those multitudes in the future who will be sincerely seeking spiritual meaning and peace? What resources are available now that will either be extremely scarce or no longer around after the collapse hits?

Personally, I have chosen to purchase a lot of New Testaments. Why the New Testament? It’s cheaper than a Bible, and it’s a great way to get seekers and new believers into the Word. Save the full Bible for the people that really want to go deeper in their studies. New Testaments also contain the Book of Revelation, which explains many of the prophetic end times events that will be occurring during a collapse/tribulation scenario. If someone is truly looking for spiritual answers, imagine gathering a group of people, all with New Testaments, and reading about not only an explanation of tribulation events but that God wins in the end! In Revelation 3:10, Jesus instructs his church to “endure patiently,” and in verse 11, to “hold onto what you have, so that no one will take your crown.” I submit that those of us who are Christians have an obligation to help others in the future to “endure patiently” during all of the post collapse challenges ahead, to encourage them, to give them hope, and to never give up.

We will also need to be realistic. There will be many Christians who will die for their faith in the post collapse world (“…and they will put some of you to death.” [Luke 21:16]). Notice it doesn’t say, all, but some will die for their faith. This means that many will survive. Why will they survive? For what purpose? “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14). So, in all this talk about survival, it’s not all just about what are you going to eat and drink to how to make it to the next day. In the midst of all of the post-collapse ruins, when so many will be struck by an impending sense of doom, those of us who are believers are called to be a witness, to give testimony to others, to not only offer them hope, but to help them enter into the kingdom of heaven. This is what we are called by God to do.

The post-collapse world will cause a major paradigm-shift in our priorities. Such material things as electronic devices will suddenly diminish in importance. A person’s feelings of self-worth and happiness will, for the most part, no longer be tied to such temporary and false idols. For those of us who truly break the binds of such traps, it will actually be a liberating experience. Imagine the true joy experienced by the person who finally finds the true peace of God in their life, no longer distracted by materialism and mechanical gadgets, which only brought a false sense of happiness. Imagine the amazing joy of helping others to overcome years of accumulated sin in their lives, whether an addiction to materialism or other forms of filth, giving their lives to God instead of worthless idols. Now, that’s a calling in life with eternal rewards!

In the future, there will be many who will not only be experiencing withdrawal from their gadget world but will see the violent and collapsing world around them and feel they, too, are doomed to death. Some may no longer have the will to live. This will be a time for those of us who are strong to lift up the weak, and it will be a time for the true seekers to comfort them with the hope of a new heaven and a new earth, when “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning, or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” No matter how bad things get, and believe me, they will get very ugly, we need to “endure patiently” and encourage others to do the same. In fact, I believe that in a post-collapse world, it will become an absolute necessity to have daily prayer and Bible/devotional study with your family, or with whatever group you end up with in your bug in or bug out location. In fact, we should be doing this now, but so many Christians are so busy or lazy. In the future, however, the consequences of not putting God first could very well be life-threatening. If a spirit of fear, gossip, laziness, or pride begins to spread among the members of your group, this could threaten your very security (OPSEC). It will become imperative that everyone be like-minded, or at least striving to grow spiritually to better understand spiritual matters, and to keep a positive attitude. If someone starts to backslide, it is up to those of us who are mature to encourage them to persevere. Your very survival is at stake.

Speaking of OPSEC, you may be wondering, to whom are we going to be sharing this gospel message in the midst of a collapse situation, with chaos and looting in the streets? Obviously, it is normally unwise and unsafe to thrust yourself into the midst of such a situation to preach, unless the doors absolutely open for this. Many have predicted that during the initial few months of disorder and unrest, there will probably be a massive die-off. The looters, gang members, criminals, along with many good people, except for a few large, well-supplied and well-armed groups, will mostly perish in the initial fighting over food, water, arms, and other supplies. Those who survive will mostly flee the city for the country, where there will be better access to water and food. There will most probably be many small groups of survivors from the cities, wandering the highways and byways in search of food and water. Some of these will be violent. Others will be hungry and despondent but not violent unless attacked. I cannot tell you what to do when you meet all of the above. I know James Rawles has on many occasions cautioned that food should not be handed out from your doorstep, because it could compromise your OPSEC, and make you a target. I think this is generally good advice. However, each situation in the future will need to be taken on a case by case basis. You may allow some of these refugees to join your group. As for others, you will probably need to politely but firmly say “no,” especially those who you sense could pose a future risk. This is where you will really need discernment. Even Jesus said, “you must be on your guard.” (Mark 13:9). It may be that you are called to donate food and Bibles/New Testaments/tracts to your local church, and that studies are given there. It may also be that you do all your preaching or teaching within the confines of your bug-out location, with occasional new arrivals. You may do both. However, whichever door opens to you, by all means, take action!

So, where should you go for resources? One great organization for New Testaments and Bibles is the American Bible Society (www.americanbible.org). They have paperback NT’s for as low as $1.39 for the New King James Version, and $4.59 for a Bible, also NKJV. If you buy a case, they’re even cheaper. Other versions, such as NIV, are also available. If you like the New American Standard Bible, you can get an even better deal at the Lockman Foundation (www.lockman.org). If you purchase by the case, you can get a complete paperback Bible for only $1.49! A New Testament sells for only $0.87! Another tried and true resource is Chick Tracts (www.chick.com). Their all-time best seller is “This Was Your Life,” which contains a very simple, effective salvation message. Now this one really gets to the bare bones of the meaning of life! A package of 25 costs only $4.00. This one and other tracts are also available in many languages. Think of all the people you will be able to reach in the future, if you would only invest a very small amount of money now, before the Internet fizzles out into cyberspace, when the collapse hits and it’s too late!

There can be much more to life in the post-collapse world than scrounging for food, barely existing, and drowning in our sorrows. There is no question in my mind that if we all do our part, the future will offer a tremendous opportunity to give despondent people not only hope in this world but in the eternal, heavenly world to come.

Scot’s Product Review: Magazine Loaders

I have long sneered at magazine loaders. I’m lucky to be strong enough to load magazines myself, and frankly, most of the loaders I’ve tried haven’t worked well enough to make me feel they offered any benefits. I have a nine-year-old son, though, and he simply doesn’t have the strength or dexterity I have and has problems getting magazines loaded. I was getting tired of loading them for him and felt that my doing his work for him was a bad example. I, therefore, became receptive to the concept but had no idea if there are any magazine loaders that actually work.

A few weeks ago, some friends I trade email with were talking about magazine loaders and several of them had very good things about the ones from maglula. (That’s how the name is spelled, all lower case letters, which confounds my word processor.) My friends noted that, just like my son, people in their families often lacked the strength to load magazines and the maglula products worked very well for them. I decided I should overcome my prejudices and take a look.

maglula, Ltd., http://www.maglula.com/ by the way, is a privately held Israeli company that makes magazine loaders and unloaders for the Israeli military. Ran and Guy Tal, a father-son team, invented, developed, and supervise the production of the loaders, which are sold in the U.S. by Butler Creek http://www.butler-creek.com/. The tools are sold in gun shops as well as on the Internet. I got mine from Amazon.

Since my son is currently in the thrall of the AR-15, something that would handle AR magazines seemed like the first thing to look at. I have been using stripper clips for years, so I was intrigued when I spotted the StripLULA . It takes the standard US GI stripper clips that work with .223 Remington/5.56x45mm NATO ammunition and load it into AR-15 magazines. As I read through the large number of positive reviews (with very few negative ones) on Amazon, I discovered something that made me even more interested. It works with loose rounds. You just slip 10 rounds into the channel that also accommodates the stripper clips and push the rounds down into the magazine.

To use the StripLULA, you snap it onto a magazine and feed it a ten round stripper clip (it works with Canadian Thermold clips as well as US GI ones) or ten loose rounds. There is a lever that pivots out of the way so you can insert a stripper. It then flips over the rounds to give you excellent purchase, as you cram the rounds into the magazine. Let the clip drop out, grab another loaded one or ten more loose rounds, and you have a loaded 20 round magazine. Do it again, and you have a loaded 30 round magazine.

This thing works really well, though I have a couple of small caveats. First, if your rounds are close to maximum overall length, you have to watch as they go in the magazine. The bullet tip, should a round slip forward, can hang up on the magazine lips, which will derail your rapid load exercise.

The second issue is that when you are putting in the last few rounds, be sure to hold the loader tightly on the magazine. The magazine spring tension is getting strong at that point. A few times my son slipped and that lead to a mess.

I am far more pleased with this thing than I expected to be. It is much better than a standard GI guide or the Thermold loader for stripper clips. You also can’t use the GI one with loose rounds. While you can use the Thermold with loose rounds, it simply is not as good as the StripLULA at this chore. The only drawback compared to the GI or Thermold loaders is price. The StripLULA is $20.00 on Amazon. The GI ones can be found for a couple of bucks while the Thermold goes for about $10.00. The StripLULA is the best mousetrap of the three by a good margin.

The Strip LULA has a tab that can be used to flick rounds out of the magazine. Unloading magazines is a pain in the thumb, so this is a handy feature.

While looking at the StripLULA, I also spotted the LULA loader. This is intended purely for loading loose rounds one by one into the magazine. It snaps onto the magazine and has a clever lever that flips back and forth. With each flip, it changes which side of the magazine follower is pushing down and it guides the next cartridge into the right place. Its not until you play with it a bit that you realize how clever it is. It snaps into the cutout for the magazine catch, so it stays put while you are loading.

Adding to its repertoire, when you don’t drop another round in, you can point the magazine down and the top round drops out with every flip of the lever. Keep flipping and you rapidly and painlessly have an empty magazine.

This loader was a huge hit with my son. It has a lot of gadget factor with the lever flipping, and it was extremely easy for him to use. The fact that it snaps on so securely makes it much easier for him to hold it. The lever provides plenty of advantage to make pushing the cartridges into the magazine a piece of cake for him. I’m sure anyone without the strength to load magazines easily will be as happy with it as he is. I need to get one for my sister, as I know she sometimes has problems with this sort of thing.

Again, maglula has a product that works well. In fact, I found nothing to complain about this one at all, which is my sole complaint. Reviewers like to find at least one detail to whine about and when we’re deprived, well, we have to go and sulk someplace.

The LULA for the AR goes for about $24.00 on Amazon.

I tried both of the loaders on as many brands of AR magazines as I could get my hands on. They worked well with all of them. This included US GI, Magpul PMAGs, Lancer, Thermold, Orlite, Tango Down, and some British ones originally intended for the SA80 rifle that also work on the AR.

Along with rifles, my son likes shooting pistols, specifically, the Glock 19 (I know, I’m a 1911 guy, what happened in the gene pool?) Glock magazines can be a bit tough to load, especially the 33 round ones that make his eyes light up really big. Thankfully, maglula offers pistol magazine loaders too.

The one that works for the Glock 19 is the UpLULA. It is actually a universal loader for most 9mm to .45 pistol magazines. While it does work with most magazines, as issued it works best with double stack magazines. I was able to get it to work with 1911 magazines, but if you add an adapter, you will be a lot happier. This would be helpful with any single stack magazine such as those for a SIG 220 or a P-38.

My son was not as fascinated with the UpLULA as he is with the LULA. There is something about flipping the LULAs lever that he finds mesmerizing. With the UpLULA, you press the magazine down on a convenient surface, push the UpLULA back and then down. You then drop in a cartridge. Let it go forward and up and a part inside the loader will ride over the top cartridge when you push it back and down again. You drop in another cartridge and repeat until the magazine is loaded. My son found he could get all 33 rounds into one of those Glock magazines without much trouble. He normally can only get about 10 in, so this is a big help for him. He just doesn’t think it is as much fun as the LULA. I hate to admit it, but he found it more intuitive that I did. I had to watch the video. He didnt.

The UpLULA is about $28.00 on Amazon, and the adapter for single stack magazines is about $17.00 for a package of two.

They pretty much have a loader for everything, including M1As, Mini-14s, SCAR 17s, G-3s, AR-10s, and more. As expected, Israeli arms like the Galil and Uzi are included. The Tavor uses AR magazines, so it’s covered. They handle most pistols with three versions of the UpLULA and two other loaders that handle .22 magazines with side buttons.

Check out their site for videos of their products. As well as selling them, the videos show how to use them. All of the loaders are made of rugged, high quality plastics with a few metal parts.

At the end of playing with these, I’ve decided they fulfill a real need, and I’m glad I bought them. If you have weak, sensitive thumbs, or small hands, you should look into them. Personally, the one I found the most useful is the StripLULA and that’s for loading magazines with stripper clips. My hands and thumbs otherwise do pretty well loading magazines, though when I’m nearing the end of a Glock magazine, I do think about grabbing the UPLULA. I am, however, very fond of the LULA for unloading AR magazines. I find that a terrible bother, and this makes it go a lot smoother. I haven’t loaded SMG magazines very often, but I bet I would want one of these loaders if I did. My son has found all of them useful, and I suspect he will continue to until his hand size, dexterity, and strength grow some more.

My biggest downside is that my son is finding it easier to burn through my ammo, so I have more work to do on the reloading bench.

Something I didn’t get to see was the BenchLoader. As the name says, it sits on a bench and loads magazines. You lay the appropriate number of rounds into a kind of trough, then put in a magazine, and push the rounds into it. It looks very fast and painless. It is also pricey, running about $340 on Amazon. They make them for a variety of AR-style magazines, the Galil, the HK G36, and the Steyr AUG. maglula says it is for daily loading of hundreds of magazines at shooting ranges and armories. It looks well up to the task. I found it interesting but not something I expect to be buying for myself. – SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Scot Frank Eire

Recipe of the Week: Breadsticks, by C.T.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup scalded milk
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 1/3 T. sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 pkg. yeast, dissolved into 1/4 cup lukewarm water
  • 1 egg white, beaten
  • 3 1/2 cup flour

Directions: Add butter, sugar, and salt to milk. When lukewarm, add dissolved yeast, egg white, and flour. Knead and let rise. Roll out to a little less than 1/2 inch thick. Use a pizza cutter to cut into 1 inch strips. Keep strips together, and let rise again. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. Brush with melted butter, garlic salt, coarse salt, parmesan cheese, or various Italian spices while still hot. Best when still warm.

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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlogreaders? Please send it via e-mail. Thanks!

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

Hugh,

Regarding the article “Starting a Garden After TEOTWAWKI”, Have you forgotten the most rapacious “varmint” on earth? I’m referring of course to the Insects. Although here in FL, where we have cockroaches that fly around and knock out streetlights, bird screening may work. lol

Maybe screening should be added? – R.D.

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HJL,

Hello and thank you for this series. It was very useful, concise information. I would like to add, when space is at a premium for you (as it is for me) or advancing age is slowing you down, some things are better purchased than grown. You can purchase and store dry grains and beans and save garden space for other things. Organic popcorn can be purchased at a very reasonable price from Azure Standard, and probably other places too. Popcorn can be ground for corn meal as well as its intended use. I like to concentrate on potato varieties, squashes, veggies, and small fruits in the garden. A garden can be very time-consuming, but it gets easier each year as you gain knowledge and improve the garden. Just keep going and remember how far you’ve come! – J.D.

Economics and Investing:

A creative way to steal money? Spain Issues Retroactive 0.03% Tax on Bank Deposits to “Boost Economic Growth and Job Creation” . – P.S.

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Being young increases your odds of being unemployed in the US: 40 percent of unemployed workers are Millennials. The long-term impact of young unemployment.

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Central Bank Smackdown

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CEO Of One Of The World’s Largest Energy Majors “Sees No Reason For Petrodollar”. – J.L.

Odds ‘n Sods:

MS-13 Gang Members Allowed into U.S., but Wife of Marine Veteran Thrown in Prison – J.W.

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The Wonders of Modern Education

It’s hard to determine whether this is a prank or a real vlogger interview. Having been in teaching, though, I will attest to having seen many students of this caliber in our public high schools. If you have been wondering how our country ended up in the mess it is currently in, just remember that when she reaches voting age, her vote counts just as much as yours.

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States look to gun seizure law after mass killings. – Mark the Hairless

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South Carolina cops seize heaps of cash during annual enforcement blitz. – D.S.

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Video and Text: Feds to Bring in Riot Squad Against Illegal Immigration Protesters. – T.P.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“The common denominator in all government activity is the use of force: Government either forces you to do things, forces you not to do things, or forces you to pay for things.” – Doug Newman