Notes from JWR:

May 10th is the birthday of the late Col. Jeff Cooper (born 1920, died September 25, 2006.) Cooper was as close to the Patron Saint of practical shooting as a man could be.

This is also the birthday of the late Janis Pinups (born 1925, died 15 June 2007) He was one of the last of the Forest Brothers anti-communist resistance fighters. He came out of hiding after five decades to obtain a Latvian passport in 1994, after the collapse of eastern European communism. (He was never issued any communist government identity papers and by necessity lived as a nonexistent “ghost” during the entire Soviet occupation of Latvia.)

—

Today we present another entry for Round 46 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course. (A $1,195 value.) B.) 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, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear, E.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value), and F.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo. and G.) A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com. The current value of this roll is at least $225.

Second Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training. Together, these have a retail value of $589. C.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. D.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300 and 10 TAPCO polymer magazines (5 AR and 5 AK) courtesy of Armageddon Armory, E.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials and F.) Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) 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, C.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, D.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value. E.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value), and F.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 46 ends on May 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.

Selecting a Prepper’s Firearms, by Frog

Introductory note: This guide is mainly aimed at the American prepper.

Without a doubt, firearms are one of the most important preps we have to make; without a way to defend them, none of the other supplies we amass are truly accounted for. So, when the beginning prepper sets out on the road to self-sufficiency and preparedness, we want to maximize our dollars; buy once, cry once. Perhaps you’re not a ‘gun guy,’ like some of us, or perhaps you’re only used to hunting, or sport shooting. Which guns should be considered, and why? Hopefully, this will help.

Gun number one: The Ruger 10/22. .22LR is an incredibly important round to have covered; besides being the most common round in the continent (and world), it can take anything from mice to deer, if it has to, while being one of the most affordable cartridges to store and shoot (current inflated prices and availability, aside.) Additionally, if you are completely new to firearms, starting with a .22 is an absolute must. No recoil, little noise, and lightweight all make these guns easy to shoot. The polymer-stocked version of this gun is preferable for its durability and weather resistance, but not strictly necessary; threaded barrels are great to keep your options open, as well (more on muzzle accessories later).

Recommended accessories: Spare factory 10 or 25 round magazines, a 2-point sling, and an optic (either a red dot or low-magnification scope). The least expensive red dot worth considering is the Bushnell TRS-25 (I have two, on an AR and AK, respectively, and no failures in about three years and 4,500 rounds).

Gun number two: The AR-15. Now, I know many SurvivalBlog readers side with Rawles on the topic of defensive rifles, but I deviate — and I’ll explain why. First and foremost, commonality. The AR is ubiquitous; they are everywhere, in America, and spare parts will be around more for it than any other centerfire weapon. Now, of course, storing your own spare parts is good (and highly recommended), but more options are preferable to less. The AR is also effective to 600 meters (even with iron sights, as many High Power Rifle competitors can attest to; though optics are preferred!), and while this is less than what a good .308 can do, most engagements happen within 200 meters, anyway, and there are other advantages associated with the AR that I feel make up for this slight downfall, for a go-to defensive carbine. The AR has very, very little recoil, both because of the .223 round itself, and the direct impingement and buffer tube system the rifle uses. Without exaggeration, at close range, you can shoot the rifle as quickly as you can pull the trigger, and easily keep all the rounds in an 8″ circle, using a red dot optic. This is an important consideration, because statistically, we know that most combat happens at close range, and the AR excels here; the lack of muzzle climb means that you can put more rounds on target more quickly than you can with a .308. We also must have an understanding of what kind of terminal ballistics we want out of our main rifles; instant incapacitation, which is only caused by hitting the central nervous system, the aorta, or the heart. Permanent wound channels and expanding hollow points are neat to read about, but the deciding factor in putting bad guys down is hitting the above targets. Knowing that, being able to put more rounds in them more quickly is preferable in a general-purpose defensive rifle. When buying your rifle, opt for a 16″ barrel (M4 contour is usually the least expensive, but when possible, I recommend a heavier barrel; it retains accuracy better when hot). The midlength gas system is preferable, but not necessary; carbine length is almost always less expensive, and will work for you just fine. Always opt for a flat-top railed upper receiver unless you get a really good deal on an AR with an integrated carry handle.

Recommended accessories: Plenty of magazines (Magpul PMAGs, Lancer magazines, NATO aluminum mags with Magpul ant- tilt followers), Magpul ASAP sling plate, Magpul MS3 sling, back up iron sights (Magpul MBUS are less expensive and actually stand up better than metal sights in drop tests), a handstop or vertical foregrip for use with a high-thumb or thumb over bore grip, and a quality tactical flashlight of your choice (the Streamlight Polytac LED is affordable). For an optic, I strongly recommend a red dot sight; Aimpoint is the best if you can afford it, period. The H1 and T1 micros are best for their light weight and small size. For the budgeted prepper, the Primary Arms Micro sights with quick disconnect bases are your best option. For standard rifle and carbine handguards, there are extremely affordable bolt-on rail systems that attach via the upper and lower vent holes. As you can afford it, I also recommend upgrading to a Magpul STR stock; this stock lasts extremely well in drop tests compared to others, provides a better cheek weld, and lets you store spare batteries for your taclights. HSGI TACO rifle pouches are the best mag-carrying option, as well, and I recommend using them with a sturdy rigger’s belt for the lightest gear possible; a lightweight chest rig like the Blue Force Gear Ten Speed M4 Rig is good for adding on for maximum carrying capacity.
Absolutely-don’ts: Optic in a non-quick disconnect mount, or internal modifications (they’re less rugged than mil spec triggers and parts).

Gun number three: The Glock 19 or 17 pistol. Or, less preferably, a Glock 34. Glocks are the most reliable combat handguns in the world — period. People who put guns to use when lives are on the line choose them over others by wide margins, and for good reason; they are extremely simple, extremely rugged, and extremely common. Much like the AR, Glocks benefit from having parts and accessory options everywhere. For new shooters, as well, the controls are as easy as can be; unless you have a malfunction, the only parts of the gun used to operate it are the mag release, and racking the slide during reloads. In a handgun, I strongly prefer not to have a manual safety, as well; if a pistol is coming out, it’s to save your life, and you don’t want anything impeding that. The Glock’s trigger safety, as well as drop and hammer block safeties, totally prevent the firearm from discharging unless the trigger is pulled. As for the cartridge; 9mm is preferable to .40 and .45 for several reasons, much in the same style as .223 vs .308. It recoils less, holds more rounds, and is less expensive when prices aren’t inflated. Besides that, all three rounds have almost identical wound channels with modern ammunition. A Gen 3 or 4 is what you want to look for; earlier models have compatibility issues.

Recommended accessories: Plenty of factory magazines (with +2 baseplates, if you like), a Surefire X300 or Streamlight TLR-1 weapon light, a kydex light-bearing holster (from Raven Concealment, Statureman, kydexbyparlusk, etc.), and either two- or three-dot sights. Make sure to get some HSGI TACO pistol pouches for carrying magazines, just like with the AR. A threaded barrel is a good option, as well.

Absolutely-don’ts: Grip plugs (they prevent you from pulling out stuck mags, and prevent water and debris from draining out the gun as it was designed), recoil buffers (they prevent a full slide cycle and can cause malfunctions, and also can break apart), and internal modifications or replacements (they’re less rugged than factory triggers and parts).

Gun number three: The Remington 870 Express Magnum shotgun. Preferably, one made before 2003; since becoming owned by Cerberus, Remington has had occasional quality control issues. If you’re buying the gun in person, inspect later guns; most are fine, but it’s something to watch out for. While your AR will be a better defensive weapon than the shotgun, 12 gauge is extremely common, and worth having covered. It will allow you to hunt birds and small game, as well as being a good breaching tool with a shorter barrel. Make sure you get the Magnum version so you can use 3″ shells, and not only 2 3/4″; polymer stocks are preferable, but not necessary.

Recommended accessories: Both a 26″ or 28″ bird barrel, and an 18.5″ or 20″ barrel for interpersonal use. Make sure you get the shorter barrel with threads to use choke tubes! Patterning is important! Shotguns do not throw walls of death like in the movies, and every pellet you launch is a liability; besides that, you want to destroy what you shoot at, and getting more pellets on target will do that. On the shorter barrel, having rifle or ghost ring sights is important; many companies make aftermarket sights if your barrel came without them. A shell carrier on the stock, and a velcro-based sidesaddle like the ModuLoader are also great for carrying ammunition. A Magpul MS3 sling and a single point sling attachment are good additions, as well. A taclight mounted to the pump is strongly preferable, as your support hand will always be able to manipulate it immediately, unlike mounted that clamp ahead of the gun’s slide; you can drill and attach a section of rail to your pump to accommodate this, or attach something like a Magpul MOE forend with an illumination kit. If you want, as well, getting the gun MagnaPorted or Vang-Comped will reduce recoil and improve patterning.

Solvent Trap Adapters: Now, a foreword; if you are comfortable with getting fingerprinted and charged and made to wait for legal suppressors in your state, by all means, get some — for every gun you have that can accept one. For the everyman, however, many companies are making a handy rainy-day buy. These adapters are made to screw onto various common thread sizes, such as for .22s, the AR, and threaded Glock barrels, and allow an oil filter to be screwed onto the exterior threads. This filter will catch, and allow you to recycle cleaning materials when cleaning weapons — but it can also be registered and used as a suppressor. With the correct filters, on both AR-15s and AK pattern rifles, the filters do not block the iron sights, either. A quick web search will allow the interest to buy them, and it can easily be done in an extremely discreet manner. They’re a good investment, but be warned! Shooting through an unregistered one is incredibly illegal, but having them put away in case you ever need them is perfectly within the law. [JWR Adds: Readers are warned that the legal status of Solvent Trap Adapters may change in coming years. Therefore, I recommend that you minimize ayn paper trail and buy them face to face with cash at gun shows and don’t mention your name. And if you must order them from an Internet vendor, then only order them using Postal Money Orders, or better yet, Bitcoins.]

What next? Every physically-capable group member should have an AR and a Glock; doubling up on shotguns isn’t as important, nor is doubling up on .22s. I suggest having at least one precision rifle in .308, as well; a Savage 10 FP-SR is an incredibly good value. And, I must admit, getting a PTR-91 and a backpack full of $2 mags when bought in bulk is not a bad idea. Besides that, make sure you have plenty of ammo safely stored. I would consider 3,000 rounds per fighting rifle a minimum! More is always better, and make sure you practice. For carbine and handgun, after you have basic marksmanship down (I suggest an Appleseed shoot; check their web site for meets near you), I strongly suggest looking at Travis Haley’s Adaptive Carbine, and Adaptive Handgun. Many quality instructors have free videos available on youtube, or elsewhere.

Letter Re: Motorcycles as Bugout Vehicles

Hi James,
After seeing and living through the nightmarish traffic jams and rerouting during the Colorado wildfire last summer, I started thinking about the wisdom and utility of having a motorcycle in SHTF scenarios.
 
There are pros and cons to it that I can think of, but I’d like other’s opinions.  An off-the-top of my head list:
 
Pros:
1)  Bypass traffic jams and stalled/out of commission cars.
2)  Saddle-bags can carry a lot more than than a human
3)  Much faster than on-foot bugout.
4)  Handles off-road with suitable tires
5)  Fewer people could drive it compared to a car, so lower theft risk
6)  Small profile makes it hard to shoot
7)  More maneuverable than a car, harder target to shoot
8)  Very fuel efficient
9)  Can add a trailer for added hauling capacity, limited by bug-out route terrain
 
Cons:
1)  Zero protection – rider at high risk
2)  Easy to stop or slow down with chains, cables, fences, etc.
3)  Can’t carry loads of supplies
4)  Gas-powered, not diesel. [With a very few exceptions.]
5)  Difficult to operate when injured
6)  Limited personnel transport capability
7)  Some models headlights are “always on” which is a visibility problem unless you install a secondary switch.
8)  Spare parts may be hard to find
 
I’m considering trading a diesel sedan I have for one of these, but would love to hear what other people think.
 
Thanks for your noble work, – E.M.P.

JWR Replies: This has been briefly discussed before in the blog. The general consensus was to buy a fairly quiet dual sport bike with as much cargo capacity as possible. But I welcome additional input.

Letter Re: Be Prepared to Fortify

Jim:
A few comments on Mountain Man Virgil’s letter titled “Be Prepared to Fortify.” I would like to offer a few alternatives to his plan to “hide security measures in your garage until you need them.” I am assuming that he is referring to items such as barbed wire and sand bags. There are many things one can do which offer very good security and still blend in with the neighborhood. Large decorative rocks, strategically placed or large treated logs as garden or flower beds can offer excellent cover and concealment. Large livestock water tanks of metal or heavy plastic can be painted to make them “cute” additions to the landscape. When filled with sand and dirt make great garden boxes and ballistic protection. Fox holes can be incorporated into landscaping along with hedges of thorned bushes to keep intruders out of certain areas. Small ponds may also serve to limit movement in certain areas . I’m afraid that if you leave your security hidden until needed, you may not have time to deploy them if things start to unravel quickly. Good luck. – Montana Prepper

Economics and Investing:

Reader B.B. sent: 10,962,532: U.S. Disability Beneficiaries Exceed Population of Greece

Record Number of Americans (Including Hamid Karzai’s Brother) Renounce Their Citizenship

Frequent content contributor Jim W. sent: Bix Weir – You Can’t Trust The Paper Price Of Silver and Time is Running Out To Get Physical

Items from The Economatrix:

Robert Shiller:  Home Prices To Remain Stagnant For The Next Ten Years

Gary Shilling:  The Disconnect Between Weak Economies And Strong Markets Won’t Continue

No Bank Deposits Will Be Spared Confiscation

Odds ‘n Sods:

Paul B. suggested this at Nature Bats Last: The irreconcilable acceptance of near-term extinction

   o o o

F.G. liked this: Snell: Waking the dragon — How Feinstein fiddled while America burned

   o o o

The Nanny State run amok: European Commission to criminalize nearly all seeds and plants not registered with government

   o o o

Some near future conjecture by Bill Buppert: The Fourth Strike of the Match (at Zero Gov.)

   o o o

US Government Takes Control of 3D Printed Gun Makers Files/Website

Notes from JWR:

Camping Survival’s Mountain House Sale begins today, and will run for just one week. They are offering Mountain House nitrogen-packed cans at 25% off and their pouches and long term storage HDPE buckets at 15% off.

—

Today we present another entry for Round 46 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course. (A $1,195 value.) B.) 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, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear, E.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value), and F.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo. and G.) A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com. The current value of this roll is at least $225.

Second Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training. Together, these have a retail value of $589. C.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. D.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300 and 10 TAPCO polymer magazines (5 AR and 5 AK) courtesy of Armageddon Armory, E.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials and F.) Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) 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, C.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, D.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value. E.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value), and F.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 46 ends on May 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 TEOTWAWKI in Hawaii, by M. in Honolulu

Hawaii is in a special situation in a potential emergency.  The island chain has seven inhabited islands (of eight major islands) that support a total state population of 1,392,313, a land area of 6,422 square miles, with an overall average density of 217 persons per square mile (11th highest in the U.S., just above Virginia, Ohio and Indiana).  Most of the population (70% or 976,372) is concentrated on Oahu with an area of 597 square miles, an average density of 1,635 per square mile.  The urban core of Honolulu has an estimated population of 340,000 (ranked 55th by population, just above Aurora, Colorado) with an area of 60.5 square miles, or just over 5,600 per square mile, similar to Syracuse, New York or St. Paul, Minnesota.  Hawaii also has about seven million visitors a year, and none of these visitors are prepared for survival in a meaningful way.

Something else differs for Hawaii, since we are 2,400 – 2,600 miles from the nearest US mainland cities and are known as the most remote inhabited island chain in the world, supply chain disruption would have a major impact on life as we know it.  How could we support our large population with supply chain disruptions?  Some background will help us understand what could be done.

Pre-contact survival in Hawaii
In the distant past, before contact (1779) with the west, Hawaii supported a population conservatively estimated at 300,000 but this did not take into account inland populations.  The peak estimates include numbers of 800,000 up to one million. 

This depended on a very organized structure where individual households were merged into a public economy, the well-known ahupua’a system.  This was established from approximately 1200 AD through contact with the west.  In theory these were self-sufficient typically pie-shaped territories that typically extended from mauka (mountains) to makai (the sea), incorporating key resource zones (fresh water, plants, animals, fish, etc.).  Ahupua’a were essentially “estates” often distributed by the rulers to loyal supporters following the successful conclusion of a war of conquest.  Ahupua’a, managed for the chiefs by a specialist class of managers (konohiki), were fundamental to the organization of early historic Hawaiian society.  Moreover, this system replaced the older (and widespread) Polynesian pattern of kin-groups with associated “houses” and ancestral estates.  In reality, the ahupua’a were not all equal in depth and variety of resources, so inter-ahupua’a and inter-island trading of specialized resources did occur with the chief’s permission and control.  So historically, it was possible to support a large population if the systems were in place.  The konohiki regulated what could be harvested and when, in order to maintain the health of the source.

Supply chain disruption
Presently 85 – 90% of all food for Hawaii is “imported” into the state by ship or air.  Although there has traditionally been lots of agricultural land in crops, much of it was dedicated to sugarcane or pineapples, most for export from Hawaii.  With the advent of cheaper labor in other countries such as the Philippines, much (not all) of this dedicated land has been taken out of monoculture agriculture.  Some of it has been converted to truck farms that supply local fruits and vegetables to local users.  Some has converted to coffee, cocoa, cashew, vanilla and other specialty, high-value products.  So supply chain disruption would have an immediate impact to everyone in the population.  Since we are susceptible to hurricanes and tsunamis, most people are prepared to survive 72 hours to seven days.  Hurricane Iniki on 9/11/1992 caused a failure of power systems on Kauai for six weeks, although schools resumed in two weeks.  It did 3 billion dollars in damage.  Many people were in emergency shelters for weeks.

9/11/2001 halted all air travel for Hawaii and most flight did not resume for five days.  Immediately, tourists stopped arriving and the ones already here were stranded for days.  I was on Kauai with friends and family, and the effect was chilling.  We were as far away from 9/11 as one could get in the U.S. and yet we were mesmerized by the event, spending every afternoon in front of the TV catching up on the news.  Many service jobs were immediately laid off; since there was an expected major slow down on people traveling even after the flights were resumed.

Most of our energy comes from oil, with a little coal.  A small percentage of our power comes from burning garbage instead of placing it in landfills.  There are some PV and wind farms on line and they are growing, now above 10% of the total used.  We have a strong military presence in the islands, with all branches represented.

In the event of any event causing a disruption of sea and air transport, the islands would have only a few weeks of food on hand.  Energy supplies would also be limited.  Water is pumped from aquifers beneath the islands and is treated, then pumped into water tanks in the hills to supply pressure to most areas.  In the event of a sustained power outage, use of water must be rationed quickly to provide only critical uses: drinking and cooking.  During a magnitude 6.7 earthquake near Hawaii Island on 10/15/2006 power was disrupted on Oahu (166 miles away) because of generator protection devices being set too sensitively.  This caused an almost 24-hour power failure to some areas, necessitating people using emergency kits to cook food and provide light.  Most all businesses were closed, so it was too late to prepare once the event occurred.  With most predicted events like hurricanes and tsunamis, there is always a last minute scurrying of some people to stock up on groceries, gas and drinking water.

Get prepared
I am prepared for these events on an everyday basis.  As an Eagle Scout I taught survival and preparedness in the 1960s.  As an adult, I have always had an earthquake / hurricane /tornado kit ready.  Most agencies recommend enough to support your family for 72 hours.  Here in Hawaii they recommend 7 – 10 days because of the delays in getting help here in case of a major disaster.
In addition, I have good stocks of food and water as well as the ability to defend and protect them.  I have many alternatives for cooking depending on the need and can cook with wood long term if required.  The shore is two miles away, so fishing is an option if needed.  We have manual transportation (bikes and wagons) if other vehicles run out of fuel.  Bug-out bags are ready and available.  Water purification supplies are at hand.  I won’t go into more detail for OPSEC reasons.

But TEOTWAWKI poses much more serious challenges.  Hawaii would have to immediately make drastic changes in everyday life.  In addition, Hawaii must bump up its level of preparedness, both on a personal, island and state level.  The state and counties have good civil defense / emergency preparedness groups in place because of our isolation.  But they are not preparing for a long, drawn out emergency of weeks, months or years.  Even in a non-emergency situation, critical parts for elevators, generators, airplanes and machinery are in short supply locally.  It can take many weeks to get these parts even with no disruptions to the supply chain.  In case of a TEOTWAWKI situation the parts would be unavailable, maybe for years, if ever.  To improve this, every level of preparedness will need to look at the risks of maintaining critical services and mitigate those risks accordingly.

This is a simple example, for cooking preparedness.  In the case of a few days or even two weeks, an individual can stockpile enough LP gas, butane, charcoal, etc. to get by.  But if the event goes on much longer, the islands will run completely out of these supplies assuming the supply chain is broken.  People need to look to other forms of cooking such as solar or wood.  Almost no one is prepared for this on a long term basis.

In the case of food supplies, it is much more complicated.  Short of relief from the U.S. Mainland or other countries, Hawaii would be in serious trouble.  Even with the farm land that is actively growing, the output is not enough to support the present permanent population, much less visitors who could be stranded here.  It also requires petroleum and power to process, preserve, and transport.  We are lucky in that we can grow most crops year-round.  To date, on my small parcel of land I grow food in a number of raised beds.  I also have fruit trees such as lemon, lime, fig, banana, papaya and breadfruit, as well as containers for tomatoes, garlic, shallots and herbs.  I’ve grown potatoes in buckets as an experiment and will soon try growing rice in 5-gallon buckets.  The raised beds allow me to grow salad greens, collards, kale, beans, sweet potatoes and most other locally-expensive crops.  There are local farms within 3 – 4 miles where bigger plots commercially grow corn, papayas, greens, mangoes, taro and many other items.  There are emerging local aquaponics systems, both personal and commercial.

Of course because we are islands we also have access to the ocean for sustenance.  The historical ahupua’a depended on three key items:  upland / inland forest, lower elevation intensively cultivated areas and a coastal zone, including local fishponds where near shore fish were trapped for harvest on demand.  A few of these fishponds have been restored and are in active use, but many have been destroyed by development.

Even with increased stockpiles of food, Hawaii will need to consider going back to a system similar to the ahupua’a system of old to be self-sufficient.  In particular, the need for fresh water must be dealt with, since growing food also depends on it.  Although many areas of the islands have good rainfall, catchment, processing and distribution of fresh water depend on the use of petroleum products to supply power.  In a TEOTWAWKI situation this would have to change dramatically and quickly.  It would be difficult to prepare individually for this since fresh water is not as easily accessible as in many mainland areas.  Most people here don’t have wells since the fresh water under islands is shaped like a lens and varies based on rainfall and how much is drawn out.  Personally I have a small solar-based desalination / purification system (http://www.seapanel.com) that can be used to desalinate a small amount of sea water (transported about 1.5 miles) or purify fresh water found nearby or gathered from rainfall.  Hawaii has no commercial scale desalination capability at present, although pilot experiments have been done.  The island of Lanai is considering setting up such a system.

I even have a small portable PV system that combined with a lead-acid deep draw battery and 12 volt pump can be used to transfer collected rainwater up the hill behind my house to provide a small pressurized system, but I am still trying to acquire a 1,000+ gallon tank to hold the rainwater.  Getting them shipped here to Hawaii is very expensive.  Solving the problem for an individual family is much simpler than for a neighborhood, a town or an ahupua’a or an island, much less a state.  But it is not enough to prepare yourself and your family when living on an island.  Stocking up a good idea, but will not be enough to weather a long-term emergency or break in the supply chain.

Permaculture principals may be a key part of the answer, since they take a long-term view of how you build a system and how to be sustainable.
Of all the areas in the United States, Hawaii needs to internalize the goal to improve both our survivability and sustainability in order to weather the future, TEOTWAWKI or not.

Letter Re: Sewing, Mending and Altering Your Clothing After the Ball Drops

Dear James,
As a former professional seamstress, I have a comment on using woolen materials for quilts.  They can successfully be washed, provided that the woolen material was previously washed before making a quilt of it, whether the wool is used as the top layer, or as the batting.

The wool should be washed in hot water, and then dried on high heat in the dryer.  It will shrink, which has the double advantage of:  1. making it much warmer; and 2. washed wool becomes somewhat felted, which makes it much sturdier and less prone to wear and pulling of threads which might catch on splinters or rough surfaces.

I have run wool fabrics through the washer and drier prior to sewing them for many years for exactly these reasons, and have nearly always been pleased with the results…except for a couple of extremely loosely knitted fabrics which over-shrank.  Still, even these would have been good for quilt stuffing.

Speaking of which, you can find woolen clothing at thrift shops which can be used for stuffing, as well as for tops.

The author also mentions using acrylic yarn for knitting.  Yes, it is cheap and warm.  However, under TEOTWAWKI conditions, it would be a disaster, since it frays and starts wearing out within a year of heavy use.  Woolen yarn is almost impossible to get any more at ordinary stores, but is readily available online – try eBay – at prices comparable to acrylic. 

Woolen yarn lasts for years, and can be re-knitted when the original item develops wear spots, as the author describes.  Doing that with acrylic is a waste of time. 

I am not a herder, but do know that tribesmen in the Arabian desert mostly live on the sheep they herd, and wear woolen clothing.  Also, the Navajo of the southwest are famous for their woolen blankets, made from the sheep they raise.  Clearly there are sheep that would do fine in the author’s desert area.  Perhaps some of your readers would know what breeds would be appropriate.

The tied quilt sounds like a really fast and simple way to make quilts under emergency conditions.

Wiggy’s is planning to offer quilting, so your readers may want to contact him. Warmly, – Janet W.

Economics and Investing:

Reader R.B.S. sent some more coin debasement news: Stivers proposes using steel for all U.S. coins – not just pennies and nickels. The compromise that the Congresscritters reach might be just dropping the penny and switching the nickel to stainless steel. The days of nickel made of copper and nickel are numbered, so stock up!

Jim W. liked this: Gold – You Better Hold It

Also from Jim: How Your Purchasing Power Was And Is Destroyed. “The fraud you’re being sold is exactly identical to going into a bakery and ordering a sheet cake.  The baker asks you how many pieces you would like the cake cut into; your options are 2, 4, 8, 16 or 32.  He then tells you that if you’re really hungry you should choose 32, because that way you can eat more pieces.”

Courtesy of H.L.: Largest Wholesaler in U.S. Sold Out of 100 Ounce Silver Bars

Items from The Economatrix:

Why The Jobs Outlook Just Got A Whole Lot Worse

The Global “Fractional” Paper Bullion Market Is Collapsing

Freely-Traded Markets Are An Anachronism:  Fundamental Rules No Longer Apply

Odds ‘n Sods:

Michael Z. Williamson (SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large) found a link to a great video, profiling an old school, multigenerational machine shop: Central Texas Tool Co.

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A long-standing joke is that a lot of dead people cast votes in the eastern seaboard states. Not to be outdone, deceased anti-gun mayors sign petitions from the grave, again and again. In more recent news: Another one of the Bloomberg Crime Fighters goes to the Big House, for corruption: Hamilton, New Jersey Mayor John Bencivengo. And another, Former Brownsville Mayor Pat Ahumada, has just been charged with operating an illegal gambling establishment. And here are some MAIG member “Working The System” updates: Mayor Ray Nagin: Indicted, trial date delayed to October; Mayor Noramie Jasmin is seeking funds for her legal defense (Gee, why not use some of that bribe money?); Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick: still begging to be released before sentencing. (He swears he doesn’t own a white Ford Bronco); Mayor Tony Mack: Indicted on corruption charges, trial date delayed; Mayor Richard P. Corkery: Still awaiting trial on child pornography charges after two years; Mayor Adam Bradley: Wife-beating conviction overturned and will get a new trial; Mayor Eddie Perez: Still free on bond three years after getting a three year sentence, and now his lawyers are asking for a new trial, since they claim that showing the jury all of the evidence was damaging to his reputation; Mayor Craig Lowe has entered a not guilty plea after his drunken car wreck, despite some damning police dashcam footage and a failed breathalyzer test; Mayor Gary Becker has been released after serving three years on child pornography and child enticement charges but will still have five years of GPS monitoring and “community supervision”; Mayor James “Jay” Schiliro of Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania (a suburb of Philadelphia): awaits trial on reckless endangerment, unlawful restraint, official oppression, false imprisonment at gunpoint, providing alcohol to a minor, et cetera. (His homosexual advances were not considered legal in Pennsylvania since the young man was over 18.) Despite the fact that he is being held in jail, he is still seeking re-election (how’s that for chutzpah!); Mayor April Capone Almon has been re-elected after making a show of donating a kidney; Mayor Samuel Rivera: Presumably released after serving 16 months in Federal prison and then 21 months in a halfway house; Mayor Sheila Dixon: May be returning to politics. (It seems that the disgrace of stealing charity money from the poor is just trifling and transitory, in some circles.)

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Jeff H. suggested a piece by David Hathaway over at Lew’s site: Ham Radio Freedom

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Forbes: This Is The World’s First Entirely 3D-Printed Gun (Photos)

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Bill D. sent this from his local newspaper: Preppers: Ready, Come What May, In The Shenandoah Valley. (Yet another example of bad OPSEC. If a journalist wants to interview you, then he should respect your privacy and be willing to identify you by a pseudonym. But this only happens if you insist on it!)

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R.B.S. sent: Internet tax bill targets all digital downloads

Notes from JWR:

May 8th is the birthday of American missionary and military intelligence officer Captain John Birch. (Born, 1918, died August 25, 1945.) He is considered by many to be the first American casualty of the Cold War.

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John Bush (of The Dealer Warehouse and other ventures) recently posted this sad news: “Long time machine gun and gun importer Edward Faust passed away this weekend. [He] literally imported thousands of machine guns into the US, many of you probably have a gun marked “IA CO SAC CA” which was the import mark found on the ARMEX guns. Worked with most everyone in the industry, brokered lots of deals for others. Has many ‘firsts’ to his credit, will be missed by family and friends.”

And more sad news: RIP Ray Harryhausen: 1920 – 2013.

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Today we present another entry for Round 46 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course. (A $1,195 value.) B.) 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, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear, E.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value), and F.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo. and G.) A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com. The current value of this roll is at least $225.

Second Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training. Together, these have a retail value of $589. C.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. D.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300 and 10 TAPCO polymer magazines (5 AR and 5 AK) courtesy of Armageddon Armory, E.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials and F.) Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) 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, C.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, D.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value. E.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value), and F.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 46 ends on May 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.

Fats and Rancidity: A Food Storage Problem, by L. Joseph Mountain

Many of the dehydrated “food storage units” available these days specify that you need a certain amount of fats or oils to supplement their unit. You probably know these units, they generally sell as “1 person, 1 year” type of packages and they contain a variety of grains, legumes, fruits and other essentials. They are generally put together with the help of nutritionists that try to deliver a certain amount of calories and essential nutrients per day. You might wonder why they don’t just include a container of oil to complete their units. Or even why we need them.

Fats (oils or lipids) are one of our bodies essential nutrients. This means they aren’t optional, we get sick and die without them. While our bodies can manufacture some of the fat we need by using other nutrients, we can’t make enough of them.

Fats are our body’s method of storing energy, lubricating joints and we need them to absorb [the fat soluble] vitamins A, D, E and K which aren’t normally soluble in water. And in times of starvation our body burns off stored fat by converting it into energy, mostly by turning it into glucose which is the favored food of our cells. Since this takes some work, and because our body favors the easiest to digest nutrition it finds, fat tends to get stored first and burned last when we have excess nutrition.

Fats are pretty chemically simple, being chains of carbon with hydrogen attached and tail with oxygen attached. Unfortunately the presence of these hydrogen and oxygen molecules aren’t all that chemically stable and the hydrogen and oxygen tend to become attracted to and run off with the milk man so to speak. They can get together with each other and create water which will induce a milky or emulsified kind of appearing oil, and this would be a hydrolysis. We often see this with oils that have been “annealed” or subject to repeated heating and cooling.

The other thing is they can combine with oxygen and we have oxidation. We also call it “rancidity” and it’s an unpleasant quality we smell and taste.  This unpleasant taste and odor is progressive, it gets worse and worse until the stuff is pretty much unpalatable. Oils and fats coat the inside of our mouths, making our taste buds more receptive to taste which is ordinarily great but if that taste is foul it’s even harsher.

Chemically when oxygen gets in the door it starts breaking into fatty acids, specifically hydro-peroxide (measured as PV) and thiobarbituric values (TBA). Unfortunately there’s no cheap do-it-yourself test kit for this chemistry at home besides your nose.

Peroxides are even more unstable and break down into ketones, alcohol and aldehydes. Think of a rotten banana Bananas are actually pretty oily and it’s partially the oil oxygenating that gives that alcohol or ketone smell.

If you have ever smelled old oil paint from a long time ago, that kind of dank smell was it. This is because we used to use things like linseed and cottonseed oil in paints and it rancidified like all vegetable oils. Once you know what that flavor and odor is you won’t forget it. Unfortunately it might be more familiar to you than you realize. Staleness is another flavor associated with rancidity but I’ve found a lot of people don’t detect it. I honestly think we’re used to it.  Foods take a lot longer to get from farm to table these days.

Some say that because we’ve gotten used to refined flours that don’t contain as much oils as well as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats that some believe last longer on the shelf. In fact we’ve gotten used to leaving boxes of things like pancake mix in the cupboard for a year or more. And all the people you see buying 3 gallon jugs of cooking oil “to last all year” aren’t doing themselves a favor. And in fact we don’t really know how long that oil has been on a shelf or in a hot warehouse before it got to you. All in all it seems that buying oils in small quantities is the way to go.

There aren’t the kind of immediate health risks with rancid oils as there are from bacteria or other mean little bugs that grow on spoiled food.  Until recently we didn’t recognize any major mal effects besides loss of flavor. This is changing as we suspect rancid oils aren’t able to do their job for us chemically as effectively as we need them to ask far as vitamin uptake. We’re not sure that rancid oils don’t contribute to long term health issues like obesity as these fats aren’t as easily broken down into glucose. And there’s the feeling these oils might turn into free radicals. All of these would have long term health effect implications.

It’s worth spending a moment and making this point about brown rice, wheat berries or any whole grain flour. These all contain the germ and bran which contain a lot of fat and these create further challenges for long term storage. Low fat beans store longer than high fat ones, nuts go great in cans but nothing can stop the oils in them from rancidifying over time. This is why cheap nuts often taste bitter. They are older stock. White rice and white flours are optimal for storage. I know that’s horrible news to those of us who love our whole grains and count on their enhanced nutrition. That’s why we want to take every precaution when storing whole grains and high oil content foods.

We can slow rancidity down but we can’t stop it. The ways to slow it down are the very same general rules we use for all foods in long term storage:

1. Keep it cool. It seems a lot of people store their oils up high next to the stove. Over-stove storage is for pots and pans, not for any food product.

2. Keep it out of sunlight. Some people seem to want to keep fancier oils out on the counter. We see this with infused oils that are pretty to look at but out in the light they are deteriorating rapidly.

3. Try to keep oxygen away from it. It would be good if oil came in mylar bags with spouts like cheap wine. The advantage here is the container shrinks along with the stored product leaving less room for oxygen. A large bottle will eventually contain mostly oxygen. Consider breaking your oils out into small containers so this effect is minimized. And note that not all plastics are air-impermeable meaning that air and gases will in fact leak through it. Food grade plastics can be trusted. Glass is best.

4. Don’t let water adulterate it. The above steps help as does keeping stored foods at consistent temperatures because changing pressures won’t tend to break seals. Keeping oils in sealed containers is our best defense against water.

My personal feeling is that the less refined (read saturated) fats seem to hold up best. Cold pressed extra virgin olive oil fits the bill but so does lard. Some of these cold pressed oils will hold up for months in proper storage and lard does great in cans (no light or oxygen penetration plus it’s free of acids and flavors found in other oils). I don’t really have science to back that up with other than the shortened carbon-hydrogen chains in these newer unsaturated fats leave it more unstable. I have heard that these unsaturated fatty acids will bind to protein to form lipid-protein globs that are insoluble and I find this as credible as it is undesirable.

[JWR Adds: Canned lard products like Crisco should be avoided, since they are often bordering on rancid even when bought “fresh” at your local store. The metaliziced cardboard containers used for Crisco are permeable to oxygen. As I detail in the Rawles Gets You Ready Preparedness Course, for long tern storage I recommend stocking up on case lots of virgin olive oil and coconut oil in full, sealed plastic bottles. These oils are available inexpensively at COSTCO and other Big Box stores. Although glass bottles are impermeable to oxygen, a plastic bottle allows oil to expand when stored frozen. (Glass bottles will shatter.) When stored frozen at 10 degrees F or lower, olive oil can have more than an eight year shelf life. Needless to say, date-mark the label of each bottle that you store, to facilitate first-in, first-out (FIFO) rotation. I hope that olive oil becomes available in gas impermeable mylar pouches, but for now, plastic bottles are the best available compromise. As I’ve mentioned before, raising livestock or hunting bears are the only sure ways to provide needed fats in long term isolation. But raising pigs isn’t for everyone. Don’t overlook chickens, since egg yolks are a good source of fat.]

Perhaps most interesting to me is how fats operate in freeze dried scenarios and upon rehydration. The fats are pretty much still there even with the removal of all that hydrogen and oxygen and I have to remind myself that in fats these are chemically bound to carbon. It’s not water, it just contains the components thereof. With normal dehydration these oils are basically unaltered and are more prone to spoilage. With freeze-drying and subsequent packaging we don’t permit free oxygen to get back in.

If your diet is severely lacking in fats and you can’t find bacon, eat more whole grains. Eggs, milk, cheese all contain it. Corn is such a wonderful source of oil that if you grow enough you can press your own oil. It’s almost hard to imagine most of us not getting enough fat in our normal habitual diet.

The cautions come in if you are utterly dependent upon your stored food and have no hope of obtaining food (with fat in it) from outside sources. Or perhaps if your diet is limited to refined starches. For me it’s hard to imagine this scenario but other preppers presume this level of isolation even for long periods. The RDA (government’s recommended daily allowance) of fat is about 60 grams so that’s about two avocados worth. Avocados are wonderful sources of dietary fat but again, most of the other foods you eat have fat as well. For long term storage it looks like the best lipid pick is good old canned lard.

About The Author: L. Joseph Mountain recently published Hidden Harvest: Long Term Food Storage Techniques For Rich And Poor. His web site is www.LongTermStorageFood.com where “articles are sometimes archived, info is irregularly updated and questions are occasionally answered.”