Economics and Investing:

Veteran content contributor K.A.F. sent this: Gasoline Prices are Not Rising, the Dollar is Falling. Here is a brief quote: “”Right now, the threat posed by rising gasoline prices is not just to family budgets. An even greater danger is that the government will use escalating oil prices as an excuse to do something stupid.”

G.G. flagged this: Chart of the Week: Nearly Half of All Americans Don’t Pay Income Taxes

The Real Hunt Brothers Silver Story Part 1

Projected PIIGS Pillage: 3233.5 Tons of Gold to be Confiscated by Insolvent European Banks

Items from The Economatrix:

Gasoline Gas Spike Has Temporary Offset

Housing Dilemma:  There’s Not Enough to Buy

Some Greeks Might Have To Pay For Their Jobs

The Looming Threat to Gas Prices:  Straight of Hormuz Explained

Odds ‘n Sods:

F.B. sent this charming bit: Official: Anonymous May Be Able to Disable Power Grids by Next Year

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Reader R.J.R. recommended this free Kindle e-book: 101 Offline Activities You Can Do With Your Child.

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Ready for grid down? “Z2” sent us this BBC article: MPs warn over nuclear space bombs and solar flares

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To follow up on a previous article link: Felony gun charge dropped against Farmington man: County attorney calls Fleming an ‘upstanding member of the community’.

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G.G. suggested this: Gun culture spreads in India: Indians own about 40 million guns, second only to the U.S. Rising incomes, along with crime and fear of terrorist attacks, have fueled firearms purchases.

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And, speaking of guns: Gun owners hope to win the right to carry concealed weapons.

Note From JWR:

Today we present another two entries for Round 39 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, 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 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) 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, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

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

Round 39 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Adjusting Survival Plans to Meet Your Unique Circumstances, by Thomas A.

So, first a quick rundown on my family circumstances.  I am a lawyer by training.  My spouse, a former teacher, is midway through dental school.  We own a (mortgaged) home in the Virginia suburbs of a large city.  My spouse is from a western state, having grown up around guns, hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, etc.  By contrast, I grew up in a small city, in a house without guns.  I was in the Cub Scouts for a few years, but various other interests took over and I never got to do the majority of the important skill-building that being in the Boy Scouts allows.  I was, however, a varsity athlete in high school and college, as was my spouse, and we still retain some of the drive toward fitness that preparedness requires.  I am a relatively recent convert to the prepping mindset, thanks in large part, surprisingly, to my dad.  Several years ago, he was caught out, overnight, on a major highway because of a bad tractor-trailer accident in horrendous weather.  He had nothing in the car to eat, or to keep warm.  Luckily, he was able to pull onto the shoulder and drive around cars until he reached a nearby exit, where there was a gas station on a back road, which was covered in ice.  He couldn’t drive home, but the gas station allowed him to eat junk food and to keep warm without completely depleting his gas on the road.  He also had his cell phone (no car charger, though), and between us, we coordinated with his neighbors to feed the dog, etc., while he was away.  He was lucky, and he began immediately afterward to stockpile food at the house, keep needed items in the car, and generally to begin preparing for various minimal disaster scenarios.  His experience impacted me, as well, and we began talking about what we might do in the event something serious happened, creating a loose framework of family responses to various emergencies.

My Own Planning
I began to research and came across ww.survivalblog.com, which I consider to be the finest resource available for relevant information on the topic of prepping.  After reading up on the admittedly overwhelming range of considerations that a complete approach to prepping requires, I started planning.  As the literature says to do, I first determined which scenarios I thought were most likely to occur, and decided what we could do on our meager budget (most lawyers these days work in smaller firms or in solo practices and do not make anywhere near what the general public is led to believe) to prepare.  Knowing how my wife thinks, and thinking that it might be counterproductive if I just brought the whole thing up out of nowhere, I began discussing prepping with her slowly.  We had a couple of conversations, and I suggested a few books (S.M. Stirling’s Dies the Fire and William R. Forstchen’s One Second After are two that I mentioned.)  In hindsight, I shouldn’t have been so cautious, as she was actually very receptive to the idea of being prepared for different eventualities.  However, given the demands of her job at the time and her application process to dental school, virtually all of the planning and decision-making fell to me.

We already had one handgun and 100 rounds of ammunition due to a previous situation with a crazy neighbor, but that was all we started with.  We didn’t feel that compelled to increase either the number of guns or the number of rounds we stockpiled because we both worked within a mile of our home, and we decided that our priorities for preparing actually first lay with making sure we had enough to eat.  Over time, we stockpiled several months of food and water at the house, my wife got a cell phone (which she hated at first), and I started planning for both bug-out and bug-in situations.  I began building a bug-out bag for each of us. We bought an all-wheel drive vehicle.  We started thinking about what we would do with our pets if we had to leave the house.  My wife received a prestigious military scholarship that paid for the vast majority of her expensive tuition and provided a small stipend while she is in school.  Everything was coming together, if slowly.

Everything Changes
Then everything changed.  About 18 months ago, I got laid off because of the combination of the sheer number of attorneys in town in my particular practice area and the dwindling number of paying clients. Due to the horrendous job market for attorneys, I had to take a job out of town, about 150 miles away.  My wife stayed behind in our house.  We did this to allow her to complete the dental school program she was in. 
We talked at length before we made this decision, focusing mainly on the risks and benefits of living apart.  Our plan was (and is) that I should have an apartment near my job where I stay during the week, and I come home to our house on the weekends.  The salary at my new job is nearly double what I was making before, and even accounting for the additional expense of gas and of an apartment in another city, we can still afford to make substantial payments toward eliminating our credit card debt.  We have paid off two credit cards, and are moving quickly toward being completely free of credit card debt.  We only have one small car payment, which is the next target after the credit card debt is gone.  Her dental school education is supremely important, not only because it’s what she has dreamed for years of doing, but because being a dentist has a certain value all its own.  Reading any of the survival fiction available, it’s a common (and reasonable) theme that, in a SHTF scenario, in communities where resources are scarce, only those who can contribute will be welcome.  As a stopgap measure, then, her dental skills may become very useful.

But there was an obvious complication.  All of my careful planning and preparing had resulted in plans we could no longer really use.  Everything was different, so I had to go back to the drawing board.

Implementing Changes
We had to re-think everything.  First, we decided that protection was now of primary importance.  Having only one handgun between us was not enough, not if I was going to be living somewhere out of town and driving 150 miles, one way.  Let me say now that my wife is an excellent shot, much better than I am, in fact.  This is to be expected because she has been shooting since she was a young child (the first gun she ever shot was a .357 Magnum – and that is a really funny story that I won’t go into here).  Her father was an excellent teacher.  But we couldn’t very well do much with one handgun between us.  So we bought my wife a Glock pistol, which she loves.  Then, I bought a Kel-Tec PF9, really for concealed carry (I already had my CCW License), because my other handgun was too big to carry (a Taurus Millennium Pro).  I also got a great deal on a Mossberg shotgun to keep at the house.  I also began to stockpile ammunition.  We do not live in a place where a large-caliber rifle is going to do much good, but in the event of a SHTF situation, I do have a slingshot for squirrels and a .22 rifle is next on the purchase list. Those might help for a few critical days if we decide to bug in, and could be good on the road either as protection or for hunting.  The upshot of all of this is that I now am able to carry a gun plus keep a spare in my B.O.B. at all times.  My wife is much better able to defend the house if she needs to because she has her own handgun (for carry) and a shotgun for last-ditch protection at home.  We also now have made a commitment to regular range training and I am looking into additional personal defense training.  In one sense, then, making this drastic life decision forced us to drastically improve our defense capability. Hunting is another story, but our increased budget has allowed us to stockpile more food.

In many other ways, though, we were back at square one.  For example, what do we do if and when telephone service is not available?  Before, when we were living together and working close to our home, this wasn’t a terribly important consideration.  Now, living 150 miles apart most of the week, it’s crucial.  Presently, we rely heavily on cell phones, email and Skype to communicate during the week. If the satellites are down, and the roads are impassable for any reason, how do we coordinate our movements?  The only viable answer to that question is greater planning and practice during our limited time together so that we can trust in the plans we have made. 

But the considerations are myriad. 
Bugging-in is relatively simple, but do we plan on my coming back home first before we bug out together?  If we do, then we will have to allow for a maximum of three weeks before she executes any fail-safe bug out plan.  In the event of road closures, hiking the full 150 miles across two interstates and many other, smaller highways will take at least two weeks, and probably closer to three.  In the meantime, will it be safe at the house?  If not, where do we go?  How do we decide whether or not it’s safe for her to remain at the house?  How does she communicate her decision?  What is the secondary meet-up point if she has to leave?  How long will she stay?

We had to pay closer attention to mapping my route home.  Virginia provides free road maps upon request, both of the major roads and the so-called “scenic” roads, which may be useful in mapping alternative routes along more rural properties.

The purpose and contents of my B.O.B. also had to change.  Rather than 72 hours, I had to plan for several weeks.  A larger bag, a tarp/tent, extra food, means of getting more food, a more robust and capable water filter, etc.  Because of the additional gear, the weight of the bag increased, and so versatility of various items also had to increase.  Her B.O.B. also had to change.  Honestly, we’re still working out how to deal with pets and the additional pet food, etc., but the purpose of her B.O.B. is to sustain her in traveling to our pre-arranged location, where we have cached a number of additional supplies. Ultimately, and tragically, the hard truth is that we may have to leave beloved pets behind.  Also, with my wife obligated in the military when she graduates, we will likely be moving some distance away while she is serving.  Caching, then, is only a temporary solution to a larger problem, and one which we will have to solve at least a couple more times in the near future.

Our new situation presented us with smaller considerations also.  Where I work, I live only several blocks from my office, in a small apartment.  However, I have no garage parking.  I do have a dedicated parking space at work where, if I wanted, I could leave my car 24 hours a day and walk to and from work.  However, the neighborhood near the office is not great, so I normally park at night on the street near my apartment (the few blocks make a big difference).  I still don’t want to leave my B.O.B. (and the loaded gun inside it) in the car overnight, so I generally leave the bag in my apartment unless I know I am driving some distance.  In terms of OPSEC, I have had to make a hard choice, since it cannot have escaped notice that, occasionally, I move a large, obvious hiking/camping bag to and from the car and the apartment without any apparent reason.  I’m still working on how to make that transition less obvious while maintaining the amount of gear I will need in my B.O.B.  However, I have done too much work and spent too much money to have the B.O.B. stolen, and as a responsible gun owner, I cannot in good conscience leave the gun in a car on the street to be so easily stolen by thieves.

Finally, our long-term plans have had to be more fluid.  Previously, we had planned eventually to purchase land and build a home in a rural area in Virginia.  The uncertainty of my wife’s eventual posting, however, has delayed that a bit.  We do know that we would like to come back to Virginia after she is done with the military, but that may also change.  At the same time, the longer we wait, the more risk we take in not having our retreat available. 

Acquiring New Skills
Not being at home during the week, I do have some time to seek to acquire new skills to supplement my formal education, which would be all but useless in a SHTF situation.  I have time to go the gym and am improving my fitness.  Also, I am currently looking for defensive shooting classes in the area, and with the number of hiking trails around, I have the opportunity to spend some time every week hiking with my pack to begin building up endurance in the event that I have to walk home.  I am reading about foraging for edible plants and about the wildlife in the area.  Living in the apartment, I have no room to practice gardening, etc., but I feel I am making the best of my situation.
We also have a trip planned for later this year to the Pacific Northwest, to my wife’s parents’ house, where I will be spending time with her dad in order to learn some of the hunting, tracking and fishing skills I lack.

The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that the major change we were forced to make in our lives has had both benefits and massive complications.  It has made us (and allowed us financially to) make some immediate improvements in our preparations, but in general, it has made us revisit our plans and drastically change them to suit our new circumstances.  On the bright side, knowing that our living situation will change in the future, we now have the experience of revisiting and changing our plans to adapt to our new circumstances.

SurvivalBlog remains a crucial resource for me, and I have spent hours looking through the archives to gain insight into ways to handle our situation.  Thanks to SurvivalBlog’s varied topics of discussion, I feel I have a much better idea of what questions to ask when I am thinking about making or changing plans.  Thank you, Mr. Rawles, for your prescience and insight.  Keep up the good work!

Experiences Prepping in Florida and Texas, by Scott B.

I’ll start this by saying I’m a single 33 year old. I’ve been into preparedness long before I knew there was a word for it.  I don’t really know where it came from in the beginning, though my mother was my Cub Scout leader in elementary school. Some of my best memories were sitting on the floor underneath the dining room table tying knots around the table legs. I also remember reading The Hardy Boys Handbook: Seven Stories of Survival in elementary school, which was a mix of survival stories and information. It is worthwhile to find a copy for your kids.

As I graduated high school in Texas, Y2K was looming.  I had always been someone to keep a flashlight and jumper cables in my car, but that seemed just sensible to me.  I bought several magazines on Y2K preparedness but being on a college student budget and living in the dorms there was little I could do besides buy a couple of plastic water storage bags. Then after graduation I moved to Florida.

Florida, it would seem, would be the natural place for someone with a survival mindset. Having never lived in Florida before but being someone that watched the news often, all I knew about the state was: Hurricanes.
My father and extended family had lived in Florida for several years and had been through at least one hurricane and the wildfires of the late 1990s. My father being ex military I was sure they would be accepting of the idea and most certainly were several steps ahead my concept of preparedness. Boy, was I wrong.

When I arrived at my father’s house, I couldn’t find a functioning flashlight. They had no water storage. They had a grill that was electric. They had a generator that was not only undersized, but had never been taken out of the box. When I inquired to where there fuel storage was, the reply was ‘we’re going to siphon out of the cars’.  Ok, reasonable idea. Where is the siphon pump? Where are the extension cords for the generator, or do you plan to put it in the middle of the living room?

These questions bothered me greatly, and then Hurricane Floyd came.  I was working for Radio Shack store on Merritt Island at the time, and we had set up a display full of weather radios. I even went as far as to print a picture of the satellite track and tape it onto the stack of boxes. It was mostly ignored. 

Until the final few hours.
I was at the store with a co worker when the wind started to pick up. I made the decision to go home to help the family pack for the evac.  The story that was told to me later was that about  5 minutes after I left, the district manager called to tell him he was free to close the store whenever he felt uncomfortable.  The story goes, that after the district manager hung up, the store was inundated with local people, buying every flashlight, battery pack and weather radio they could get there hands on.  Good day for business, bad day for common sense.

We were lucky enough to have a house in Orlando, so we had some place to go.  I was in the first carload to the house that I had only visited once. The Orlando house had even few preparations than the primary house had.  I fell asleep that night in my clothes with my five year old 4-cell MagLite next to my bed, trying to figure out how to put the skylight back on with duct tape, that I was sure was going to blow off during the night.
As with most Hurricanes that head for the Space Coast, it blew itself out before it barely made landfall.  We didn’t even lose power, thus the complacency continued.

One of my windfall moments was a few months later when Hurricane Irene hit.  [By the time it reached us,] it was a tiny storm, barely a Cat 2.  We had put up our opaque lexan window panels by that point. Irene hit late in the morning and I had slept though most of it. Ironically enough, though the winds were pretty minor, we had lost power.  Since my windows were darkened due to the panels, I had problems finding my way out of my own bedroom. I’ve slept with that 4-cell Maglite under my bed ever since. It’s there right now,  11 years, two states, and many cities later.

I lived in that house on the Space Coast for another year, quietly building a first aid kit, some batteries, flashlights and other equipment quietly. I hid a lot of two liter coke bottles re-filled with water under my bed. It got little attention, until we got our latest ‘boil water order’.  As my father started to fill pots to put on the stove, I pulled a couple of bottles out from under the bed and passed them out. Not a lot of appreciation, but not a lot of scorn either. I was okay with that.

A year or so later, I was on my way to my student research project on my off college day.  I wasn’t much one for the local Orlando radio stations, so it wasn’t until I got to work when I found out about what was going on in New York.  It was 9.11.01.   My boss was e- military and we had several active duty military personnel in the research project. I watched the Internet go to a crawl and cell phone service die.  I finally decided to go home and began filling up anything I could find with water, not sure what would happen next.   My brother got home a little while later. He was working at Sea World at the time and for the first time in remembered history, they had closed and emptied the park.

I remember the uncertainty of the following few months. I recall the anthrax attacks, the invasion of Iraq and the D.C. Sniper.  I was in college in Orlando at this point and had a few extra dollars.  I gathered what I could, mostly first aid and water storage as quietly as I could manage.

Many years later I found my way back home to Texas, and to a place of my own.  I didn’t have to answer anyone about preps and though Y2K had long passed and the overall sense of dread of domestic terrorism was starting to subside, I still wanted to continue prepping.  I had been a member of an online survival forum for a while at this point and it was gaining momentum. As I tried to talk to friends and family about prepping, I had mixed results. When you talk about prepping, people’s minds often go to the extreme.  While there certainly are people sitting in cabins in the woods, surrounded by MREs, I’d put them in the extreme minority. 
I try to talk about balance and threat analysis.  I currently live in Central Texas, which has a stable climate, stable power grid,  no major targets for attack, and is seismically stable.  We did have some radical flooding a few years ago but other than that, we’ve been pretty lucky. I’ve mentioned that about the most extreme plausible thing I can think of is a freak ice storm.

Then Hurricane Katrina happened.
I was working for another Radio Shack store at the time, and it began with strange phone calls from other stores.  Locations were selling out of weather radios and flashlights as fast as we could get them in.  I hadn’t been paying attention to the news lately so I was caught unaware of the situation.   I remember going home that night and reviewing my preps. I was pretty solid at that point, but decided to venture out for some last minute items.
You couldn’t find a pack of batteries in Austin if you tried. You couldn’t find a bottle of water if you had $1,000 to spend on it.

I remember going to an Academy Sports store to look for items. There were several very confused and frightened looking people in the camping aisle, staring at the wall of water filters with glazed over eyes.  I reached for the last 5 gallon water jug a half second before another man did. I had 3 at home, so I let him have it.  He turned and started to look at the MSR Miniworks water filters and I made a quiet comment about what to look for. I glanced up to see 8 pairs of eyes, fixated on me, eager for information.  I answered what I could and made my way home. Seeing that the parking lot at my local grocery store looked like Wal-Mart on the day after Thanksgiving, I found a new respect for Walgreens. They had everything I needed, with reasonable (if not slightly higher) prices.  Keep an eye out for a Walgreens or CVS pharmacy if you’re in an emergency situation.

I watched the news that night and attempted to keep my stress level down. I’m a marginally high strung person and I though I’ve been into prepping for  a while, I had yet to actually be in an emergency situation. I packed my freezer with as many bags of ice as I could make and filled everything I could find with water. I moved a mattress into my closet and even made plans to block the windows.  You see, in those final few hours, there were news reports that estimated that Katrina was supposed to go right up the middle of Texas, through Houston and up and through Austin and onward.  Bastrop (a South East Suburb of Austin) had evacuation orders was another rumor.

The next day was a mix of emotions. Texas barely got anything, while the insanity of New Orleans took hold.  My own personal temper was fanned by my employment situation. You see, when no disaster came to pass in Texas, virtually every pack of batteries, weather radio, flashlight or pocket television was returned. I wanted to scream at every customer, standing there holding there receipt. It was less about my deflated bonus check about the frustration that was so similar to what I felt in Florida.  It wasn’t like we were selling generators or gas masks. It wasn’t like the items were thousands or even hundred of dollars. I couldn’t understand why someone would return a $5 flashlight ‘because nothing happened, so now I don’t need it.’

I’ve stopped trying to beat people over the head with prepping. I’ve found that you catch my flies with honey than you do with vinegar. When I talk to people about prepping, I focus on realistic threats and low cost solutions.  People think that prepping is expensive. It doesn’t have to be. I tell people that if they stop to think about it,  probably 80% of the things they need they already have, and another 15% of things, they should have. Does every house need a flashlight, a first aid kit and a fire extinguisher?  Have you ever gone camping? You probably have a stove, blankets and sleeping bags. Water storage is as cheap as a 2 liter soda bottle, or  a $12 Aquatainer. It’s not about guns and gas masks, though I don’t discount those either. It’s not about zombies or EMPs, though I don’t discount those either.

If you stop and look around your town or city, you can probably come up with a few plausible, reasonable situations that could happen with little to no warning.  Are you prone to snow, ice, flooding or extreme heat?  Do you live near a rail line? (overturned chemical car anyone?). If you live near a nuclear power plant or military base, do you know several ways to get out of town?

Mostly, focus on the little things. I still feel strongly that most of the situations that you’re going to come across you won’t be home for. Do you carry a flashlight, tool kit, jumper cables and a flash light in your car? You don’t even want to know how many of each of those are in mine. I don’t feel normal if I leave the house without a knife in my pocket and a flashlight on my key ring. Why?  These are things that I use every day of my life. People reading this would say that will probably think that is too basic a thing to even mention, but look around you. How many of you have friends or family that don’t own flashlights.  How many of your friends don’t have jumper cables in their car?

I’ve slowly got friends and family into prepping. It was a hard road. Being subtle helps. Christmas and birthdays provide opportunities.  I wouldn’t suggest buying a relative a gas mask if they aren’t already on board.  Start easy, like a wind up weather radio or lantern. Something they will likely use even not in a disaster situation. Even cheesy disaster movies like 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow (one of my favorites) provide opportunities. Anything that will give you the chance for a discussion is of benefit, just keep it light. Let them come to you for more information when they are ready. Let them know that you love them and you’re trying to help save their life, but don’t beat them over the head with it if they aren’t ready.

Most importantly, keep a good attitude. At the end of the day, unless you’re Bill Gates, you can’t prepare for every single situation. Pick your battles and your primary threats. Do what you can when the finances allow.  By reading this and going to the store, you’re already ahead of 95% of the population.  Regardless of what the voice over on Doomsday prepper says about the odds of a disaster happening, remember:  It’s not about the odds, it’s about the stakes.

Four Letters Re: Celiac Disease: The Gluten-Free Prepping Challenge

Jim:
I am also gluten intolerant and I found out much in the same way and the previous writer.  In addition the information provided I would like to point out potatoes.  They can be bought in 50 pounds bags and stored in a root cellar for most of the winter.

We buy two 50 pound bags in the fall that last us until late spring.  We also grow 18 different varieties of potatoes and save and grow them from seed each spring.  That way we have the knowledge and ability to ramp up our own potato production in case we couldn’t buy them from the farm down the road.

As for bulk oats they should be avoided by people with celiac disease unless they are certified gluten free.  Growing a field of oats without wheat contamination is a difficult and costly process.  Ordinary bulk oats are contaminated with wheat.  After three days of one bowl of bulk oats a day, my intensities let me know that there is gluten in there.  Store what you eat, eat what you store. – Dan in Upstate New York

 

JWR;
This posting has come at an opportune time for me. My daughter-in-law has celiac. That combined with the fact that she is a vegetarian has left me with few options for stocking foods that she can eat.  She has to be wheat free and gluten free. You and poster are correct about separate grinders etc. When they come to visit, she must use a different stick of butter since even the touching the our bread can trigger a reaction.  We always have to read the label because wheat is used as a filler and thickener in many products, pasta sauce, candy and even in toothpaste. She does eat eggs and cheese. So fortunately our little flock can feed her and I am planning to get a milk goat. 
 
Thank you for a great blog and a “gathering place” for like-minded individuals. – Linda U.

 

James Wesley:
As a thirty-year survivalist I had a couple years of food storage when I married my wife a few years ago who has celiac disease.  While we do not maintain a gluten-free kitchen as I enjoy the occasional ‘normal’ pizza, cookie, or sandwich, I made the decision to convert my food storage to all gluten-free because the galley in the retreat is much smaller and we cannot assure contamination will not occur there like we can at home. I drove my truck to the food cooperative in a neighboring state and purchased 800 additional pounds of corn, buckwheat, quinoa, and amaranth which I processed in 5 gallon buckets according to your directions in How To Survive the End of the World as We Know It.  I also ordered a Country Living Grain Mill because they will test it with rice at the factory instead of wheat to prevent contamination and the optional bean auger is perfectly suited for popcorn which I can get inexpensively in 25# bags at the local warehouse club. I have started storing and using xanthan gum which attempts to hold baked goods together the way the gluten does in baked goods containing wheat.

After sorting out and setting aside my wheat and other glutenous provisions, I contacted some local preppers and survivalists and sold my entire stock of these items for the bargain price of $5 per #10 can.  My wife is very good about making me gluten-full foods I enjoy.  For example, this evening we both had biscuits and gravy, but mine were ‘normal’ while hers were made with alternative flour.  Grocery stores are keeping more gluten-free products and a plethora of recipes are available all over the Internet for those who cook everything from scratch.  I find that every year I develop more and more taste for gluten-free products.  I compare it to going from whole milk to 1%.  One might start by transitioning to 2% before moving to 1% or skim. 

The two biggest problems I have encounters thus far are that I can no longer store TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein) which is also known as soy meat because they list wheat as one of the ingredients and it will be difficult to share meals with those in our retreat group because their food storage and meal planning is highly dependent upon wheat products.  Prudent planning has overcome these obstacles and I feel I am no less prepared now than I was before I purged gluten from my food storage. – Allen C.    

 

James,
I enjoyed the article by Geoff in Kentucky. Having a daughter recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease I can sympathize with him. The simple act of grocery shopping took three time longer when we first started. We’re back to normal now and prepare both gluten containing and gluten free meals and storage. One helpful tip I’d like to pass along is an iPhone/iPad app called “Is that gluten free?” by Midlife Crisis Apps. I don’t recall what it cost us but the fee was reasonable and has more than paid for itself in time and frustration. You can search by brand or ingredient. It even covers many local brands.

All the best! – South Florida Gal

Two Letters Re: Traditional Tools for TEOTWAWKI, by Bill H.

James,
I just read the comment  by one of the readers on the Crosscut Saw Company (in Letters – Traditional Tools for TEOTWAWKI, by Bill H.).
 
I am on my second crosscut saw I purchased form the Crosscut Saw Company. (The first one that I owned was stolen). I also purchased their saw maintenance manual, and some sharpening tools. I purchased the saws manufactured by them (They also have some of the commercial made saws). Their saws are of excellent quality and workmanship, and definitely worth the money.
 
If you do decide to purchase one of these saws, purchasing a manual on how to sharpen the saw, and a good file are a must. The difference between a sharp saw, and a improperly sharpened saw is, that one zips through the wood, whereas the “mutilated” saw will quickly wear out the user without cutting much wood.
 
Crosscut saws come with two type of tooth configurations, depending on their primary use. I have always used the Perforated Lance Tooth design, and it has worked for me. They are available as either one man saws, designed to be used by one person, or two man saws to be used by two persons. With two man saws, the saw is always pulled through the cut, never pushed. Depending on the saw, the handles may have to be purchased separately.
 
I spent many years on a farm, cutting wood, and felling trees with crosscut saws. (We had a chainsaw, but my uncle always insisted on us using the crosscut saw for the first trees, so that “I would learn something useful” I also got to cut the firewood with the smaller one man saw. Well he was right. I had indeed learned something useful).
 
A well-maintained Crosscut saw is a must have as a backup to a chainsaw, and is also a lot quieter. – The Consultant.

 

James Wesley,
I appreciate you posting my article, and those who responded.
 
First off, the suggestion of the shaving horse immediately drew my attention. Constructing one will be my next project. I will most likely follow the plans from this link. There also appears to be some other excellent information on this site.
 
As for the purchase of a crosscut saw, the vendor appears to have quality products. I personally would have a hard time convincing “she who tracks the bank account” feeling good about spending that much for a hand saw. If a person is patient there is a fair chance a reasonably priced saw will be available on craigslist, at an estate sale or at a swap meet. I was recently able to acquire a broad axe head (small) for $3, a steel splitting wedge for $1, a cast iron 3 qt dutch oven for $10, and a hand crank meat grinder for $6 at estate sales. All of these items are high quality, made in the U.S. items. I spent $20 for items that would cost well over $100 new if I could even find them. I am still looking for a froe, but am not sure I would use it much. That possibility drives the price down for me.
 
With all of that being said, an important part of the article is not just owning these items. The important concept is to use the items you do own. I use my drawknife at least once a week, and usually more. That is why I will be making the shaving horse. It would be much easier to use a shaving horse than to use my bar clamps, as I currently am, to fashion a handle for the broad axe. Necessity drives invention (or motivation). I just want to have some practice doing these things before my life depends on it.
 
Best regards and thanks again, – Bill H.

Letter Re: Switching to AR-10s for Battle Rifles

JWR,
I’ve looked into getting an AR-10 to supplement my AR-15 and considered the SI Defense and CMMG options that accept the widely available and very inexpensive Heckler und Koch G3 20 round magazines.  The former requires minor modification of each G3 magazine, the latter requires modification to an upper receiver, and unfortunately those lower receivers are no longer produced. 

I know you’ve mentioned your plan to convert to SI Defense receiver AR-10 rifles, but I did not see a mention of the required magazine modification.  The instructions to modify the magazines can be found here.  The modification involves removing a bit of material from the feed lips, evenly from both sides.  I have not yet taken the plunge on this rifle, so I do not know how difficult this modification is or how it affects the use of modified G3 magazines in G3 rifles.  I would be interested to see if any of the Survival Blog readers has experience with either of these rifles/conversions. – Andy J.

Economics and Investing:

Chart: ‘America’s Per Capita Government Debt Worse Than Greece‘. (Thanks to B.B. for the link.)

The compression of generations – 25 million adults live at home with parents because they’re unemployed or underemployed.

Reader R.B.S. sent this: Idaho Rep. Hart pushes gold coins as ‘legal tender’

$6 Gas This Summer — U.S. Economy Falls Off Cliff

Items from The Economatrix:

Iran Stopped Selling Crude to UK and France

Oil Price Hits 8-Month High

Gallup Finds Unemployment Climbing to 9% in February

US Dollar Could Weaken Amid Euro Talks

Odds ‘n Sods:

An astounding piece from Nanny State Canada: Man arrested for daughter’s picture of him with gun. My advice for my readers in Ontario: Relocate, while you still can! You will find the western provinces are more gun friendly. Vote with your feet! (Thanks to B.B. for sending the link.)

   o o o

John R. sent this headline from Nanny State Britannia: Widow faces jail for possession of late husband’s illegal pistol after it was stolen during burglary. JWR’s Comment: Don’t miss this quote at the end: “To find a gun is quite bad enough, but to find ammunition is a serious aggravation.” I can only imagine their reaction if they walked into Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR), and saw the entire wall of ammo cans. They would surely have apoplectic spasms.

   o o o

A good summary: The History and Future of Pandemics

   o o o

New Hampshire man arrested for firing gun into ground while catching suspected burglar. (So much for “Live Free or Die.” FWIW, in many western states and in much of the South, he probably would have received a commendation, instead.)

   o o o

A new free e-book: The Proverbs 31 Woman Guide to Starting Seeds

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“The U.S. economic and systemic-solvency crises of the last five years continue to deteriorate. Yet they remain just the precursors to the coming Great Collapse: a hyperinflationary great depression. The unfolding circumstance will encompass a complete loss in the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar; a collapse in the normal stream of U.S. commercial and economic activity; a collapse in the U.S. financial system, as we know it; and a likely realignment of the U.S. political environment.” – John Williams of Shadowstats

Note From JWR:

Today we present another two entries for Round 39 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, 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 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) 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, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

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

Round 39 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Trial by Snow, by Bill S.

To say we have had a mild winter here in Iowa is an understatement to say the least. That was until recently. It would be safe to say that with temperatures in the 50 degree range I have gotten a little complacent this winter. Like many who read SurvivalBlog I spend time watching the news and trying to keep an eye on the big picture. At least in this case it came at the expense of some of the details. Like everything in life I would like to remind myself as well as all my Brothers and Sisters out there that might read this that like all things in life we need to take a balanced approach.
 
We did have a snow storm and nature reminded us that it was still winter. I guess this would be one of those situations that Attitude made the difference in the whole day. That was something else that I think I may have forgotten. At my house we don’t prep just to survive. If all I was interested in was surviving I would not put so much time and effort into what we have done. Personally I want to survive with a life worth living.  I personally am not someone that is going to wonder through the woods with a backpack eating bugs having lost everyone and everything I love. If they are going to get to the people and pets that I love and care for then they are going to have to go through me to get there. So if those things are gone they would have had to take me out to get there. So while I’m here I might as well enjoy the life that I have.
 
Instead of taking the doom and gloom look at what all went wrong let’s take a positive outlook on the day and see what I was able to learn from our experience. Life is a choice. Where you are in life is a sum of the decisions you have made so you are exactly where you have chosen to be. Look at it this way: If you are now willing to make changes to your lifestyle such as giving up cable or eating out then you have made a conscious choice. You have chosen to keep things exactly the way they are. Since you are not willing to do anything different you must be happy with the way things are in your life. So let’s take a look at where the choices I have made took me for the day.
Waking up to about 4 inches of snow meant that my first duty of the morning was to get out and get rid of the snow off the driveway and sidewalks. Not a big deal. My Cub Cadet has a two stage snow blower on it and I race my neighbor to see who can do the others sidewalk first.

The first thing I notice is this has got to be the heaviest and wettest snow I can remember in a long time. As soon as you step down on the snow it instantly turns to ice on the sidewalk under your feet. This is the first time I can ever remember my machine struggling to throw the snow out of the way. I’m usually having to angle the shoot down so the snow does not go too far and end up where I don’t want it. I happily spend an hour or so removing the snow from our property and a couple of my elderly neighbors. Rats, Rick has already gotten the sidewalk. Score one for him. I’ll get him next time.

I pull the tractor back into the garage and notice that it is unusually dark inside. I thought I had turned on the lights in the garage when I went in but must not have. Well no big deal there is plenty of light coming in from the open garage door. I put the tractor away and pull my truck back in and prepare to go back into the house. Like most people I go to walk out the door and hit the automatic garage door switch and nothing happens. Click, Click, Click? I looked over and I had turned on the lights but they were not on? I guess all this heavy wet snow has taken down some of the trees in the area.

A power failure is not a huge deal. I pull the release cord on the door to disconnect it from the drive and close the door manually. Here is where our first learning experience comes into play. Don’t you just hate those? With the door being connected to an automatic garage door opener there are no operating locks on it. Being an accountant by trade I’m not the most mechanical person on the planet so I have to subscribe to the K.I.S.S. principle.  So believing in this instead of trying to do something elaborate I just grab a set of vice grips and clamp them on the rail to secure the garage. It would have been no big deal if the door had been closed when the power went out but since the side was all the way back there was no way to secure the door. A nice set of Vice-Grips on the rail worked quite well in my opinion.

At this point my vicious guard dogs decide to wake up and come downstairs and see how much of my breakfast they can talk me out of. This is where I would really suggest one of those LED head lamps if you don’t already have one. The kitchen is on the North side of the house so does not have a great deal of outside light this time of year. Having both hands free makes tasks much easier than trying to hold a light with one hand and do everything with the other. Of course there is always the hold it in your mouth and slobber all over yourself method. Personally I prefer the head lamp. Slobber all down the front of your shirt first thing in the morning seems to bring a lot of pesky questions. Or at least it does at my house.

At this point the power has been out from probably an hour and a half at my estimation. With Winter having shown up with the snow the temperature outside was far from what we had gotten used to. No big deal “I HAVE PREPS”. Quite proud of myself for having thought ahead I have a backup heat source. I have a kerosene heater out in the garage that I keep around for just such an occasion. So closely watched by my ever vigilant guard dogs we go out to the garage to get the heater and bring it into the house.

I do have to interject here that I was quite proud of myself at this point. I have read here on SurvivalBlog quite a few times that you can never have too many flashlights and the read many praises on the new LED flashlights. Having done so a while back when I was at Home Depot I saw bulk packs of them on sale and picked up several. She Who Must Be Obeyed and I then went around the house and put at least one flashlight in every room of the house. Several rooms we put a couple. Luckily for me the flashlight was right where I expected it to be and worked great.

The Dogs and I then went out and brought in the heater and wiped off the dust and checked it over for proper operation before I tried to light it. I used to use it regularly to heat the garage before having a heating system put in. Since then it has sat patiently on the shelf waiting. This is when I noticed that last time I used it I had forgotten to refill it. Not a big deal. I was prepared. I knew I had extra kerosene in the garage. I had several unopened cans that I had purchased for just such an occasion. So the dogs and I trekked back out to the garage to get some kerosene to top it off before we put it into operation. I knew the cans were unopened and therefore full. I checked on them by looking over at them to make sure they had not been damaged several times a year but had never physically touched them since I had put them off in the corner against the wall. I know they were full because I had purchased them and put them over there.
 
This was when I realized that Murphy’s Law had not been repealed. The cans were strangely light when I went to pick them up. Almost as if they were empty. I look at the top and the seal is still in place right there where it is supposed to be. They simply can’t be empty could they? They were new when I put them there and the seal is still on top right where it was supposed to be. I shake the can and there is no slosh like there should be. No one ever told me that if you put a steel can on a cement floor that the bottom of the can will rust out. It must have happened over a long period because I never remember smelling kerosene in the garage but the bottom of the can was rusted and the cans were empty.

Well we must keep our beautiful wife warm so we go back into the house and strategically place the heater in the kitchen on the bottom floor of the house and light it. I did this because heat will radiate up. So by putting it at the bottom of the house farthest away from the stairs the heat will radiate through the bottom floor and eventually upstairs. The sun has finally come out so I open up the curtains on the south side of the house to let in as much sunlight as possible. I was surprised that within a half hour I had to go back downstairs and turn the heater off. It was starting to get way too warm upstairs.

Not knowing how long my existing kerosene still in the tank was going to last I went to plan “B”. Being a believer in “two is one and one is none”, I had recently purchased a backup heat source to my backup heat source. Truthfully I had picked it up for the 5th wheel we have recently purchased and placed out our bug out location. On another trip to Home Depot I had purchased a Mr. Heater tank top heater. I had plenty of propane. All of my back up cooking is based on propane if the gas were ever to go out I had stocked up with the normal grill tanks with the adapter to fill the small tanks our camping stove uses and had a supply of tanks for our grill as well as three different 100 lb tanks to take down to the 5th wheel. We are still in the process of setting up the camper so they have not been moved down there yet. All were fully charged for just such an occasion.  With no better time to test our new heater than the present I assembled our new heater and attached it to the tank. I was amazed at the heat this thing put out and had to quickly turn it back off. I was confident that we were going to be nice and warm for as long as we would be without power.

So that gave me a few minutes to sit down and go through my checklist to see what needed to be done:

  • Shelter is in place and safe? Check
  • Water? Plenty stored and water still running check
  • Food? Well stocked for both 2 pawed and 4 pawed family members so Check
  • Everyone Safe and warm? Check
  • Light? Plenty of candles, flash lights with back well over 100 back up batteries (Sale at Bass Pro shops on back Friday), Oil Lamps with extra wicks and oil, all in place so check  

Not being the type that would be willing to leave a heater on and unattended this gave me some time to sit by the window and go over our situation and evaluate what still needed to be done and see where I had missed things. As I sat there in the a comfortable chair looking out the sliding glass door watching it start to snow again I noticed a few things. Please let me share them with you.
 
As I sat there in front of the window I had a sense of calm and peace flow over me. It had started to snow again fairly aggressively. I could see several neighbors loading up their cars forced to trek out into the storm looking for a warm place to go. Meanwhile I was sitting there in my chair warm and comfortable. Knowing my family was safe and warm. I didn’t have to care what the roads were like. I didn’t have to care how much it snowed. I didn’t have to care when the power came back on. For the first time in several years the house was quit. I could almost hear the house talking to me. Those subtle noises that a house makes that are always there but are hidden behind the background noise of all the gadgets of our modern life create. I had a calmness and peace that I had not felt in quite a while. The simple things in life were all taken care of because we had the foresight to prep not just for the big disaster but also for the little things.
 
I realized the mistakes I had made. I had gotten complacent in knowing my preps were there and had not taken the time to periodically check and make sure they were still in operational condition. Luckily I had subscribed to the “Two is one, and one is none” theory and that had saved us.
 
My pointed out an area I had thought of once and had completely forgotten about. As unromantic as it sounds at this point feeling so good about how well things had gone overall we forgot about the toilet. Where we live we have a high water table so the sewer system cannot be buried very deep. Because of this we have what is called a grind pit in our back yard. All the waste from the house drains down into this pit and a device in the bottom grinds up all the solids and then pumps them “UP” to the sewer system. With no power there is no pumping action and the pump would become full rather quickly if we did not monitor how much water went down the drain. Of course this is when Murphy decided to make his presence known again. I had not really worried about it too much because I had a nice Kohler generator. Well as you might guess we don’t currently have our generator. It is over being worked on by the small engine person of our Mutual Assistance Group. We are experimenting with retrofitting the generators of our group with automobile mufflers in an attempt to quite them down considerably so they will be safer to use at our bug out location in a SHTF situation. The loud roar of several generators will carry for quite a ways in that type of situation and we are attempting to lower our decibel output as much as possible. Because of this my generator is not currently available.  Not a severe problem I can always grab one from work and bring it home once the storm passes if necessary but defiantly something that I need to work on.
 
At this point there is only one thing left on the list to do. So I go upstairs and see my beautiful wife and my vicious guard dogs all curled up on a pile of pillows on the bed. This is a scene that would make the cat proud. My wife is comfortably reading a book basking in the sunlight coming in from the window. My lab is comfortably curled up on my pillows and my Shepherd is sprawled out across what is left of the bed.
 
I update my wonderful wife on our situation and my conclusions. Then I inform her the only thing we have left to do to insure our survival is work on shared bodily warmth and comfort. That this is a critical part of our survival plan. The fate of the world could depend on it.
 
My loving wife then looks up from her book. She looks at me with those beautiful hazel eyes. Her long beautiful hair cascading down across her shoulders and pillows. The absolute picture of loveliness. A gentle smile crosses her face only to be replaced by her tongue sticking out followed quickly by a raspberry thrown in my direction. Dejected and rejected I was banished to the couch where I had to spend the afternoon taking nap lessons from the cat.

Physical Fitness and Training, by Patrick N.

As an avid reader of SurvivalBlog, I have read a countless number of articles on communications, food storage, tactics, weaponry, and a long list of almost every topic involving survival during a SHTF or TEOTWAWKI situation.  One major area that directly effects all of the aforementioned topics is physical fitness.  As a certified Health and Physical educator that is working on receiving a Certified Personal Trainer certification I take physical activity very seriously. One term that is used frequently in my field is GPP or General Physical Preparedness. GPP is the base level of fitness that a person must have before they begin a training regiment. As the infamous power lifter Louie Simmons states, “You have to be in shape to train, not train to get in shape.” Relating this to a survival situation, a person can be mentally and emotionally prepared for any situation that comes their way-economic disaster, nuclear fallout, EMP, etc.- but if you are not physically prepared to meet the demands of living in a SHTF or TEOTWAWKI situation you are doomed to fail or at the minimum will have an extremely arduous physical adaptation period. One thing that many people take for granted is the belief that you will just fall into a routine that will help you adapt quickly and efficiently to different activities that must be completed on a day-to-day basis. Though there is some truth to this, the adaptation will not be pleasant by any means and in some situations will be painful. Walking long distances with a heavy load is a perfect example. Your body will be sore from your pinky toe all the way up to your neck. I know from experience what the effects of a lack of GPP can get you. When I was younger I spent a summer working in a fishing camp in the Alaskan wilderness. One week I was carrying 4 foot sections of logs a half a mile back to our base camp through the undergrowth the next week I was digging six foot deep latrine holes, the week after that I was carrying 15 gallon gas cans 100 feet to fill our boats up, and the list goes on for the 10 weeks I was there. Not only did it take me several days to adapt to the climate, my body was forced to go through physical adaptations week after week which are daunting to say the least. Overall, general physical preparedness is something that people need to seriously consider when preparing for any situation.

As previously discussed in several different articles, everyday life will change drastically after an event. To name a few physical activities that will become commonplace:

  • Chopping firewood
  • Carrying firewood varying distances
  • Carrying water (5 gallon buckets weigh 40 lbs.)
  • Carrying food pails of varying weights
  • Lifting 50 or 80 pound bags of foodstuffs or livestock feed
  • Shoveling materials into sandbags
  • Moving sandbags for defensive positions (typically 25 lbs. or more)
  • Digging caches
  • Driving stakes for fortified positions or fence posts
  • Mending fences
  • Moving car batteries for charging electronics
  • Bug-out situations carrying different weights and hiking varying distances over various terrain

The list is never ending. Each person’s situation will be different. If you have a dedicated retreat your physical responsibilities may also require moving hay bails for feeding livestock. If you are in a suburban area you may need to push cars off the road to travel to bug-out location or in come instances push them into place to help set-up a defensive position. In an urban area your physical responsibilities will be even more drastically different then the rural and suburban environment preppers. Also, as the event that has occurred pushes into a longer time period such as in Mr. Rawles’ book Patriots and the financial collapse, physical responsibilities will be even more drastic for everybody no matter where you live.

Many people are prepared to stockpile food, buy weapons and ammunition, and educate themselves on a range of survival skills that will help them in any scenario imaginable. Though, people will not take time out of their schedules to physically prepare themselves to use those stockpiles, weapons, and information  they spent countless hours studying, practicing and preparing. Personally, I would not want to be the person that is as welled armed as Fort Knox, is as prepared medically as Mount Sinai hospital, has enough food to feed 100 people but can’t manage to walk miles in a bug-out situation to get to my retreat or abandon my retreat if it ever came to that.

I am frequently asked by friends how to lose weight and get into shape. I tell people that they must start slow (especially if having not done any physical activity for more then several months.) I would recommend the same thing for preppers who want to get into shape. What I would prescribe requires no special equipment, only items that would be found in any preppers already created stockpile. Developing a proper level of physical preparedness does not require any high-tech equipment or “one machine fits all” gimmick that are being marketed today.

One simple place to start is going for long walks. Not only does the walking help prepare your legs for an environment that does not have any other means of transportation but it will also help you slim down (in conjunction with eating healthier which is key.) Something I recommend is filling up your CamelBak and walk with it. A three liter (100 ounce) CamelBak weighs about 6.5 pounds. The additional 6.5 pounds will come as a surprise to those who are not used to carrying any extra weight on a day to day basis. This is also a great precursor to carrying heavier weights on hikes. You can add more and more weight as your body adapts.
The next place to start is doing various calisthenics. Pushups, pullups, sit-ups, doing bodyweight squats (squatting with not additional weight,) lunges, walking lunges, and a countless number of other exercises that help the body get into shape.

  • If you are unable to do 20 pushups in a normal fashion on the ground begin by doing incline pushups against a wall or table depending on your physical ability.
  • For pullups, you can begin by doing negatives: jumping up so your chin is above the bar and slowly lowering yourself down fighting your bodyweight. Eventually your body will get stronger allowing you to do pullups. Another useful exercise is lying underneath a sturdy table, grabbing the edge and pulling your chest to the table edge while your feet remain on the ground. These are called bodyweight rows, which strengthen your back and help with various pulling motions.
  • When performing bodyweight squats, make sure you squat down to parallel. An easy way to understand when your body reaches parallel is using a bucket, table or chair that allows you to sit down with your legs at 90 degree angle when sitting. If you sit down then stand back up you are performing a proper squat. Work your way into not using the object after you become strong enough and can physically reach the parallel level of the squat.
  • Lunges and sit-ups are fairly well known and are tried and true methods of developing strength.

There is a much longer list of calisthenics/bodyweight movements that can be performed that can be researched by those interested in developing strength and endurance.
The next method of getting into shape involves two empty five gallon buckets. Fill the buckets almost up to the brim with water, squat down and pick them up, then walk various distances with them. That will be approximately 80 pounds of weight being carried. The task of carrying water or other objects in buckets (especially stored food) will become commonplace after the SHTF.

You can also pick up different objects and carry them. Logs, rocks, sandbags, loads of firewood, and anything else that you will use at your retreat or other location. Not only does this help develop your overall strength and endurance, it also prepares you for the tasks that you will be performing in the future. Also, a wheelbarrow filled with sand, dirt, rocks, firewood, etc. can be pushed different distances.
Finally, one of the most physically demanding and overall physically active things that someone can do is chop firewood. One of the newest crazes to hit the world of training is sledgehammer training. People are buying sledgehammers and old tires and striking the tire over and over again to develop physical strength and endurance. Why waste your time striking a tire with a sledgehammer when you can chop firewood that you will use to cook, and heat your home.

Although I did not list any activities that are “scientifically advanced” or mind boggling to those who think physical activity is simply moving your preps from you car to your storage area every few weeks, they are effective and will help you when the SHTF. I encourage everyone to challenge their bodies not just their minds when preparing for any situation.