Baby Steps to Preparedness, by Holli S.

While TEOTWAWKI may or may not happen soon, one can never be too prepared. Loss of job or illness can happen any time. Being prepared can lessen the stress in your life and also lead to strengthening your family bonds. Not everyone has the financial or physical means to opt out or bug out at a moments notice. What we can do is start with Baby Steps and work our way up to where we want to be.

• Research
• Plan
• Schedule
• Execute
• Learn to be thick-skinned
• Follow up and be flexible.  Change can sometimes lead to opportunity.
• Try new things when possible.
• Don’t get discouraged.
• When you can’t trust your own government, trust in God

Below is how we started.

Baby Step 1:  Get out of town if possible. If you are in a city, at least try to position your family / self as close to the edge as possible. If you ever need to escape quickly, the closer you are to the edge, the higher the probability of making your exit strategy work.

After many years of research and talking about moving out of town and becoming self sufficient, last fall we finally had the means to do what we called our first Baby Steps. We purchased a new home on 5 acres out in the rural farm area. While not as off-the-beaten-path as we would like, it was what we could afford at the time and it had several advantages.

It is largely wooded, with a creek running along the property, deep well that is connected to one of the largest aquifers in the country, septic and leach field already in place, sufficient outbuildings to get us started, and no neighbors for a quarter mile. The downside is that it is on a state highway and is totally electric. We can’t remedy the location, but will do our best to be off grid as soon as possible.

While we had been talking about doing this for years, many of our friends and family thought we were nuts! No we are not right wing fanatics, just realists. My husband and I have watched, listened, read, talked about trends we see happening in our country and figured, better safe than sorry.  Raised as a Mormon, it was routinely pounded into my brain that we needed to have 3 years food storage. While I’m no longer Mormon, I still believe that they were right about being prepared. Our journey had begun.

Baby Step 2.: Do your research. Write your plans down and make a schedule. When possible include family and let them help you execute your plans. Develop a thick skin as you will always have someone who doesn’t get it.

I am very lucky that my 76-year-old mother has always supported me in anything I wanted to do. She is one smart woman and realized that what we were contemplating was not only to our advantage, but hers as well. If SHTF, she too would be cared for. God blessed me with a wonderful mom and to this day, she still inspires and encourages me to do my best and knows I can do anything I set my mind to do. She has also come out to the farm to help with canning, gone to yard sales looking for supplies and even come out and taken care of our animals so we could be elsewhere for a few days.

Baby Step 3: Learn to be flexible. Plans can change and rigidity can lead to disaster.

This spring we bought our first chickens. We didn’t have a coop yet, but bought chicks and had them in a big tub with a light and feeders lying on top of wood chips. Watching them grow fast, we realized that we needed a coop quickly and began to prepare in earnest. My husband designed and built a very affordable chicken tractor that would allow us to move it around to a fresh spot on our property every day so that the chickens could forage. They can get in out of the weather when needed and have a safe place to roost at night. While this was a good start, after two months of having to move it every day, we soon realized that we wanted a more permanent coop before winter. I really didn’t relish going out in the cold to move it or even to feed and water the chickens in the cold. Also, watering in a tractor in the winter could be impossible in freezing weather. We will continue to let them free range in the warm months, but are building a new 9′ x 12′ coop with a covered 20′ x 20′ run for the winter to keep them safe from hungry predators. This will also allow us to increase our flock size.

While they may be dirty little birds, they can be quite endearing as well. All of our chickens come running to greet me whenever I come out. I have a couple of small hens that when I sit down, will jump up and sit on my lap and wait to be petted. They don’t do this to my husband or anyone else, just me. This may seem weird to some readers, but they tend to lay more and larger eggs when I treat them well. They will eat any scraps we have and between the chickens and dogs, we don’t waste anything! They are now laying eggs every day and our friends and family who once thought we were nuts, are asking if we have any extra! Eventually we hope to produce enough eggs to provide local family and have extra to sell to cover the cost of feed. We will also be raising chicks to coop-ready size and selling them to folks who don’t want to raise baby chicks but want to have a small backyard coop. Again, this should offset the cost of feed and supplies. They are also great for barter or for a charity item.

Baby Step 4: Be willing to try new things.

At the beginning of summer we decided that we needed to be raising meat in some form, but couldn’t afford to buy a cow, pig, or sheep. After researching alternatives we decided to invest in rabbits, so we purchased two small female California/Mini Rex cross rabbits, and soon after added one California buck and two California does. In August we were lucky enough to obtain another California doe and a New Zealand Buck.  Breeding began. We had our first two litters last week and are getting ready to breed the other does this week. These first litters will be part of our breeding stock. Their offspring will be dinner! Many of our friends and family are watching our farm’s progress. I know when it comes time to butcher; there will be those with their hands out wanting meat since prices are steadily rising, even here in farm country. Rabbit meat tastes much like chicken but is much leaner. We have limited freezer space,  so we will be canning much of the meat as well as smoking some of it. 

Baby Step 4: Don’t get discouraged if you have to deal with stumbling blocks. Think of them as opportunities.

This was our first year to have a garden and we were very unprepared. To say that it didn’t do well is an understatement! When the opportunity to make friends with a couple of local farmers arose, I grabbed it. We now have a list of farms and orchards to get fresh fruit and veggies and have been canning up a storm.  I have even canned chicken and inexpensive cuts of beef. Later we will be doing venison and rabbit…. Yum!

We have a room with really good light exposure and I hope to grow herbs, lettuce and whatever else will grow there this winter. I’ve already signed up for a Master Gardener class in January and hope not to have the same issues with my garden next year.

We don’t typically eat much jam, but I decided to can as much of it as I could. This can be used for gifts or as barter down the line. I let all my friends and family have samplers of my Caramel Apple Jam to try. Getting volunteers to come help is no longer a problem! I can always use the help and this is also a way to get them to start thinking about prepping for themselves. Apples don’t can well unless you are making apple butter, jam or apple sauce. Using a dehydrator we have been able to put up a bushel of apple slices with a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar. Later they can be eaten as is or added to oatmeal, bread, muffins, or anything else.

Food storage is such an important part of our survival / self-sufficiency strategy and knowing how to store is important. We would love to have a nice hidden root cellar or storage room, but it isn’t feasible yet. For now we have  converted a small room into our storage room. We purchased metal shelving from Sam’s Club that are easy to put together, take down or move and have shelf height flexibility. Everything is dated and oldest items are used first. I have divided the room into six sections.

  1. Canned foods/ bottled foods
  2. Non-foods such as shampoo, soap, zip-lock bags, aluminum foil, garbage bags, paper towels and toilet paper, etc.
  3. First aid supplies.
  4. Barter and/or gift items
  5. Animal feed and supplies.
  6. Seeds for next year.

One of the things that drew us to our property was the backwoods. When we initially walked the property, there were signs that deer had been bedding down in the little glade out back. Neither of us have had much experience hunting. I have been once many decades ago but really want to develop that skill-set. We bought my husband a shotgun and I’ve been encouraging him to hunt. He loves my cooking, so talking to him about a recipe for venison pot roast or spicy venison sausage gets him thinking about hunting. I may try to hunt myself, though being only five feet tall, I am unsure of how I would get it strung up or transported without the help of a much sturdier person.

Our dryer went out and the washer is on its way out. We have been nursing it along for weeks now. Instead of going out and buying another big expensive set, we have ordered a small portable washer and a dryer that mounts on the wall. We put up several retractable cloths lines, two in the house and a large one outside. While I don’t particularly like the feel of line-dried clothes, they will do in a pinch. To save on our electric bill, I am line drying everything we don’t need right away and the things we do need quickly, starting them on the line and finishing in the dryer when they are just slightly damp. This also softens them up so they don’t feel like cardboard. It is good to have options!

This summer I took up fishing and was able to stock some fish in the freezer. Some of it was carp. People say they aren’t edible, however, they are a great source of protein for our animals. I keep and process anything that was legal size. I would love to learn how to smoke them the way the Indians did. For the time being I am only able to can, freeze or dehydrate anything that we want to store.

Division of labor has been a big deal here. My husband works seven days a week most of the time and because it is third shift, his internal clock is not on the same schedule as mine. We discussed the division of labor when we first got together 17 years ago and while the workload has increased dramatically since we moved out here, we have tried to stick to it. He brings home the majority of the money that allows us to survive and I take care of the day-to-day things. I am able to generate some income from my home, but can only do so in my spare time. I currently design web site for local groups, do art work and hope to add more money to the family kitty by selling eggs, chickens and maybe a few rabbits. For any woman reading this, there are always things you can do to help your family financially. Whether it is bartering or cash, it all helps.

During our Baby Steps process, one of the most important lessons I have learned is to keep myself on a schedule. If I keep to one, I get things done in a timely manner and have extra time to read or try new things. If I miss a scheduled time, my whole day seems to be flipped upside down and I feel exhausted by days end.

I tried cleaning the rabbit hutches and coops every day, but found that it ate up too much of my time and really could be done every other day. Now I have set it up so that the chicken coop is one day and the rabbits the next. The rabbits and chickens can’t tell the difference.

There will always be extra projects to take up your time. If you stick to a schedule as much as possible, you will have time to do more! While we are still taking Baby Steps, we can foresee a future where we are self sufficient and ready for anything. With God’s blessing and many Baby Steps, we know we will survive what is to come!

Getting Started, by C.W. in Michigan

I am not like most people; mainly because of the way I was raised as a child.  Hunting, fishing, trapping, and outdoor/survival skills were not only practiced but often encouraged by my father.  In hindsight I can say it wasn’t necessarily that he thought I might need the skills someday.  I think it was more because it was a good way to keep me and my brothers out of trouble.  It seemed to work.

My father was always the type of guy to take us out of school for the important things in life.  The opening day of fall firearms deer season (a damn near holiday in Michigan), a week of spring camping ‘up north’ in the backwoods of Fairview, Michigan to turkey hunt, even when we were too young to hunt. 

As my father always says, “There are some things that schools just can’t teach.” 

Too bad not everyone sees it that way.

One of my early experiences of ‘roughing it’ was with a friend when we were about 12 years old.  He and I hiked to a remote spot on a piece of State land in the dog days of summer.  We set up a tent and brought with us no supplies other than matches, oil, flour, a couple of empty canteens, fillet knives, a travel fishing pole each and of course, our Crossman pellet rifles.  Not those underpowered Daisy lever-actions, but the good [Crosman] Model 760s. 

We boiled our water from a nearby lake, we ate bullheads (Michigan’s version of a small catfish) from that same lake for breakfast, lunch and dinner for two days.  We started our own fires from tinder and down logs in the area.  We then hunted blackbirds with our pellet rifles because squirrels were scarce, and fish just didn’t sound appealing any longer.

I hate to sound clichéd, but believe it or not, blackbirds taste like chicken – they have dark and light meat like a turkey though.  Just remember if you attempt this on your own, you need about ten birds per person to make a meal.  Our blackbirds went just fine with the cattail roots we dug up and boiled like potatoes for dinner on the last night of our adventure.

My friend and I later critiqued our successful trip, knowing that we could do ‘it’.  That we could survive on our own if need be.

Many years later I reflect back on that incident, and although I am one of few people I know who has eaten blackbird, I also know that we were extremely naïve that we could do ‘it’ on our own.  A fine example of the innocence of youth.

Now having my own family, a wife and two small boys, I know I could not do it on my own.  I know that at some point in time I am going to have to sleep and cannot protect my family 24/7.  I know that any knowledge I have will be woefully underscored by the knowledge of a joined group.  I understand that the work I would have to do to provide for my family in a disaster situation can be lessened by more members of a combined ‘family’.  Many hands do make light work.

So although I was on board with combining a larger family if the need arises, I had other people to convince. 

First was my wife.

This was easier than I expected.  I persuaded my then citified wife, who is the exact polar opposite of me in most things in real life, to read a couple of survival books; fiction and non-fiction.  She agreed much to my astonishment, if of course you call reading listening and buying the books downloading them to MP3.  Whoever said print is dead is right.

The change of direction in my wife’s way of thinking amazed me.  She immediately began to ask ‘what if’ questions and prepare for disaster situations.  She required the off-road stroller be kept in her vehicle at all times in case she had to walk with the children if her vehicle became disabled during an event.  She keeps extra water in her car and even asked me to plan the easiest routes home for her avoiding expressways and major travel arteries.

Of course, not everything with the Misses has gone according to plan.  While talking about routes of travel, I advised her that she should rest during the day and travel only at night, walking like she was on a battlefield. 

Her response, as though she immediately knew better, was, “Well, I’m going with a different plan.”

Much to my consternation I asked what that was.

My wife smiled and said bluntly, “I’m going with the idea that the good in people will outweigh the bad.”

“Yeah,” I replied, “let me know how that works for you.”

Conversation between my wife and I next turned to planning on who to invite to our retreat/home.  It was decided on her family as mine all live several hundred miles away.  And invite isn’t so much the right word.  More like convince.

I would like to say that it was easy to convince my in-laws to leave their city homes in a disaster situation as it was to convince my wife to read (well, listen to) the survival books I had suggested.  It wasn’t for some of them.

When I first suggested the idea, my mother-in-law looked up from her Kindle wireless reading device and asked mockingly, “What type of books are you reading exactly?”

“Don’t you know that print is dead?” I asked sarcastically.   “I’m not reading any books.  This is about lifestyle change in case things go bad.”

I proceeded to tell her, and the rest of my in-laws, about my concerns of a ‘double-dip’ recession leading to depression, pandemics, food or fuel shortages, extended power outages, natural disasters, economic collapse of a deflated or hyper-inflated dollar and the worst case scenario, the disintegration of our government.

My mother-in-law stopped me on the last one and stated, “Well, I really don’t think I want to be around if that happens.”

I didn’t say anything, but thought, ‘I wonder of Romans thought the same thing as their Empire fell around them?’

I then asked my in-laws to think about it and just do something simple at first.  Start out small and build from there has always been my philosophy.  I asked them to start sorting their change – saving all pre-1965 dimes and quarters and start saving nickels.  Everyone was shocked to find out that a pre 1965 dime has, at the time we were talking about it anyway, about $2.65 worth of silver in it.

A few days later my father-in-law responded to the above request by stating that he didn’t think saving coins was ‘where it was at’.  He believed that having cash on hand was more important.  When my wife (yes, it was actually my wife who piped up first) retorted back that paper money would have no value in an economic collapse, my father-in-law responded carelessly by stating that he could be reached at their cottage near Reed City, Michigan and that if the phone lines were down, we could send him a letter there. 

“Great idea,” I told my wife, “he has no firearms, no coins, nothing to barter with, and zero food.”

So back at the disaster preparedness drawing board, I set out my concerns on paper.  By the time I was done I had seven pages of why we need to prepare along with travel routes to our retreat (and a secondary retreat in case the primary is compromised) both driving and walking.  I ran down a list on what to pack and what not to pack – including a note to my sister-in-law to leave her ‘beauty products’ at home as they couldn’t be bartered for anything.  I concluded with what we will continue to do in the next few years, as a group, to fully prepare for an extended disaster event, including food stocks, ammunition purchases, medical supplies, et cetera.

Well, something must have clicked. Our preparedness family went from two adults (my wife and I) to seven adults (father-, mother-, daughter-, her husband, and brother-in-law).

“Nice work,” my wife and brother-in-law both said when they heard the news.  My brother-in-law had been a steadfast supporter since the beginning.

“Thanks, but seven is an unlucky number,” I said.

My wife looked at me, mouth agape, before she responded, “I do believe that seven is a lucky number.”

“Not when you need shifts of two or four for security patrols,” I responded.

I turned to my brother-in-law and asked, “What about your friend, Ryan?  He seems to have a good head on his shoulders.”

“No way,” my wife responded hastily.  “Family only.”

My brother-in-law stated flatly, “Yeah, you might want to reconsider.  Ryan has a generator, has over 2,000 rounds of ammunition stored in his basement and is a self taught auto mechanic.”

I could only think back to my father’s words right then.

‘There are some things that schools just can’t teach.’

Without hesitation, I replied, “Ryan’s in.”

In Conclusion
We are just starting this adventure of preparing for the worst.  I have no idea where it will take us, other than giving us the peace of mind that when ‘it’ does hit the fan, we will be ready.

Letter Re: Avoiding Vitamin Deficiency Illnesses in Societal Collapse

Dear Jim:
Recently, while doing some genealogy research, I discovered that my great aunt died at age 22 in Sunderland, England.  She had married in 1906 and died in 1907.  We all assumed it was childbirth related.  Not so.  The death certificate says:  “Scurvy septicaemia”.  This is certainly not anything I have heard of before. 

I did some reading and found that Scurvy is is a lack of Vitamin C with symptoms of weakness, spongy and bleeding gums, and hemorrhages under the skin.  As scurvy advances, there can be open wounds filled with pus, loss of teeth, jaundice, fever, neuropathy and death.   Septicemia is blood poisoning.   So, it appears she had an advanced case of scurvy with open sores which became infected.  Because her system was so weakened, the infection spread through her whole body and killed her.

If we are considering preparing for crisis situations, two simple things may prevent what happened to great aunt Mary:  (1) a stockpile of Vitamin C and (2) lots of soap and clean water.  These remedies are inexpensive and preventative.  Stock up! – Gracie

JWR Replies: All well-prepared families should plan on both storing commercial Vitamin C tablets and collecting and storing their own sources. By coincidence, the folks over at the excellent Paratus Familia blog (one of Avalanche Lily‘s daily reads) just posted this: Wildcrafting – Rose Hip Jelly.

Rickets (due to lack of Vitamin D), is also easily avoidable. Natural sources of Vitamin D include cod liver oil, fatty fish, eggs, lard, many dairy products, and fish roe. You can store cod liver oil in bulk. But of course without measured doses, there could be the risk of over-dosing Vitamin D. So be sure to use a teaspoon measure, rather than just a brave gulp.

As I mentioned in my book How to Survive the End of the World As We Know It, Vitamins K, A, D, and E are all fat soluble, so there is the risk of overdosing. Not so for water-soluble vitamins. With those, anything excess to a body’s needs are excreted in the urine. But that would be a waste of a resource that might be crucial for you and your neighbors.

Economics and Investing:

Several readers mentioned a video that caused some jaw-dropping by the newscasters: Trader on the BBC says Eurozone Market will crash

Reader R.J. wrote to mentIon: ” So just how is ‘Operation Twist’ supposed to fix the economy? One positive from it: It gave me a chance to buy some relatively cheap silver.”

J. McC. pointed me to this: The €2 trillion fund to save the euro: The numbers keep getting bigger. When the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) was created in May last year it was underwritten to the tune of €440bn (£384bn).

Marty Weiss: Twelve (12) Giant U.S. Banks Vulnerable to Disaster

Items from The Economatrix:

Home Sales Jump 7.7% as Foreclosures Rise

Index Options Predict October Stock Collapse

Will Gold & Silver Climb a Further 250% and 300% Respectively?

New-home Sales Fell in August for Fourth Month

Stocks Jump on Investors’ Hopes for a Europe Fix

Odds ‘n Sods:

A “Strong To Severe” geomagnetic storm is expected for up to 36 hours, starting tonight. Get ready for some pretty aurorae. Disconnecting the power cords and antennas for your primary radios and full Faraday cage protection (trash can with tight-fitting lid) for your spares would be wise. This is good practice, if nothing else…

   o o o

F.J. found this gem: Box food dehydrator

   o o o

Camping Survival’s Paracord Giveaway ends soon. Describe your favorite paracord project, or list some of your favorite uses for paracord and how you execute them, and you can win a 1,000 foot roll of top quality paracord. This contest will run through the end of September.

   o o o

A tongue-in-cheek piece over at the Rural Revolution blog had me laughing hysterically: Wood Cutting 101 by Husband of the Boss.

   o o o

Jeff H. and F.J. both sent this: Man with broken leg survives 4 days in Utah desert. F.J. notes some Lessons Learned: “(1) Water is essential. (2) Don’t panic (3) Tell folks where you’ll be! (4) Have check in times (5) Innovative using flash camera to signal plane.”

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“There is the moral of all human tales;
‘Tis but the same rehearsal of the past.
First freedom and then Glory – when that fails,
Wealth, vice, corruption – barbarism at last.” – George Gordon (Lord Byron), “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage“, Canto IV

A Disconnect in Spot Precious Metals Prices and The Real World

I’m sure that most of you noticed that gold and silver took deep dips on Thursday and Friday. (Spot silver declined nearly 20%–almost $9 per ounce!) Then an odd thing happened last weekend: I attended a gun show deep in the American Redoubt. I was happy to see that there were four coin dealers that had rented tables there. I had brought some cash with me, hoping to buy some more silver. I also brought a few fractional gold coins to swap for silver, or perhaps even platinum. (Since spot platinum is presently priced below gold!) But my more realistic goal was to swap for silver, since there is presently a very advantageous 53.5-to-1 ratio of silver to gold prices.

But I soon found that all four dealers were sticking to their pre-dip prices. All four of them quoted me asking prices of 26 or 27 times face value for pre-1965 junk silver (90%) coins. But with the recent dip in silver futures and spot silver, the gnomes of New York said that coin dealers should have quoted me a price of around 22 or 23 times face value. Of course, in a free market, dealers can price anything wherever they’d like, and I won’t fault them for that. How can I blame them, when they probably paid 24 or 25 times face, wholesale for their current inventories of pre-1965 coins, just a couple of weeks ago. They are of course hoping that the price of silver will soon rebound. (And it very likely will.)

In the end, since the dealers were all standing firm on their pre-dip prices, I didn’t work any cash deals for silver coins or small ingots. But at least I was able to swap some “small gold” coins for a few Johnson Matthey and Sunshine Minting serialized 10 Troy ounce .999 fine silver bars.

My experience at the gun show is further evidence that the “real world” price of commodities often differ from the “official” price. In turbulent markets where we now witness huge price swings, we can expect to see these sorts of pricing disconnects more often. Be flexible, keep cash on hand to take advantage of dips, and keep close track of market moves.

Guest Article: To Build a Fire, by Bob A.

Okay, I admit it, I’m a Prepper.  The first time I read the Boy Scout Motto “Be Prepared”, I was hooked.  “Be prepared for what?” someone once asked Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, “Why, for any old thing.” said Baden-Powell.  My real awakening with the Boy Scout Handbook was my first introduction to fire.  Learning to make a basic campfire, a cook fire, bonfire and camp-fire television were the first tastes of what would prepare me for the future. I camped, earned merit badges and worked my way to First Class and Patrol leader all the while putting an end to cords and cords of wood with gusto.  Being a Scout taught me at a young age to think about prepping as a natural part of my life.  When I read Jack London’s epic story “To Build A Fire”, I understood that being unprepared can be the harshest schoolmaster.  So I began my life in the workaday world planning on being the one who was prepared.
Fast forward to ‘married with children’ and I can hear my patient, psych-majored, wife say, “prepping meets a basic need”.  In my mind, prepping meant to know ‘everything’ about being prepared.  It was important to understand not just how to prep, but what to prep for and to understand the root causes for why one had to prep.  Several books I read provided the best explanation of what was coming: 1) The Fourth Turning by Strauss and Howe, 2) Conquer the Crash by Robert Prechter, and 3) The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.   All three helped me understand what I was preparing for and instilled a real sense of urgency.  Knowing the why, I also pursued the how by reading: 1) Boy Scouts Handbook (First Edition, 1911), 2) The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery, and 3) How to Survive the End of the World As We Know It, by James Wesley, Rawles, the best among many others.

After years of reading books, articles and blogs, it slowly dawned on me that I would never know ‘everything’ about prepping, but at least I could know ‘everything’ about a couple of things.  My work consisted of designing and building process equipment, which requires large vessels called retorts that are used to heat mercury vapor, hydrocarbons and air to over 1000F.  The retorts are kept under a mild vacuum, to prevent the conditions for combustion and fire from ever happening. After more than ten years of designing and building retorts, I became interested in biomass gasifiers, which are in many ways, similar to retorts.  My prepping had led me to look at alternative fuels for our family’s two diesel fueled sedans.  Although already easy on fuel, I was interested in what alternatives there were to using straight diesel fuel.  Peanut oil, soybean oil, palm oil, coconut oil, used fryer oil, used motor oil, LP gas, compressed natural gas and producer gas are all mentioned as alternatives to diesel fuel.  Wait a second!  What is that last one – producer gas? It is fairly common to convert a diesel to run on LP and compressed natural gas, but what was producer gas?  As it turns out, producer gas is the result of burning biomass (basically wood) with insufficient air. In fact about ¼ of the normal amount of air necessary to completely burn wood will yield a smoky, but burnable producer gas consisting mostly of Carbon Monoxide (CO), Hydrogen (H2), Nitrogen (N2) and smoke (unburned hydrocarbons).  Producer gas from a gasifier must have the smoke reformed into producer gas before it can be piped directly into the intake of a diesel engine. This could reduce, but not completely replace the diesel fuel that the engine uses.  I was intrigued by the possibility that we could use biomass to power our diesels.  After studying biomass gasification for about two years, we built our first test gasifier.  It was a batch-type, stratified, downdraft gasifier, which we built with insulated, stainless steel chimney sections and small axial blower. It was a very simple, yet excellent way to learn more about biomass gasification.  With this test unit we gasified every type of biomass we could get our hands on – wood chips, wood pellets, sawdust, cocoa shells, wood shavings, paper, and dried distillers grains (don’t ask).  In addition to producer gas, the gasifier also yields a charcoal, also known as biochar, as a valuable byproduct.

Needless to say I was excited, but then my wife says I’m always excited about something or other, having been born fully caffeinated.  Now I could make producer gas and biochar simply and on demand.  With some development time, stainless steel fabrication, and a digital control system – I could see this becoming an entire new business.  I made a plan for our prototype and my faithful sidekick, Jake, drew up good looking solid model drawings, which he then built.  To our surprise, the unit worked and generated producer gas that we flared off in an impressive blue flame about two feet long.  To our amazement, we also got it to power a 5 kW gasoline generator which we converted to run on producer gas using the tri-fuel generator kit available from US Carburetion.  So I showed my wife the unit, showed her how it operated, the big beautiful blue flame, ran the generator and told her my idea of how this was the basis for a whole new business.  Her immediate response, “That’s great dear – but don’t quit your day job.” Well I haven’t given up mercury retorts, but I could tell by her enthusiastic response that she was behind me all the way. 

Soon after, young Jake and I were discussing gasifying the various types of biomass, whether hardwood, softwood, nutshells, paper, and grains, and how the process seemed to be straightforward. Our conversation got around to size and again how simple the process was to gasify average size wood chips, wood pellets and other “average” size biomass, just as we could easily gasify small size biomass like fine sawdust.  I mentioned to Jake the importance of testing the other extreme, to which he immediately shot back, “then gasify logs”.  Ouch! Now that smarted.  Wood blocks, can do; small branches, check; short 2×2 cutoffs, no problem; but logs, full size logs?  That little challenge from Jake, faithful apprentice and right-hand man, forced me to think about the real reason we were doing what we were doing.  We really needed to be prepared for the time when the gasoline, diesel fuel, LP and natural gas were gone.  The time when the natural gas pipelines were empty, when we had used the last of our LP tanks, and when our diesel fuel and gasoline tanks were empty.  What happens then?  How would that happen? Whether war, EMP, political upheaval, famine or plague – it matters little.  Because when you’re cold and it’s dark, no one is interested in motives or underlying causes, you just need heat and light. 

All that would be left as a renewable resource would be our firewood, but how can we effectively use firewood?  Normally, the traditional campfire can provide heat to warm you up, cook your food, dry your clothes, signal your location, and provide you with adequate light to see and read.  However, under abnormal situations involving the high stress of no shelter, extreme cold, deep snow, high winds and driving rain; building a fire can be a lifesaving, but tricky proposition especially for the inexperienced and unprepared.  This is the part where having read Jack London’s short story, “To Build a Fire” was crucial to my thought process.  If you never read it – now is a good time.   Just what does it take to properly build a fire in extreme conditions?  It requires: first, shelter from wind and cold surfaces like snow; second, a good quantity dry wood; third, some kindling consisting of dried wood cut in thin sections or slivers; fourth, some flammable tinder, which can catch and hold the smallest flame or spark; fifth, all-weather waterproof matches or flint and steel; sixth, knowing the process of assembling the wood, kindling and tinder that will enable you to start and maintain the fire; and seventh, practice.   The best campfire resource on the web that I’ve seen is The Campfire Dude who provides you with solid information matched with years of practical experience.  Making a campfire is not that easy, in fact it requires skill under good circumstances, and can be near impossible in high stress situations.  Add to that the fact that a campfire is absolutely the least efficient means to burn wood to generate warmth and you may well be permanently disappointed. 

Jake and I had learned that it was easy to gasify almost any biomass using our downdraft gasifier, as long as it had been nicely chipped, chopped, pelleted, trimmed, dried and graded for uniformity.  However to gasify logs required a completely different approach, we found a clue at the 2010 U.S. Biochar Initiative Conference at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. There we saw several versions of inverted downdraft stoves and were intrigued by one large unit in particular.  One big problem was that it required electric power and a blower to operate – we were not interested, as our unit had to operate without power.  Instead we developed an idea, which used the updraft heat from the fire to drive the necessary airflow to feed the fire in place of the electric blower. We designed the layout for our basic prototype from our initial calculations, which required that we place correctly sized openings for primary and secondary air and chimney. Proper location, sizing and spacing all were important, in that they determined, how fast the wood burned, how hot the fire got and how completely it burned the wood fuel.  We built our first unit and were again amazed that it worked at all.  Our testing used metal containers, which ranged from 5 gallon metal pails holding 12 inch long split wood to 30 gallon cans where we tested full sized logs. 

We discovered in our first test that:
1) The burn was extremely hot, enough so to warp the metal container,
2) The wood burned with no visible smoke except on startup,
3) 20 pounds of wood burned down to less than 5# of biochar, and
4) The burn lasted more than two and one-half hours. 

Thus was born our “Commence Fire!” Emergency Fire and Heat unit, which includes:  one 5 gallon shrink-wrapped container, chimney, 20# of hardwood pellets, tinder/fire starter, stormproof matches, metal cups, water pouches, single servings of tea and a reflective Mylar blanket. 

To operate the Commence Fire!, first strip off the shrink wrapping, remove the shrink tube from inside the chimney, firmly pull the chimney completely up until it locks in place, charge the unit with the tinder/firestarter mix by pushing it completely down the chimney, remove a stormproof match from its package, light it and immediately drop it down chimney. 

Within five minutes of opening the shrink wrap, your fire should be well established. Next fill a cup with water and in a few more minutes you will have boiling water ready for hot tea.  Immediately search for about 100 pieces of small diameter logs and branches that are dead but still off the ground, and which you are able to break into 12” lengths using your hands or feet.  Lean the accumulated wood, even if wet, on the Commence Fire! unit to get it dry – as you will be using this wood as a continuing source of fire.  It is also recommended that you stack rocks up around the outside of the container to be heated and later brought into your tent or sleeping bag for long lasting warmth. Proper positioning of the Mylar blanket enables you to shield yourself from wind and rain, while reflecting heat from the backside of the unit.

You probably know that you can remain conscious for only three minutes without air. You may not know that you are likely to remain conscious for only three hours without adequate shelter and heat in extreme cold and wet conditions.  To reverse the effects of exposure and hypothermia you need the means to provide heat and shelter to reduce exposure and the means of increasing your core temperature by drinking warm liquids. With the Commence Fire! you have a unit with everything you need to start and maintain a fire in any weather and to provide shelter and warm liquids fast, especially when it is pre-positioned and ready in your BOV, retreat, cabin, boat, or cache.

Indoors, most folks believe that their fireplaces will be their backup heat. But the harsh reality is that a fireplace can be only slightly more efficient than a campfire in extracting heat from wood.

JWR Adds: The author makes an interesting new stove and tinder kit dubbed Commence Fire! It will soon be reviewed in SurvivalBlog by Pat Cascio. It is notable that the kit is specially dry-packaged for use in an emergency, so the contents stay dry, even if its shipping box gets soaking wet. Here is a demonstration of a Commence Fire! kit. 

Disclaimer (per FTC File No. P034520): I accept cash-paid advertising. To the best of my knowledge, as of the date of this posting, none of the companies mentioned in this article have solicited me or paid me to write any reviews or endorsements, nor have they provided me any free or reduced-price gear in exchange for any reviews or endorsements. I’ve been told that they will be providing Pat with one of their kits for test and evaluation, but nothing else. I am not a stock holder in any company.

TB Review for TEOTW, by Dr. Bob

OB?  Not bad if you need one.  CB?  Good times on the road.  PB?  Quite tasty–with or without J.  BB?  Good training gun for kids to start with.  TB?  No thanks.  Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis.  The disease is poorly understood in the US due to rare infections until the last 20 years or so, TB went nuts here and peaked in 1992.  New York City was in some areas more than three times the national average for infections per 100,000 population.  There were many reasons listed for this spike, but the two biggest were immigration and AIDS.  TB has steadily declined in the US since that time, which you would never know from watching the news.  Just like shark attacks, we are exposed to a lot less TB than we probably think due to over-reporting of such stories.  But, TB does pop up more when people are poor, dirty and stressed–like we all will be WTSHTF.  Abuse of drugs, tobacco, and alcohol are all know to increase the likelihood of contracting TB.  So is being underweight, vitamin D deficient, and iron deficient.  Chronic disease and immuno-compromise are also big risk factors for developing TB.  Most TB cases are from immigrants in the US, with more than half of all US cases in foreign-born individuals.

The treatment of TB will not be something possible in the small, self-sufficient communities created by a major grid-down event.  The good thing is that TB will probably not be an issue in these environments either.  If there is a member of your family or group infected currently with TB, they will need to live on the periphery of your community and avoid crowded contact to reduce the likelihood of transmission.  More than a third of household contacts test positive for TB with an infected family member.  Best advice:  that person needs to be in their own separate household.  Not only coughing, but also singing produces the formation of droplets that carry TB.  Risk of infection would exist with socializing with others, which could be markedly reduced with surgical masks on both TB carrier and the people he or she is mixing with.  There would still be risk, albeit very small without a coughing, laughing, or singing fit.  (We invite comments about this risk if you have the knowledge).

TB cases will likely rise in populated areas with no monitoring of the cases and less treatment available WTSHTF.  With less mixing of the population in preppers and rural folk without trips to airports, Mall of America, and the Wal-Mart; TB rates may actually fall in theory.  Open air and non-crowded environments help reduce transmission of the disease.  Crowding and poverty in areas with infected individuals are the real boosters of risk.  Avoid crowding and poverty, even at TEOTWAWKI.  You may have heard this somewhere before, but plan ahead.  Avoid populated areas with TB-infected individuals that will likely inhabit the major federal camps that will pop up to “help” people.  Self-reliance means better health.  TB infection will really not be a major issue for those groups and families that are independent WTSHTF.  Stay strong.

JWR Adds: Dr. Bob is is one of the few consulting physicians in the U.S. who dispenses antibiotics for disaster preparedness as part of his normal scope of practice. His web site is: SurvivingHealthy.com.

Letter Re: Some Low Power DC Lighting Solutions

Hi Jim,
I’ve been chasing some practical technologies that have proved useful to me. I hope that you find them useful as well.
 
As you know, power usage in an off-grid environment is a purse to be tightly controlled. After all, when you make your own, you cautiously guard it’s use.
 
I‘ve been using LED strings from Inirgee.com for the past number of years at the off grid ranch and have been well pleased. 
 
I’ve used the warm white and the cool white and learned I like warm white inside and cool white outside.
 

Recently I got adventurous and toyed with the Chinese/Hong Kong manufacturers on eBay. Most of my lights use the 1157 single pole DC light sockets so that’s what I centered around. I started out with these since the US guys have already toyed around and found what they liked but, of course, their price is higher.
 
Then I also got the cheap Chinese ones to try out. I also found these. They work well and put out light in 360 degrees.

Next, I tried the plate style light fixture. They come with Velcro backing so you can stick them up. They work very well for overhead or desk lights or simply put into RV-style house lamps. Here are three different eBay offerings: One, Two, Three. 

Then I ran across a super nice floodlight, 1,000 lumens and pulls ~.6 amps. A lot of light with a very minimal current draw.
 
All in all, the overall current reduction has been ~80% less than I was using and the lights are comfortable and reliable.
 
Nice thing about putting these floodlights on the ATV and tractor is at night, I can turn off the engine and leave all the lights on and not worry if I’m going to run the battery down. 5 to 6 hours of very bright light at night and the engine always starts.

One convenient method for portable applications of the floodlights has been to use a (military) BB-2590 lithium battery (rechargeable of course) powering a single floodlight and it ran continuously for seven days.
 
All in all, should power go away, using the aforementioned DC lighting solutions makes life a lot more tolerable. And before that should happen, the cost of illumination is drastically reduced I hope you find an acorn or two in the foregoing that helps you.
 
Best Regards, – The Army Aviator

Three Letters Re: Small Scale Alternative Energy in Suburbia

Mr. Rawles:
In a recent SurvivalBlog post, Alan W. wrote:

“It has a 400w inverter with a modified sine wave output. During Hurricane Irene the
only thing that I could get it to power was a standard lamp with an incandescent light bulb! It wouldn’t run tools or electronics.”

I believe he is drawing the wrong conclusion from this experience. Instead of blaming the (admittedly inferior) “modified sine wave” inverter, he should have blamed himself for not testing his equipment before the emergency struck.

I own a number of inexpensive inverters with “modified sine wave” ranging from 175 watt to 1000 watt ratings, and have found they run almost everything I have tried to power with them. I have run lights, both incandescent, CFL, and long tube fluorescents with both old magnetic and modern electronic ballasts. I have run sound reinforcement equipment
including mixers and power amplifiers (with a slight buzz but no damage).

Every night I run my CPAP [sleep apnea breathing] machine and charge my cell phone using an inexpensive 200 watt rated “modified sine wave” inverter running from a deep cycle battery that is charged by a small solar electric system.

One way to be almost absolutely sure that an electronic device will be happy running from a “modified sine wave” inverter is to look at the acceptable power voltage range. Many electronic devices today have “universal” power supplies that will accept any voltage from 100 to 250 volts. Such universal power supplies have zero problems using the less than great output waveform of inexpensive inverters. Both my CPAP and my cell phone charger have such universal power supplies.

As far as the tool issue, most motors require 7 to 10 times their running power to start. It is possible that the 400 watt inverter was simply not big enough to run the device he tried to use.

It is also very possible that he had a defective inverter.

He also stated:

“An inverter with a pure sine wave output is a much more expensive design
(and is the same output as your house electric) and is typically larger. It
is often used in back-up power supplies for computer systems.”

Most reasonably priced computer UPSes sold in the home and small business market, have “modified sine wave” outputs, not “pure sine wave”. Our computers at home are running on four different APC brand UPSes, all of which have “modified sine wave” outputs. This is another example to disprove the common myth that electronics can’t run on “modified sine wave” inverters.

And, regarding:

“I realize that the typical generator uses a cheaper inverter and that may
be fine for a few lamps and a refrigerator, but I want to run medical
equipment, Televisions and a laptop during outages.”

The “typical” generator does not use an inverter. The modern inverter generators popularized by Honda with their very quiet EU series of generators do use inverters, and the Honda models have a pretty good “pure sine wave” output.

There may be medical equipment that has a problem running on “modified sine wave” inverters, but I suspect many dealers and manufacturers claim pure sine wave is required for liability reasons rather than any actual technical reason. Again my CPAP is perfectly happy running on “modified sine wave” power.

Laptops mostly have universal power supplies these days which don’t much care how good the power is you feed to them. In the case of a laptop a better solution is to use a power supply that runs directly from the 12 volt DC battery. This is much less wasteful of energy.

Televisions and radios may pick up noise when running on any inverter because even the best “pure sine wave” inverter has RF trash on its output. Try this before hand and see how much of a problem it is in your situation.

JWR wrote in reply:

“Even the best inverters produce AC power with a slightly clipped or distorted waveform.”

This is true. You can largely clean the power up by using a Harmonic Neutralized Constant Voltage Transformer such as the models made by Sola. I have both a small 50 watt and a large 1,000 watt Harmonic Neutralized Sola and use them to provide clean power to very finicky “power prima donna” electronics. The downside of these transformers are that they are large, heavy (my 1000 watt transformer weighs 80 pounds), waste some of the power, and are expensive even if bought used.

JWR Also mentioned:

“Also, when sizing your system remember that the larger the inverter, the
higher its “idle” current draw will be.”

That is a very important point. That is why I use a small 200 watt inverter to power my CPAP machine and my cell phone charger. Nothing larger is required. Regards, – R.R.

 

Jim:
As a former truck driver, I have used inverters to power all sorts of things in the truck for about 10 years.

I have run various power tools, laptops, desktop computer, and even a deep fryer,cooker combo on my inverter.

The little cigarette lighter plug style inverter puts out around 50-70 watts. It would not power my laptop, but it would charge the battery, it works great for the little household adapters. They usually run around 30-40 dollars at a chain truck stop.

I used a Cobra 800 watt inverter that powered a desktop computer and CRT monitor. This was back in 2000 when laptops were still very expensive compared to desktops. It was mounted in the truck where the television normally goes. I could go many hours on the four batteries in the truck while still being able to start the engine later.

I later upgraded to a 1000 watt inverter to power my cooker, after having problems with my truck mounted diesel genset. With the high maintenance costs of running that little diesel generator, I would have been better off buying 6 or 8 additional deep cycle batteries and installing a second alternator. I spent nearly as much on the little generator as I did on the care of the 500hp Detroit diesel that got me down the road. – M.B.

 

James:
Instead of spending a lot of money to get a pure sine wave generator or inverter, I’d like to remind SurvivalBlog readers of something that has been mentioned here before: You can place a UPS power backer in the line between the generator/inverter and your electronics. Let the generator charge the UPS battery with squarish sine waves and run the electronics off of the inverted battery power by the backer which is made to run sensitive electronics. I started using UPS seriously when our local power company (famous for high voltage spikes) kept burning out high quality spike protectors. The UPS power backers, take spikes, browns and square waves all the time providing clean power to your electronics. A power drop won’t even drop the satellite TV connection. The down side is that you have to replace the battery every few years or so. I’ve had the internal batteries last for as long as 5 and as few as 2. Almost every electronic device I own is on one except for large current drain items like laser printers and appliances. Those items stay on surge protectors which I do replace as they fail. – F.B. (15 Miles From Asphalt)

Economics and Investing:

Pierre M. sent this: Bank of America is Becoming a “Counterparty Risk” Like Bear and Lehman

Over at Fierce Finance: Banks downgraded, but is too-big-to-fail really over?

G.G. sent a link to a noteworthy news article dated September 19th that I had missed: Israel Has Dumped 46 Percent of Its U.S. Treasury Bills; Russia 95 Percent

Also from G.G.: Virginia regulators closed another bank, bringing the nationwide tally of bank failures to 72 for the year.

Items from The Economatrix:

Oil Falls Below $80 On Demand Concerns

Global Leaders Struggle to Calm Recession Fears

Signs of China Slowdown Add to Dim Global Outlook

Bernanke Triggers October Crash Early

Odds ‘n Sods:

John R. spotted this: Hay The Latest Target For Thieves As Prices Skyrocket

   o o o

P.L. recommended an informative firearms article by Grant Cunningham: Lubrication 101

   o o o

Allie in Montana mentioned an amazing truly “minimalist” Kydex holster: The Zacchaeus Concealment Holster, made by Dale Fricke Holsters. It is particularly useful for those that like “Mexican Carry”, but that don’t want a gun to slip too deep down their pants. (That can be embarrassing, not to mention unsafe!) Having the triggerguard fully enclosed is particularly important for pistols that lack a thumb safety lever (and with or without the “safety in the trigger”) such as Glocks, FNPs, SIG P250s, and Springfield XDs. These clever little “holsters” are so small that they can be left on a loaded gun even if it is inside a pistol rug, in a pistol rack in your gun vault, or tucked in a glove box or “jockey box’ of a vehicle. I’m buying several of them, just for peace of mind with my Glocks and XDs.

   o o o

F.J. recommended this over at Life Hacker: Build Bicycle Panniers from Kitty Litter Buckets

   o o o

Michael Z. Williamson (SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large) flagged this: You’ll eat what you’re told and like it.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Between the hand wringing over Greece and the Eurozone, the Palestinian-related hair-pulling at the UN, the stock market cra**ing the bed, and NASA running around yelling that the sky is falling, the only way you can tell the front page of CNN.com from SurvivalBlog right now is by the graphics and color schemes.” – Tamara, at the View From The Porch blog