Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 35 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) 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 B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo , and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) 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, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.

Round 35 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

The Case For Silver Spoons, by F.J.B.

1

Most folks today would agree that we live in troubled times. At any moment, a single event could change the balance of our society for the worse, taking us back to what some might call the dark ages. Predicted solar flares, EMPs, earthquakes, or  even terrorist activity today could lead to a complete infrastructure failure that would affect every aspect of our future. During such a grim event, our personal health would be a great concern. Without refrigeration, many medicines would spoil. Without power, pharmaceutical plants shut down. The few hospitals that have back-up power will soon run out and close if they are not overrun by the masses first. Most modern medical practices would become useless. What is common surgery today, will become a thing of the past. Without the power grid, virtually all that goes into modern medical practices for the common man simply goes away.

Everyday tasks that we would have engaged in without concern before such an event could now pose a health risk that leads to infections or sickness and could even lead to death. Running a barbed wire fence, turning a wrench on your truck, or cutting fire wood will require extra care so as to not get hurt or injured. In fact, just sitting down to a meal could lead to your demise. Aside from the main course, what are you ingesting from the plates and utensils themselves? Like it or not, without automatic dishwashers, we will all be taking a greater interest in washing the dishes and being certain that they are clean, which is why we all should now be looking at silver spoons.

Silver spoons may be the very reason some family lines have continued through the ages while others have been completely lost. Perhaps this, too, is why the general population holds a negative bias towards those who were “born with a silver spoon“.  While the lower class ate their meals with dirty hands and wooden spoons, the elite would eat with dirty hands and silver spoons.   

At this time, I feel compelled to make full disclosure in that I was, indeed, silver-spoon-fed Gerber baby food by my mom who always tried to keep my hands clean.  While on her honeymoon in the Appalachians, Mom bought a souvenir silver (baby) spoon that would be a hand-me-down silver spoon from my older sister to me. It was soon lost by me to my younger sibling who in turn lost it to our still youngest sibling who saw the silver spoon retired. The silver spoon came out of retirement some twenty-five years later to assist my wife in feeding our son. At that time I marveled that I hadn’t starved to death as a child for the tiny size of the silver spoon.

Further, while growing up at home with my family, we were sometimes allowed to dine with Mom’s silverware on extra special occasions such as every third Christmas dinner or every seventh Easter Sunday meal.

So you see, while I am no stranger to silver spoons, I am clearly not an elitist that would have had his own silver baby spoon and dined daily with the family silverware. And Mom was no elitist either! She was just a young and sentimental nurse who knew of silver’s benefits and wanted to protect her children.

Big industry has learned what smart moms, and elitists all over the world, knew all along. Silver fights germs because silver is poison to germs!

A Swiss botanist from the 1880s is credited with coining  the phrase oligodynamic effect which, simply put, means that silver is toxic to bacteria, viruses, molds, fungi, spores and other unpopular micro-organisms! In other words, a spoon made of silver would naturally fight bacteria, viruses, and other micro bad things that might want to hang-out or live on your spoon. Some test results suggest that in as little as 6 minutes a silver spoon will have killed all the bad stuff on it.

A silver spoon self-sanitizes as it sits in your drawer waiting to be used.  This property is shared by other heavy metals as well, but silver is the most affordable, and safest, heavy metal that won’t cause other adverse effects on us (such as lead does). Scientists, doctors, and nurses have been aware of this for years, but modern medicine went in another direction. Only today are we hearing about the wonders of silver in medicine and industry.

Today, fabric manufacturers are adding silver particles to socks and other clothing to control odors caused by bacteria. Silver-coated polyester fabric is used in heart valve replacement surgery. Silver is used in mattresses and bedding for both its antimicrobial effect and its heat dissipation qualities. Silver is used in fabrics that in turn are used in RF Shielding and protecting electronics from EMPs. Silver is used in the fabric mesh of radiation protective suits. Silver is now being used in bandages and first-aid materials. Kitchen sponges are available with the benefits of silver. Colloidal silver (a liquid suspension of silver) is being used almost anywhere you can think of that germs are growing. It is being sprayed into HVAC vents to kill germs and bacteria. It is used as an antibacterial burn treatment. It has been shown that colloidal silver, taken internally, is effective against E. Coli  and over 650 disease-causing organisms. The use of silver in industry continues to grow and we may never see an end to its possibilities.  It is also of note that American pioneers would drop a silver dollar into a jug of milk to keep it fresh from spoilage. What else did they know that has been forgotten by modern man?

Knowing what silver can do, and owning pure silver (.999 fine), you can actually make colloidal silver at home for dipping your socks into or even treating cancer. There are many internet posts on how to make colloidal silver at home and the uses of colloidal silver. It is fairly easy to make and can be done with a few 9-volt batteries, silver wire or two silver bullion coins (.999), a quart canning jar, two alligator clips and some distilled water.

The process involves creating an electrical current that runs through the two clips suspending the silver in the distilled water. As the electricity flows through the silver and into/through the water, silver ionized particles are left behind suspended in the water. Once made, it should be stored covered and away from sunlight. Use it as a topical antibacterial for cuts, scrapes  and burns. After a societal-changing event where there is no doctor or hospital, you can take sterile bandages and dip them into the colloidal silver solution for use as an antibacterial bandage.

It is not recommended that you use a sterling silver spoon to make colloidal silver.  Sterling silver is .925 pure, having some copper in it. We do not want to ingest the copper so it is recommended that you use .999 pure silver as is found in silver bullion.  It is also of note that early silver spoons were nearly pure silver. It was later that they were alloyed to make the spoon stronger and harder to keep it from bending. Today, “Sterling silver” is .925 pure silver.

Another age-old benefit of silver spoons dates to the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907) China.  Silver chop sticks would turn black or tarnish quickly when the silver reacted with popular poisons of the era. A silver spoon (or chop stick) will tarnish on contact with sulfur, and therefore any arsenic sulfides, making it a handy arsenic-poisoning detector and a lot easier to keep around than a chef or a peasant for random taste tests.

All said, everyone should have a silver spoon in their kit. It should be widely used by all in family survival kitchens, BOBs, and even carried by each individual to be used when eating out (you’ll always know whose mouth it last touched).  It will also be in the ready should you need to barter or buy something while on the road. After all, it is silver and just like cash. Maybe you should have several with you.

I would support a universal distribution of silver spoons to every man, woman, and child in these United States as an alternative health care plan.   In essence, the silver spoon is a pocket health care plan!

Remember what Mom always said: Wash your hands, eat well, be healthy, use your silver spoon and stay away from hard ice cream to prevent bent spoons.

Buy some silver spoons and you just might be continuing your family line.

Letter Re: Just How Bad Can it Get?

JWR,
I will preface by saying that I have a much different opinion on the aftermath of a significant long-term or permanent collapse of the economy and the power grid leading to a collapse of the social structure.   I have read numerous studies that indicated that, in any long-term absence of modern technology, the sort of defended retreat with family and friends, not to mention the exposure you will get bartering and dispensing charity with third parties, will be only the initial phase of a total breakdown of a functioning society.  Some say the further degradation of what we now hold as essential human standards of morality and ethics will result in everybody not in your nuclear family being reduced to predators, suppressing any capacity for compassion, morality, community, and even basic identification with or empathy toward others.  In effect, they will inevitably adopt most of the characteristics of a classical psychopath, willing to commit the most brutal acts to protect their immediate nuclear family (spouse and minor children) and to maximize their and their family’s ability to continue to survive.  The person you barter with one day may well be your deadly enemy a week later, determined to destroy your family and loot all of your carefully accumulated survival resources.  Your book envisions that, in a total collapse, you can hunker down in a retreat that is well hidden and well defended long enough for the chaos to dissipate, at which time you basically live a pioneer-style life, planting your own crops and raising your own livestock.   

From my readings, many experts in social interaction, psychology, sociology, and other fields seem to accept the view that, should governments and economies collapse, the period of chaos is expected to last at least a century and to get worse, not better, over ours and our children’s lifetimes.   In fact, the very act of planting gardens and raising livestock will be a public tell to roving gangs living off of plunder, some of which will virtually be small armies heavily armed by looting National Guard armories and other sources of combat-designed weaponry.  Even the best equipped retreat can end up being a box canyon, and even the people living within the retreat can end up turning on each other as supplies wane.

William Forstchen, who co-authors (and, I suspect, completely ghost writes) Newt Gingrich’s books has a thought-provoking new fiction book on his own, called “One Second After.”  It begins with the protagonist losing his electricity.  At first, he thinks that this is an ordinary power outage and power will soon be restored.  Then he begins to notice that battery-operated devices, like his watch, and all of the cars on the nearby freeway, have also stopped working.  It turns out that some unknown enemy has attacked the United States by setting off three nuclear explosions high in the stratosphere and created a massive EMP that fried just about all of the country’s electric systems (only a few older cars still work).  He and his neighbors all join forces to share their resources and also to provide security against looter gangs.  Soon they are under growing assaults by significantly large bands of military-style criminals and extremists, while, at the same time, some of the people on the block are turning against each other as they begin to realize that equal sharing of resources will benefit some at the expense of others.  Personal survival increasingly trumps any remaining vestiges of human and humane values.  It is a fascinating read.

There are extreme survival strategies that not only require dispensing with almost all of the preparations we would make to create and defend a retreat, but are dependent on us having developed skills that allow us to “live off the land,” possibly for the remainder of our lives, using only the equipment we can carry in a backpack (expect 50 to 60 lbs max for a young, in-shape male, and proportionally less for spouse and young children).  It is, in effect, a return to the hunter-gatherer life (with certain modern tools that I would consider essentials in my backpack and will cover in future posts). 

One advantage of developing these skills augmented by the most useful tools that can be backpacked and depend solely on sweat equity, shanks mares, and solar power is that, while hunkering down in an urban retreat is okay for a case where the services are down for a few days, and creating the fully-functional well-stocked retreat, capable of being defended (given relatively small numbers of bad guys in a looting pack and not escalating daily assaults) over a somewhat longer period, but still not suited to the more extreme breakdown scenarios that are very possible, the ability to live off the land, either alone or with your family, covers all levels of breakdown. 

It might not be nearly as ‘comfortable’ as a well-stocked retreat, but it is a successful strategy for surviving anything from a temporary loss of the grid to a total meltdown of the world economy and world governments.  Given that very few people, even among serious survivalists, have the skills and knowledge to maximize their ability to survive in the most remote environments, the ability to survive reasonably comfortably in extreme wilderness means that you are very unlikely to cross paths with a potential ‘bad guy.’  Certainly no bands of roving looters are going to make it a practice of combing extreme wilderness on the unlikely possibility they will find a single backpacker with only tools and resources that facilitate backpacking – in a risk/reward or cost/benefit analysis, it would be self-defeating for a group of people not trained in wilderness survival to spend perhaps hundreds of man-hours on the off-chance of finding one person who is not carrying anything that would contribute to the gang’s survival.

In future posts, I intend to talk about some of my own experiences living off the land (remote backpacking was merely a form of recreation when I first started doing it in my teens, but I have now been doing regularly for over 45 years, with increasing concentration on being totally self-sufficient).  I will also cover some of the equipment I have been using on multi-month solo backpacking trips in mountain and forest wilderness that permits me to maintain worldwide communication and carry literally tens of thousands of books on every conceivable subject.  Almost all are inexpensive, and all are massive ‘force multipliers’ of both knowledge and communications. – Blue Sun

JWR Replies: Given the historic short life expectancy of hunter-gatherers, I’ve opted for a well-defended Deep Larder approach. Your mileage may vary.

Letter Re: SlideFire Stocks and OPSEC

Mr. Rawles,         
First, I’d like to thank you once again for doing what you do, helping many, many people in the preparedness movement.   

I’d like to to share my experience with the SSAR-15 SlideFire stock. I saw a video of the product in action on YouTube a month prior to the SurvivalBlog post concerning the SSAR. I couldn’t resist ordering one myself. A very interesting and functional product. And fun too!

But where I shoot is private plantation pine land with a dozen houses within a mile. Rifle fire is a unmistakable sound even over mile in a rural area with cotton and peanut fields. A couple hundred rounds of rifle fire on a calm Saturday afternoon sounding nearly identical to full auto. Less than a week later neighbors and the small town gun shop crowd was talking about me being in possession of a full auto weapon. Definitely not the kind of rumors about you that you want flying around. Thieves, ATF agents, etc, are not the guys you want knocking on your door. (Or knocking in your door for that matter.) This was a OPSEC breach on my part, but not from me talking, but my rifle talking and people hearing.    

The SSAR-15 stock would make a prudent addition to an individual’s AR but should be fitted and fired with OPSEC in mind. I thought you may find my experience with this item somewhat interesting to SurvivalBlog readers. Once again thank you for what you do. Keep your powder dry, my friend. – G.T.

Economics and Investing:

From The Daily Bell: Greece – Salvation by Politicians

Ron Paul: The Worst Thing You Can Do For A People Is Purposely Devalue The Dollar

Greenspan: Greek Default Will Trigger Another U.S. Recession

Items from The Economatrix:

The Latest FDIC Friday Follies: Regulators Shut Down Small Banks in Georgia, Florida; Makes 47 Bank Failures This Year

Fed Dims Outlook for Jobs and Growth for 2011

Oil Dives to Four-Month Loss as Emergency Stocks Unleashed

Fed Acknowledges Economy is Growing More Slowly

The End of the Trend is Near

Layoffs, Housing Data Point to Chronic Problems

Odds ‘n Sods:

Steve McC. mentioned: Earth Must Be Ready for Next Big Solar Storm

   o o o

Anyone who places over $150 with Ready Made Resources in the month of July will get a free copy of the excellent Urban Danger DVD. This is a great tool for people to wake others up to the dangers we face and solutions available.

   o o o

Steven M. mentioned a different approach to bike tire protection: Seat Belt Bike Tire Hack

   o o o

K.A.F. sent this: A rural life is better: Living in a concrete jungle is stressful and make you vulnerable to depression. “Previous findings have shown that the risk for anxiety disorders is 21 per cent higher for people from the city, who also have a 39 per cent increase for mood disorders. ‘In addition, the incidence of schizophrenia is almost doubled for individuals born and brought up in cities. These values are a cause for concern.’”

   o o o

Invictus mentioned a new oral rehydration product called Oral I.V.

Notes from JWR:

My sincere thanks to the 11 readers who are daily donating their computer’s background processing power to mine Bitcoins for the Ten Cent Challenge. This a Java applet that is NOT installed on your PC or Mac. It simply runs within a web browser session. Please keep this Bitcoin mining web page bookmarked and running while you are web browsing. No registration or set-up is needed. All you have to do is click on “Start Generating” each day. It’s that simple. This project is currently earning us about .015 BTC per day. (But if more SurvivalBloggers used it, obviously we might earn more than 1 BTC per day.) Please remember to refresh the mining “session” each time you start your browser and keep that window active so that we can maintain a good rate of return for the Ten Cent Challenge. If you make the Bitcoin mining page your browser’s Home Page, then you won’t forget. Many, many thanks!

—

Today we present another entry for Round 35 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) 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 B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo , and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) 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, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.

Round 35 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Aircraft and Aviation, Post-TEOTWAWKI, by G.R. in Texas

I read JWR’s books “Patriots“ and“How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” with interest and have been thinking and acting on them since. In particular, I was struck by the concept of using aircraft post-TEOTWAWKI for various purposes as illustrated in Patriots. I’d like to submit the following for your review, and for posting on Survivalblog if you feel it worthy.

Background 
I’ve been a commercial pilot (not airline) for about six years and have amassed flight time in aircraft as light and simple as a Van’s RV-7 (experimental) up to Beechcraft King Air-sized airplanes in various missions across the continental US. I have personally guided aircraft across 40 of the continental States, from the flats of Texas to the peaks in Colorado. I don’t pretend to have the vast breadth of different experiences like Alaskan bush pilots or the years of experience of senior airline pilots like Captain Sullenberger (of Miracle on the Hudson fame), but I do believe I can offer some pointers on the use of light aircraft for survival, retreat, and Get Out of Dodge (G.O.O.D.) purposes.

Why bother?
The fact is that airplanes are expensive to own and operate, regardless of whether it’s an Experimental or Certified aircraft. Even heavily-used models cost as much as a really nice new truck and require much more upkeep than a vehicle. The training to become a pilot is expensive, and just like marksmanship, flying requires continual practice to stay competent. The money spent on an airplane could easily go to preps that have more lasting value like your deep larder, hardening a retreat shelter, or any number of other purposes. There are a couple advantages, however, for those who have their retreat fully stocked and ready or- more likely- are considering bringing an aircraft owner or pilot into a retreat group.  

Speed. In a G.O.O.D. event, speed is of the essence, particularly for those prone to procrastination. The 28-hour nonstop drive from my current location to my family farm/retreat takes perhaps 8-10 hours in a light airplane, including the time spent to land and refuel. If I make this flight in the summer with a tailwind, I could leave after breakfast and land at the airport nearest the retreat before dinner. In a G.O.O.D. scenario, this drive could take a week or more depending on how bad things get on the ground- and it’s quite possible I might not make it at all.

All-terrain. Regardless of what happens to the infrastructure on the ground, an airplane can get you over it. Road blocks, traffic accidents, gridlock, etc are no longer a factor. Even if most airports close, an average light airplane only needs 1/4-1/3 of a mile of straight road or pasture to land and take off comfortably. Many measure their take-off and landing distances in hundreds, rather than thousands, of feet. Extremely light aircraft (like the ultralight aircraft in Patriots) can take off in 200 feet or less.

Reliability. Airplanes are built to keep flying. With proper maintenance, engine malfunctions resulting in a failure due to design and construction problems are next to none. Further, in an EMP event, I believe virtually every light aircraft would still be flight capable. The ignition systems in these aircraft are magneto-driven (think: distributor on an older car), so the engines would likely continue to run. Even the newer fuel-injected aviation piston engines use magnetos and mechanical fuel injection which are impervious to EMP. The communication radios, GPS and navigation radios would be fried, but with a map and a compass you’d still be able to get to your retreat- or at least to the nearest airport or road. The engines and systems on light aircraft are very simple and a typical light aircraft can go 10 years or more between engine overhauls at normal utilization rates.

Aircraft Types and Limitations
There are two aircraft types I wish to discuss: light single-engine (FAA-Certified) and light single-engine (experimental). I specifically ignore large, complex, and multiengine aircraft due to their cost, complexity, and the more expensive and intensive training program that comes with these aircraft. They also have much higher fuel consumption and need much longer runways on the order of 4,000-6,000 feet in length.

Certified
 Certified (or certificated) aircraft offer a number of advantages. They are (relatively) mass-produced, leading to some commonality of parts among various types and models, and their mechanical systems and designs are well-proven and nearly every airframe and powerplant (A&P) technician in the world can work on these aircraft. They include the ubiquitous Cessna and Piper lines, and the less common and more-expensive varieties such as Beechcraft, Mooney, Cirrus, and others. Used prices can range from $10,000 for a used Cessna 150 to $500,000 or more for barely-used Cirrus SR-22s. Generally speaking, the more cash you shell out, the more speed and load-carrying capacity you will get in an aircraft, along with more fuel burned per hour. Some good G.O.O.D. aircraft could include the Cessna 150/152 for one person, the Cessna 180 and 185 for more than one person, and even some modified Piper PA-18 and PA-20-series with short takeoff and landing (STOL) kits installed. A converted C-150/152 with conventional landing gear and larger engine is an ideal bug-out vehicle for one person with a get-home kit. These aircraft are currently selling for less than the cost of a good grid-tie wind turbine and tower kit.

Certified Advantages
Besides the advantage of being “common” aircraft that don’t attract much attention at a local airport (assisting in OPSEC in a G.O.O.D. situation), certified aircraft offer the advantage of having manufacturer parts support and lots of certified aircraft mechanics to work on them in normal pre-TEOTWAWKI conditions. Besides an aviation mechanic’s license, no specialized mechanic training is required, and costs tend to be fairly predictable with these aircraft. They also don’t require any special pilot training (though type-specific training is always recommended) and can legally be flown by anyone with a private pilot license.

Certified Disadvantages
Problems with certified aircraft aren’t many but can pose serious challenges. Because these aircraft are supported by manufacturers who are exposed to absurd levels of product liability, parts tend to be unbelievably expensive due to the liability insurance attached to each one and the “one-off” nature of certain parts. For example, new “crate” engines from GM, Ford, and Dodge can be had for as little as $1,000-$2,000, depending on type, whereas even the smallest aircraft piston engine costs upwards of $20,000 new from the factory. Additionally, these aircraft tend to be on the “heavy” side, with interior trim, autopilots, extra radios, air conditioners, and other creature comforts leading to “fat” airplanes that cannot carry as much as their size and cost would seem to indicate. To avoid fat airplanes, potential buyers should focus on those built before the end of general aviation aircraft construction in the mid-1980s. Those built after 1994 (when aircraft building started again) tend to be significantly heavier than the same models built earlier due to the reasons mentioned above.

Experimental
 On the other side of the coin is the Experimental category. These aircraft are exactly like the name implies- not factory-produced, and assembled by the builder for his or her educational and recreational purposes. As a result, you can literally build whatever you want so long as the FAA will approve it to fly- that is, grant it an Airworthiness Certificate. There is also the ELSA/SLSA- Experimental Light Sport and Special Light Sport categories which are not FAA-approved but fall under a different set of rules altogether. These are closer to certified but still do not undergo the same process as FAA-certified models. Also, ELSA/SLSA aircraft are limited to lower speeds and restricted to two seats. The advantage to Light Sport aircraft is their low fuel consumption and better factory support, as compared to Experimental aircraft.

Several manufacturers offer experimental aircraft kits which allow a builder to have some factory support and design/parts commonality that can increase the safety and reliability of these aircraft and greatly reduce builder errors and construction time. For example, Van’s Aircraft, which is based just south of Portland, Oregon, builds a number of designs all cut from the same cloth and have received numerous awards for efficiency and performance. A Van’s aircraft can take off in a few hundred feet and cruise at 200 mph. Several other manufacturers offer similar kits, all with varying capabilities. An additional benefit to buying a kit-built aircraft is the large builder community that tends to come with the purchase. For example, Van’s aircraft has recorded more than 7,000 flying aircraft since they started selling kits, outpacing many Cessna factory models, and every Van’s builder has the support of the entire community of builders and pilots. The community of experimental builders is truly huge, numbering in the tens of thousands, and many share the same values and sense of community that preppers do. Besides kit aircraft, there are many designs available solely as plans, from which a builder creates the airplane from blueprints. This is the least-expensive and most labor-intensive method of building your own airplane, and also requires the largest investment in tools–all of which would be left behind in a G.O.O.D. evacuation.  (But the knowledge you gain goes with you.) As an example, the Thatcher CX-4 single-seater can be built from plans for less than $5,000 (and lots of ‘sweat equity’) with a VW-derived engine on the front end, cruises around 100 mph, and burns 4 gallons of fuel per hour.  

Experimental Advantages
As mentioned above, cost is a major advantage for Experimental aircraft. Whole-aircraft kits for experimental models cost a small fraction of a similar new factory-built airplane, and the builder has the advantage of keeping the airplane as simple as he likes or going “all out” to build his dream airplane. As a result, these airplanes have the potential for better carrying capacity than similarly-sized certified aircraft, allowing them to carry more “stuff” for the same takeoff weight. Costs are also controlled because the builder can service the airplane himself- assuming he follows the FAA paperwork when building the airplane to receive his repairman’s certificate. Engines are not restricted to certified models, and in fact many light experimentals fly with modified VW and Corvair air-cooled engines, whose parts can be sourced from any auto parts store. Some higher-performance models run with Ford or Chevrolet V-6 and V-8 engines, as well, which also helps with keeping parts costs down.

Experimental Disadvantages
Like certified aircraft, experimental-category aircraft have disadvantages as well. Because of the nature of the Experimental category, these airplanes do not undergo the long and expensive proving process that FAA-certified models do. This means that structural flaws, design errors, construction problems, and other issues can be discovered the hard way by the builder or owner because they were not found during the certification process. Also, these designs have little or no parts stocks available and replacements would have to be hand-built should something break. Should you buy an experimental airplane second-hand, you also take the risk of possible errors in construction from the original builder. As a rule, experimental aircraft experience more accidents related to construction and design than any other type of flying machine.

Aircraft Use: Post-TEOTWAWKI
What then is the potential for aircraft use post-TEOTWAWKI? There are several practical uses that come to mind:

Bugging out. As previously mentioned, using an airplane to get to a retreat is a good option, particularly if you’ve established a retreat on a remote lake or other area with no roads (or maybe impassable roads due to flooding or snow cover) leading in. A floatplane can get you safely onto shallow lakes or rivers, and an airplane with good takeoff performance could land on a small stretch of field, road, or pasture next to your retreat. Outfitters in Alaska and Canada drop off hunting and fishing parties to remote lakes using float planes and bush planes every day for exactly these reasons. [JWR Adds: See the SurvivalBlog archives for other posts about bugging out via light aircraft, STOL planes, and retrofitting planes with Tundra Tires.)

Surveillance. Assuming quality high-octane fuel is available post-TEOTWAWKI, some aircraft engines can be modified to run safely and legally on motor vehicle gasoline instead of expensive and rare leaded avgas, and so surveillance flights could be made using an airplane if your retreat has a stabilized fuel cache. This could include surveillance of conditions in the local community at large, scouting expeditions for food crops and wildlife herds, performing surveys of floods, snow cover, forest fires, etc, or simply seeing what the world outside your retreat is doing in your absence. If your retreat follows JWR’s location criteria, finding out what is going on in the outside world using a vehicle could take days or weeks and expose you to roadblocks and accidents (as described in Patriots). In an aircraft, this type of survey could be done safely in an afternoon at altitudes that put you out of range of most small arms.

Transport. Again, assuming fuel is available, emergency transport for very ill individuals to a better-equipped locale is possible using an aircraft. Retreats that are connected to one another via radio could coordinate medical care efforts and essentially establish an air ambulance system should such a system become necessary. Additionally, critical supplies or gear can also be relocated quickly using an airplane to stranded members of a retreat who have problems with a vehicle or run into other trouble. As the American Redoubt grows, such a service could be valuable indeed on the day TSHTF. Note that the FAA has strict requirements in place for such air ambulance activities in the present day.

Communications. Altitude is the friend of radio transmitters and a relay system could be set up with an airborne aircraft relaying signals from hundreds of miles away to a ground location under the aircraft. COMSEC when using this method is poor since there are hundreds of thousands of aviation radios out there and no encryption system is available, but it is an option to consider. This concept is of particular value in mountainous terrain, in which an aircraft operating over the peaks can relay line-of-sight signals from one side of a mountain range to the other.

Power. The alternators of most light aircraft can produce usable power for charging alternative-energy system batteries (28-volts between 60 and 100 amps) and if the airframe itself became unusable the engine can be removed and used as a ground power station (with appropriate modifications). In fact, some small military ground power units and generators use aircraft piston engines in exactly this way due to their simplicity and relative efficiency.

Some tasks will not be practical post-TEOTWAWKI:

  • Close air support. As illustrated in the novel Patriots, these aircraft are built for light weight and low fuel burn, not for slugging it out in a combat theatre. The fuel lines, control cables, fuel tanks, and crew compartments are completely unshielded from attack and lack the self-sealing fuel tanks and fire suppression systems found on combat aircraft. They also leave the pilot or crew totally exposed to light arms fire and these aircraft would be easy prey for the most modest military aircraft or ground-based antiaircraft system. A weapon as simple as a belt-fed machinegun can destroy a light aircraft in a single burst. At best, these aircraft could be used in combat for scouting and communications relay while avoiding attention from hostile ground and air assets.
  • Hauling a family of five and bags across the country. Light aircraft are exactly that- light. At best, a couple people with light BOBs can fit in an airplane that would meet a prepper’s requirements. There are simply no aircraft out there that can land on short runways while carrying lots of people and bags, at least on a prepper’s budget, which is why JWR’s recommendation to live at your retreat is such a sound concept.

Conclusion
There are a number of factors to be considered that simply can’t be covered here without re-writing a flying handbook. Light aircraft offer advantages to the prepper but should be dead last on the “list of lists” for preps, if they make the list at all. For those of us fortunate enough to own or have legal access to aircraft, they could be a boon to the prepper living far from a retreat, or in a post-TEOTWAWKI situation to assist in specific capacities. Bringing a licensed pilot who owns an aircraft into your retreat group could be a consideration when deciding on the skill sets and equipment needed at your retreat.

Letter Re: The Easy Storage Survival Harvest

I have minor additions to Minnesota Rose’s excellent post on which storable foods have the most nutrition and food value. 

In looking for which plants have the most protein, the HealthAliciousNess web site has very good information on the highest protein fruits (dried apricots, I was happy to see), vegetables (sun dried tomatoes, surprisingly), and beans and legumes. 

The protein content of beans and legumes varies from a low of 11 percent for pigeon peas to a high of 28 percent for soybeans.  These are cooked percentages, which are much lower than dry percentages because of the additional water; i.e. cooked soy is 28 percent, but dry roasted soy is 40 percent.  Soybeans were the highest; adzukis, lentils and white beans have 17 percent protein; cranberry beans have 16 percent; pintos and black beans 15 percent, and lima beans 14 percent. 

If you are interested in soy, the black soybeans have by far the best flavor, are tender, cook fastest, and work well in chili, bean soup, etc., and have no bitter taste at all.  Black Jet, available from Johnny Seeds in the United States, or from Salt Spring Seeds in Canada, are usually considered to be the best tasting of the black soybeans, and grow well in both northern and southern gardens.  Brown and green are next best in flavor, yellow soybeans are bitter, and best used for livestock. – Mary M.

JWR Replies: Don’t forget that you can easily sprout soy beans in your kitchen. Soya sprouts are tasty and very nutritious. Because the process of sprouting adds vitamins, it is an important adjunct to any food storage program. Here at the Rawles Ranch, we formerly used sprouting trays, but we’ve switched to sprouting in Mason jars, using stainless steel mesh lids. We’ve found that these are more compact, less messy, and quicker to use than trays. The trick to successful sprouting is changing the water frequently, and the Mason jar sprouting method makes this very easy.

Economics and Investing:

Pimco Predicts Greece Will Default. JWR’s Comment: Prepare for a further succession of dominos to topple. Spain and Portugal will probably be next. And I regret to say that the domino at the end of the queue is at: 38°53’23.28″N, 77° 0’31.01″W

Jason Hommel: Silver: From $30/oz to over $500 by 2020 (And from $500 to $5000 by 2030!)

Democrats push for jobs package in debt deal. JWR’s Comment: More “stimulus”? They must be insane. Someday, they’ll finally admit that we are a bankrupt nation living on borrowed time.

The U.S. Postal Service, facing insolvency without approval to delay a $5.5 billion payment for worker health benefits, will suspend contributions to an employee retirement account to save $800 million this year.  

Study: $1,400 Tax Hike Needed to Fund State and Local Pensions

Items from The Economatrix:

If Greece Defaults, What Happens to Portugal, Ireland & Spain?

Changes in Futures Trading Confirms Silver Shortage

Fitch Sees Risk of Greece, US Debt Defaults

29 Reasons to be Angry or Scared

Oil Rises As Fed Acknowledges Economy’s Slow Pace

End of QEII, Impact on Treasury Market

Odds ‘n Sods:

Marie K. found the Cookit! web site, that offers a “History Cookbook” which is categorized by time periods (such as Prehistoric, Romano-British, Saxons & Vikings, etc.) Within each time period, videos of individuals costumed for the era demonstrate how different recipes were prepared. They show how to make Girdle Bread over the fire (Medieval recipe) or Beancakes (Saxon/Viking recipe) or Roman Lentil Casserole also known as Pottage (a Romano-British recipe).

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Fred Z. suggested this piece from NASA’s news arm: Getting Ready for the Next Big Solar Storm

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The ARRL‘s annual national Field Day weekend is scheduled for June 25-26. If you have an interest in ham radio, this is a great opportunity to get some hands-on time with ham gear, learn from experts, and go camping. Contact your local ARRL affiliate club, for details.

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Parachute cord (commonly called “paracord” or “550 cord”) has umpteen uses, from lanyards and bracelets to rifle slings. Serious preppers always keep it around, especially when hunting or hiking in the back country. Braiding paracord is a fun hobby where you can inexpensively produce practical gifts that your friends and relatives will appreciate. The folks at Camping Survival tell me that they have been selling so much parachute cord that they have launched a spin-of web site: ParacordKing.com.

OBTW, Tom at Camping Survival also mentioned that they’ve added several new Honeyville food products that are now in stock and are shipping the same day or the next business day.  For a limited time, you can used the 5% off coupon code “survivalblog“.

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Kelly D. recommended this: Top Five Places NOT to Be When the Dollar Collapses

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“At least once every human being should have to run for his life, to teach him that milk does not come from the supermarket, that safety does not come from policemen, and that news is not something that happens to other people.” – Robert A. Heinlein, The Number of the Beast

Notes from JWR:

I’m sad to report that Ron Hood (of “Hood’s Woods” fame and editor of Survival Quarterly) passed away on Wednesday, June 22, 2011, after battling prostate cancer. Through Ron is gone, his videos and writings will be a lasting legacy. He was a consummate outdoorsman who used his teaching skills (a Bachelors in History, A Master of Science in recreation management and an Ed.D. in Institutional Management) to relate them to others in a unique way. The great thing about Ron is that he was an absolute expert in many things, yet he wasn’t at all puffed up or a braggart. In watching his many films, you get a real sense of his quiet competence. Ron was a great man, and he will be missed by many.

To Ron’s wife Karen and son Jesse, my sincere condolences.

Like me, Ron was an Army Security Agency (ASA) veteran, so even though I never met him, I feel a special sense of loss. Ron served at ASA Field Station Sinop (in Turkey), and was on a Target Exploitation (TAREX) team, serving 18 months in Vietnam. The significance of his tactical ASA time doesn’t register with most folks, but it commands great respect among ASA vets. These guys were the “go anywhere, do anything” heroes of the ASA, and their exploits are legendary. It wasn’t unusual for a handful of them to be dropped off at remote mountaintop intercept site “with a pallet of C Rations and a case of Scotch” and be expected to generate reams of useful intelligence entirely on their own, for months at a time. This meant everything from fueling and repairing gensets to doing their own cooking and providing their own security. That truly was living life on the edge. The TAREX guys even went a step further: They analyzed captured radio equipment and went with Special Forces teams to probe VC and NVA sites and conduct direction finding (to pinpoint transmitters). They even surreptitiously photographed antennas to help identify radios and their associated units. This was serious boondocking, often deep behind enemy lines.

I lost my wife two years ago, and even though by God’s grace I have since remarried, I still feel the loss of Linda. (“The Memsahib.”) So I can truly say to Karen that I know how you feel. Karen and Jesse: You are in our prayers!

—

Today we present another entry for Round 35 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) 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 B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo , and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) 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, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.

Round 35 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Resourcefulness: How to Survive Without Supplies, by L.W.

Be prepared. This is the core logic of the survivalist movement. We work to be prepared for a variety of situations, from the common natural disaster to outbreaks of disease to TEOTWAWKI. We conduct thorough research, create organized lists and plans, shop while scrutinizing the fine print, test the products we buy, and then carefully store it all away for possible use in the future. A great deal of control and independence is involved. These steps we take to prepare, at a minimum, provide us with a sense of comfort and security. They can also save lives in an emergency.
But what if the worst happens and we find ourselves without vital supplies? It’s the potentially nightmarish scenario of any survivalist, and it can happen at any time. Some would call it a cruel twist of fate for those of us who have taken the time to prepare to suddenly be without. But it’s a very real possibility we must consider in order to ensure our survival in a time of chaos.

Why would you, as a survivalist, suddenly find yourself without supplies?

1. Looters. We’ve seen it repeatedly throughout history in disaster-stricken parts of the world. People take advantage of a society without rule of law. At first the majority of looters will fall on chain stores and businesses because they’re easy to access and literally advertise exactly what they hold. But as supplies dwindle and desperation increases, people will begin robbing one another of their very means to survive. Don’t fall under the false belief that if you have a gun for security then you’re protected from robbery. Some thieves will rely more on stealth than violence and come quietly in the night, leaving you to awaken to empty storage space and bare cupboards.
2. Damage. In the case of natural disasters such as floods, fires, earthquakes, and tornadoes, all or a portion of your supplies may be rendered useless. Your supplies may also be victim to random gunfire in a society without rule of law (an unseen hole in a water tank, for example) or damaged in your haste to bug out. Perhaps you failed to test a portion of your supplies and in the process of assembly, you break a vital piece of equipment. There are countless ways for supplies to be irreparably damaged in an emergency.
3. Inefficiency. Even with testing directly after purchase, there are times when supplies simply don’t work efficiently enough for their purpose and we’re forced to abandon them. Such can be the case with hot plates and camp stoves, battery-powered appliances, and anything else which requires energy to perform. Perhaps it’s been five or ten years since testing and the efficiency has dwindled enough for the batteries, fuel, or heat to be put to better and more efficient use elsewhere.
4. Breakdown. Breakdown can occur to brand new supplies without a reason why, or due to long-term use years into TEOTWAWKI. This is especially permanent when dealing with electronics and machinery. Hand-crank radios, two-way radios, generators, solar-powered lights, fueled stoves, water purifiers . . . eventually they won’t perform anymore. While we might have the skill to repair items like clothing, bicycles, and roof leaks, few people have the knowledge and tools necessary to repair broken down technology.
5. Charity. Most survivalists take charity into consideration when stocking up on supplies, and as they well should. But what if you’ve helped as many people as you planned for, and people in dire need of your help just keep on coming? This isn’t a question you can answer now, as you aren’t presently staring into the eyes of a starving pregnant woman and her toddler on your doorstep. Just know that there’s the possibility your supplies will be used by more people than you originally anticipated.
6. Duration. Few people who prepare for emergencies, even survivalists, will have enough of every kind of essential item to last five, ten, or twenty years into a societal breakdown. The severity of a situation could increase this problem as far as wounded people and medical supplies, outdoor heat and drinking water, strenuous labor and food, and threat and ammunition. Supplies will run out.
7. Budgets. It costs quite a bit of money to stock up on emergency supplies and to restock expired supplies. Survivalists can only stock up as their budgets allow and don’t typically buy everything they need at once. The pitfall of this necessary pacing is that disasters don’t wait for us to be ready. We all have wish lists. We could only be halfway through them when we find ourselves in the midst of TEOTWAWKI.
8. Oversight. You may overlook something. Right out of the gate there may be something you need that you just don’t have. For example, perhaps you failed to take lumber into consideration and your house becomes damaged. Maybe it’s something even more vital than lumber. All the lists in the world can’t prepare you for this moment, as it will be a shock. But no matter how many times you slap yourself on the forehead for forgetting a particular item, it doesn’t change the fact that you now must go without.

There are other reasons why you may suddenly find yourself without supplies. Perhaps you don’t know how to assemble a survival item no matter how hard you try, such as a four-person tent. Maybe you don’t properly clean your supplies and they become too dirty to use over time, such as a particulate water filter. The lack of one item may cause a chain reaction which makes other supplies useless, such as a safe key and a safe with a gun in it. There are limitless reasons why just having supplies in your possession isn’t enough to survive.

Now that the comfort and security of having supplies is all but gone, allow me to replace it with the knowledge that you can, in fact, survive without them. Supplies are a luxury which make our time during an emergency much more bearable, but luckily for the general populace, they aren’t one hundred percent necessary.

How would you survive with no supplies?

Water: Let’s take a brief look at survival with no stored water and no specific water treatment for purifying water.

If water is still coming out of the tap and the emergency situation hasn’t given you cause to question its quality, you must begin collection immediately, as it could be turned off at any time. Fill the bathtub, all kitchen glasses and bowls, heavy duty boxes lined with garbage bags, the washing machine (just be sure to turn it off when it’s full), anything and everything that can hold water. You can even fill garbage cans for non-potable wash water or plant irrigation. Even if you find out afterwards that the water isn’t deemed safe to drink, depending on the situation it may be non-toxic enough for bathing, or at the very least, useful for flushing the toilet. Cover the filled containers with plastic wrap if you intend to drink it in the future.

If water isn’t coming out of the tap, there are still several places to find clean water in your home and the homes of others. One of the most abundant sources is the standard water heater tank, which may hold anywhere from 25 to 60 gallons of water. To access the water, first turn off power to the tank. This could be a gas valve on the tank or a circuit breaker in a panel depending on your set up. Next, close the valve on the pipe which fills the water tank so that no (possibly contaminated) water can flow into it. Now: there’s a valve near the bottom of the tank where the water can drain. Turn on a hot water knob all the way at a faucet in the house so the water in the tank can drain through the valve at the bottom. If there’s dirt in the water you collect, let the water sit so the dirt settles to the bottom and collect water from the top to drink.

Collecting rainwater is an option for people who live in moist climates, as is collecting ice to melt with body heat for those who live in cold climates. For those who live in hot climates, making use of condensation is a viable option, as the necessary supplies are those found in the average garage. A type of solar still can be created by digging a cone-shaped hole with a diameter of three meters in a sunny spot, placing a clean collection container in the center of the hole, and covering the entire hole with plastic sheeting. Anchor the edges and place a rock in the center of the plastic sheeting just over the collection container. The inverted plastic cone should be deep enough that the condensed water runs down the plastic and into the container, but not quite touching the sides of the hole.

In extreme situations you may also drink your own urine. Urine is around 95% water and five percent non-toxic waste products. To safely drink your own urine, you must be free of bladder health problems, such as urinary tract infections (UTI)s). It’s also best to drink it along with another source of water if possible because of the high sodium content. To drink your own urine, you must first urinate for several seconds to clear the bacteria from the urethra before you begin collection for drinking. You must also drink it immediately; otherwise bacteria will begin to accumulate.

Other sources of water include fruit, certain canned goods like vegetables and tuna, ice cubes, water from your pipes, and even the water in your toilet tank (not the bowl) if you have the means to boil it.

It is important to remember that most water can be used more than once, such as for washing clothes and then again for flushing the toilet. You should also reduce the amount of water your body requires by staying out of the sun and limiting physical activity when possible. But however resourceful or conservative you are with water, nearly all sources of water will eventually run dry. It will then become necessary to move on and seek out new sources in order to survive.

No Stored Water (Review):

  • If water is still coming out of the tap, fill anything and everything with water.
  • The water heater tank is a prime place to find 25 to 60 gallons of water.
  • Make use of your climate by collecting water from outside.
  • Drinking your own urine can be an emergency source of water.
  • Use your own resourcefulness to think about where more water could be.
  • Conserve and recycle the water you have.

Food: Let’s take a brief look at survivalism with no stored food and no specific means to hunt, fish, or grow food.

It’s possible to live for at least three weeks without food. Possible, but not realistic. Going so long without food wouldn’t present a problem if we were in the physical condition of our ancestors, but most people today aren’t healthy enough for such a long fast. The strain on the heart would prove too much for those who are obese and would threaten the lives of those who are overweight. When you also factor in how many people are diabetic, having underlying health problems, and are on medications, we’re talking about hundreds of millions of people who simply can’t fast safely.

Luckily there are several alternatives to going hungry, and one of the best is foraging. There’s a great variety of edible plants, berries, and roots hiding in plain sight and edible raw or cooked. Take the ever so common Dandelion, for example. Every part of the Dandelion is edible, from the yellow flower to the leaves (young, small leaves taste better) to the roots. Earthworms are another source of food, and full of protein. Depending on where you live, you may also have access to Cattails which have edible roots year round, the pine needles of pine trees, the leaves of Plantains, or live (not beached) seaweed.

It’s worth researching now what other edible plants are found in your part of the world in case you need to depend on them as a source of food. Here’s a great link for knowledge on how to test a plant you aren’t sure is edible in a time of survival: http://survivalcache.com/wilderness-survival-edibility-test/.

Berries are another nutritious survival food, although before you dive in, there are some general rules you should know. If the berries are yellow, white, or green, then you should most likely stay away from them. About half of all red berries are edible, and dark colored berries are edible nine times out of ten. Most of us remember picking berries when we were children and can easily spot blackberries, raspberries, huckleberries, salmon berries, and other types of berries. The down side to berries is that they’re seasonal and one of the most easily recognized wild foods, which means in a TEOTWAWKI situation, they may be incredibly scarce.

One of the means to obtain food some people may overlook is teaming up with people who have food to feed you in exchange for work. Most likely the work will be hard labor and the food will be carefully rationed. However, working for food will be much safer than being caught stealing it in a world without courts and juries. Furthermore, working in a group provides benefits which go beyond food, such as protection, companionship, a wider range of knowledge and skills, and a greater chance of long-term survival.

No Stored Food (Review):

  • Food isn’t as vital as water. Healthy people can fast for up to three weeks.
  • There are edible plants all around us. Take time to research those around you.
  • Berries are a nutritious addition to any plant-and-root-based diet.
  • Working for food may be a practical option during TEOTWAWKI.

Keeping Warm and Staying Cool
 Let’s take a brief look at survival with no means to start a fire and no air conditioning.

Warmth is a vital part of survival. Any emergency which causes a power outage could make staying warm difficult. All long term emergencies will eventually result in loss of power, or at the very least, the need to conserve power sources.

Depending on the emergency, you may need to dry off before donning dry, warm clothing. Clothing that will wick moisture away from your body and dry quickly, such as nylon or polyester, is best for a first layer. Most people who have these fabrics on hand will have them in the form of workout clothing for the gym. For bad outdoor weather, wool stays warm even when wet. Put on as many layers as you need and keep in mind that people can lose up to 75% of heat through their head. So on with those winter caps!

Moving around is an effective way to keep warm and if you’re short on supplies during an emergency, you will be doing plenty of it. But there are several ways in which exerting yourself too much could be dangerous. Aside from expending energy you may not have enough food to restore and injuring yourself due to exhaustion, you may begin to sweat and then get chilled when you stop to rest. Pay attention to your comfort level and peel off layers if you need to. The key is to be warm, but also dry.

Seal off one room of your house, preferably the smallest one. If you live in a two-story home, remember that heat rises and an upstairs room may be easier to keep warm.
Create a “fort” about the size and shape of an igloo, where the heat from your family is trapped in the small dome you’ve created. Blankets draped across chairs will work for the inner shell. Crumpled newspaper or pieces of cardboard should be piled on top and around the shelter for a dense layer of insulation. Crumpled printer paper and posters would also work. The outer shell of the shelter should be as impermeable as possible to keep the heat in and the cold out. It can be created using standard garbage bags, even saran wrap or tin foil, and tape. Don’t forget to seal off the sides. Make sure there are plenty of blankets left to insulate the floor of the shelter.

To keep warm throughout the night, have your family to sleep in this shelter parallel to one another so that body heat is shared. You can take turns sleeping on the outside ends if there are more than two of you.

Keeping cool can also be a life-saving survival skill. It can lessen the amount of water required by your body and keep you from developing heat exhaustion, or worse, heat stroke.
Wearing shorts and a tank top (or simply going without clothing as this may be TEOTWAWKI after all) is a good start to keeping cool. If you’re outside, be sure to protect yourself with sunscreen and be careful to keep the integrity of your skin intact. The best place to be inside is in the lowest room of your house. You can also be outside in the shade, relaxing in the breeze. It’s important to drink water whenever you’re thirsty (if you can) so you don’t become dehydrated. Drenching a scarf in second-use water and then tying it around your neck is an effective way to cool off quickly. Last, who could forget those fold-up manual fans? With a little thought and resourcefulness, you’ll come to find that there are many ways to keep cool without air conditioning.

Keeping Warm and Staying Cool (Review):

  • Layer your clothing and keep your head covered.
  • Move around, but stay dry.
  • Create an insulated igloo shelter in which to sleep with your family.
  • When wearing little clothing, protect your skin.
  • Stay in the shade when possible.
  • Drink as much water as possible.

Keeping Conditions Sanitary: Let’s take a brief look at survivalism with no basic toiletries, showers, trash service, or toilets.

Hygiene is something many of us take for granted. We don’t think twice as we wash our face, brush our teeth, take a shower, or put on clean clothing. We also take for granted how lack of good hygiene can make us sick. Here are some ways to stay clean and sanitary with what you already have in the house.

The Basics: There are several basic rules worthy of review, as we tend to disregard them when we have plenty of hygienic supplies at our disposal. First and foremost, keep your bacteria-covered hands away from your head. Don’t rub or pick your nose, wipe your eyes, pick at your teeth, lick your fingers, or put your fingers in your ears. Second, don’t handle food or drinking water directly with your hands; instead, use clean winter or Nitrile gloves. Finally, cover your coughs and sneezes with the crook of your elbow. The only thing more annoying than being sneezed on is developing a disabling cold that leads to life-threatening pneumonia.

Teeth: brushing your teeth with no toothpaste is nearly as effective as with toothpaste. Don’t attempt to use sugar or salt to clean your teeth as this may irritate your gums and wear away the enamel, but you may use baking soda if you have it on hand.

Bathing: First and foremost, know that you won’t be bathing everyday. Twice a week, at most, is how often you’ll be bathing. The easiest way to get “clean” is to collect water from a nearby lake or river and scrub away even if you don’t have soap. The reason you want to collect water for scrubbing down instead of simply jumping in is because you don’t want to contaminate the water source, dirty as it may already appear. When you’ve finished with the water, use it a second time to wash your clothes and then a third time to flush your toilet. If you aren’t located near a water source, you may need to use some of the water you’ve collected from the water tank.

Washing: Any soap can be used to wash clothing. Even if you have no soap, dunking the clothes and rubbing them against each other will be sufficient enough to further dirty the water. The clothing you can expect to wash regularly include the undergarments: bras, boxers, underwear, socks, and tank tops. All other clothing will be of secondary concern and only washed once in a while. I recommend buckets if you have them, as the tub only allows for washing and not rinsing. Once the clothes are washed, simply wring them of excess water and hang them out to dry.

Waste: If you have a septic tank that isn’t full, you may continue to flush the toilet for “number two” simply by pouring a bucket of water into it. Be aware that sewage lines may be damaged in an emergency, in which case your best bet is a shovel. Be sure your pit is at least a football field away from any water source and located in the lowest spot in your area. The deeper the better. Place a board or sturdy plastic lid over the pit so that no one falls into it. A plastic tarp over everything is a good idea if you live in a rainy climate. Cover each waste deposit with some dirt to discourage mosquitoes from breeding in the pit, and don’t allow water to pool in the bottom. You may run out of toilet paper, but leaves, newspaper, and small disposable rags will work fine. Do not flush these items as they may permanently clog the toilet. Dispose of them in a deep pit far from any water supply.

Trash: The best option for dealing with trash is to have as little as possible. Think before throwing any item away. Could you use it for anything else? You’ll need to burn or bury the trash you have. If you don’t have the means to build a fire, that’s alright. Pick up a shovel, a pick, even a metal rake. Allowing trash to accumulate is inviting germs and sickness into your living space. Depending on where you live, you may also be inviting wild animals. Get rid of your garbage as soon as possible.

Cleanliness: Even if you keep your space as clean as possible, eventually you will be faced with the need to abolish bacteria you can’t see. Modern day cleaning products are convenient, but they aren’t they only solution for killing germs. The Provident Living web site is a wonderful resource, where they explain how you can use common household items to create an effective cleaning solution. You can condense these recipes to the amount of water you have on hand.

Keeping Conditions Sanitary (Review):

  • Keep your bacteria-covered hands away from your head.
  • Soap isn’t always necessary. Scrubbing is.
  • Keep waste and trash disposal far and low from any water source.
  • Household items can be mixed to create cleaning solutions.

As you can see, there are many ways you can survive without disaster-specific supplies. It would be much more difficult and you would encounter more hardships such as sickness, weight loss, and stress, but you could survive. It’s just a matter of being intelligent and resourceful.

So if TEOTWAWKI or another emergency comes to pass and you’re standing there without a portion of those supplies you held so dear, don’t think about tomorrow. Keep your mind focused on today and the puzzles (not problems) that need solving right now. Make a list, mentally or otherwise, of all the items you have access to and/or around you. Think about how you can use a combination of them to solve your puzzle. With the right attitude and rational, logical thinking, you can survive no matter how many traditional supplies you don’t have.