Odds ‘n Sods:

Deep Shallow Schumer Schemes: Schumer coordinates Democrat budget attack on GOP

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Nanny State Europa: EU to Ban Gas-Powered Cars in Cities by 2050. (Thanks to F.G. for the link.)

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Steve S. sent a link to this fun video: John Moses Browning Model 1911 — 100th Anniversary

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Yet another reason to relocate to the boonies, from this blog post: Farmstand Canceled Due to… the City of Oakland. A $2,500 conditional use permit, just to grow a big garden?

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Sam K. found a fascinating pair of maps that are useful in identifying truly remote areas: All Streets in the Conterminous United States and Average Distance to the Nearest Road in the Conterminous United States. Notice how the latter corresponds to my American Redoubt concept and my Recommended Retreat Areas page?

Note from JWR:

Today we present another two entries for Round 33 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 round case of 12 Gauge Hornady TAP FPD 2-3/4″ OO buckshot ammo, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $240 value), 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 33 ends on March 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.

Seven Common TEOTWAWKI Misconceptions, by Brian T.

Predictions are like, well, you know what, everybody has at least one.  Many or most predictions made are wrong and the content here is no exception.  I am not a modern day Davy Crockett or Daniel Boone but I have spent a few days in the woods, and hopefully after reading this you will not think I am still lost in them.  I did not fight in any war but had my share of the military experience and the same can be said for law enforcement.  I never bugged out but did backpack and still am a gym rat who tries to do his time on the treadmill although I hate cardiovascular exercise despite knowing it is good for me.

My present employment deals mostly with determining the penalty and hopefully rehabilitation of recently unemployed prescription drug addicts in Appalachia.  By the time they get to my shop most have literally lost everything, car, home, sometimes family, because they spend every cent they earn, and more, as soon as they get it – paycheck to paycheck and sadly pill to pill.  Their stories typically excuse their plight by blaming everyone else and rationalizing what they did as a “had to” by outside forces. Criminal records are not uncommon.  Here’s the point: I see what desperate people do and do not do when they are out of options. Contrary to what you may think most of them do nothing at all, they just shut down waiting for the “somebody else” to help them. Based upon these experiences, I propose that a few common predictions regarding TEOTWAWKI are misconceived.  There are doubtlessly more, who’s to say, but here are seven.

Misconception number one: You are going to bug out by vehicle using some combination of car, truck or recreational vehicle (RV).  Wrong, it takes only one careless, sleepy, drugged or drunk driver to shut down any given road.  On a normal day an overturned truck or a car or two crashing effectively closes the road for half a day.  Given some major and unexpected event motivating folks to flee for the hills the interstates and minor roads will be impassible – all of them.  There are no secret roads, if you know about them so do many others.  Many hold plans of leaving “before”. When is before, how do you know and what if you are wrong? How many “Chicken Little” events will your employer tolerate? Generally speaking the odds of a sudden catastrophic event are lower than a cascade of smaller inconspicuous events ending ultimately in the need to bug out or get home. Odds are once you are sure it is time you can count on walking or maybe biking, motorized or otherwise because the masses will be in one huge traffic jam by that point.

Misconception number two: Related to the first, that you are fit enough to walk carrying the stuff you think you need.  How far is it from the stops on your daily routine to your home or refuge?  It is reality check time; when was the last time you walked five miles?  Or even walked one mile? If it was not recent then you will be in for a rude awakening if and when that eventuality occurs.  Honestly, could you walk for days? Could you do so with a heavy Bug Out Bag (BOB)?  Most Americans are so badly out of shape the prospect of walking any distance is impossible. Get off the couch and go for a walk, and do so often. Maybe even carry your get home bag a bit?

Misconception number three:  Related to the second, your Bug Out Bag is probably too heavy.  The weight of BOB, judging by the long lists of stuff that many say they intend to carry exceeds fifty pounds.  Once you start walking with a heavy pack you will begin discarding most of those things you thought you “had to” have, the two pound stove, the three pound tent, the camp pad, the cute little folding shovel that weighs two pounds, three pound Rambo knife, large rope, extra clothes and so on.  How do we know, because that is what you see along the side of the uphill section of path at the beginning of the Appalachian Trail.  It looks like a yard sale.  What is not seen are matches, small knifes, water filters, light weight tarps, and freeze dried foods, and other things that are either essential or are both light weight and have multiple uses.  Consider seriously the weight of your BOB, or perhaps plan on using a shopping cart, if any are left, or pulling a child’s wagon if you “need” all your stuff. Are you in shape enough to do that? How do you know? Put on that pack and give it a dry run, or excuse me, dry walk.

Misconception number four:  Roving criminal hordes will come from the urban environment to your rural home or Bug Out Location (BOL).  Nope, these people do not play chess or even checkers; they do not plan ahead much at all.  Criminals, with few exceptions are lazy.  And many are on drugs.  Yes, a few will flee at the very beginning if they have a specific refuge in mind, the uncle with the farm, but most will not leave their familiar comfortable environment.  Even if they have an operational vehicle capable of the trip it is likely to be low on fuel, particularly these days.  They will burn up what little fuel they have driving around their usual haunts, to the liquor and drug stores, then to the convenience or grocery store like they did before the event until their tank is empty.  Walking or biking to save fuel will never cross their mind. No gas means no travel for this group.  There will be rare exceptions.

Misconception number five:  Needy hungry hordes will come from town.  Not likely, when local resources (read: booze and junk food), and the aid from whatever governmental response is exhausted they will do nothing.  By nothing I mean nothing that need concern you. They will sit in a refugee center or at home and pass the time playing cards, talking but essentially just waiting. Certainly the burning and looting that started seconds after the beginning of the event will increase until there is nothing left to burn or steal.  When food and clean bedding all run out they are not likely to walk out of town any more then than before. They are weaker by that time and as out of shape as most of us. They have rarely walked any distance at all in their adult lives and are unlikely to start now. The biggest reason is that they are psychologically predisposed, brainwashed, to wait for rescue and will stay in town.  It is easier to wait and thus easier to make hunger somebody else’s problem. With no gas and no desire to do any tiresome walking means you are not going to see many if any at your BOL.  Most will sit and if they move at all they will head for another urban area rumored to be better, particularly if they are being trucked there by the National Guard or other entity.  Aside from that with emergency response overwhelmed, weather conditions aside, the roads will be effectively impassible for days or weeks, long enough for the bad guys to consume any means of coming your way.   

Misconception number six: You can live off the land.  No, you will not for long.  There are tens of thousands with that plan.  Any resource will be quickly consumed, from the deer down to the neighbor’s dog and cat, just after they eat the pet food.  Ditto for fire wood, and other flammable materials.  We do not live in the land of seemingly endless resources and few people like generations ago; we actually live in a potential Easter Island like situation – one overpopulated and thus soon stripped of everything nearby. Our accustomed lifestyle is sustained by amazing logistics and high energy use.  Nearly everything comes from somewhere else, and when that elsewhere cannot ship or pipe or haul here for whatever reason the view from your window will quickly look barren.  The heirloom seeds you have will be priceless and stored food more so.

Misconception number seven:  You can defend your castle.  There are many whose survival plan is simple, get guns and murder for food.  If you have food then you are a potential victim. As noted above, there are exceptions to the general lack of planning in criminals; some dangerous few are leaders, strategic, tactically savvy, smart, determined and resourceful.  Finding a sidekick will be easy for them, there will be plenty of followers around. They only need to get lucky once; you have to be lucky every time you encounter one, or two, at a time.  Your inconspicuousness and insuring their inconvenience in finding you will serve you well. In this circumstance a fight you avoid goes in the win column.

We wrongly think exclusively in terms of the entertaining fictional scenarios in the many books with a “what if” beginning to the detriment of other and perhaps more likely possibilities.  While useful thought provoking exercises, those stories often substitute for an honest nitty-gritty evaluation of our own strategy and ability and the likely behavior of others. In one sentence it is this: In a crisis, do not plan on doing things you have never done and do not plan on other people’s behavior to change, neither one is very likely.

Beware of Homeland Security Training for Local Law Enforcement, by An Insider

I’ve been in law enforcement for the past 18 years.  I have attended a variety of training over those years.  During the 1990s, most training I attended was community-oriented, sponsored by local agencies or private companies specializing in police training.  Themes common to training of the past included topics such as Constitutional rights, community partnerships, youth-oriented programs and problem-oriented policing.

During the past several years, I have witnessed a dramatic shift in the focus of law enforcement training.  Law enforcement courses have moved away from a local community focus to a federally dominated model of complete social control.  Most training I have attended over the past two years have been sponsored by Department of Homeland Security (DHS), namely the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

No matter what topic the training session concerns, every DHS sponsored course I have attended over the past few years never fails to branch off into warnings about potential domestic terrorists in the community.  While this may sound like a valid officer and community safety issue, you may be disturbed to learn how our Federal government describes a typical domestic terrorist.

These federal trainers describe the dangers of “extremists” and “militia groups” roaming the community and hiding in plain sight, ready to attack.  Officers are instructed how to recognize these domestic terrorists by their behavior, views and common characteristics.  State data bases are kept to track suspected domestic terrorists and officers are instructed on reporting procedures to state and federal agencies.  The state I work in, like many others, have what is known as a “fusion center” that compiles a watch list of suspicious people.

So how does a person qualify as a potential domestic terrorist?  Based on the training I have attended, here are characteristics that qualify:

  • Expressions of libertarian philosophies (statements, bumper stickers)
  • Second Amendment-oriented views (NRA or gun club membership, holding a CCW permit)
  • Survivalist literature (fictional books such as “Patriots” and “One Second After” are mentioned by name)
  • Self-sufficiency (stockpiling food, ammo, hand tools, medical supplies)
  • Fear of economic collapse (buying gold and barter items)
  • Religious views concerning the book of Revelation (apocalypse, anti-Christ)
  • Expressed fears of Big Brother or big government
  • Homeschooling
  • Declarations of Constitutional rights and civil liberties
  • Belief in a New World Order conspiracy

A recent training session I attended encouraged law enforcement agencies to work with business owners to alert police when customers appear to be stockpiling items.  An example was given that a federal agent was monitoring customers at a well known hunting and fishing retail outlet and noting who was purchasing certain items.  This is something to remember the next time you purchase a case of ammo at one of these popular outdoor sports retail stores.

Methods of developing evidence of terrorist activity from virtually any search have also been discussed.  Various common materials which may be associated with homemade explosives are listed, such as lengths of pipe, gunpowder, matches, flammable liquids and fireworks.  Officers are told when these items are found, they can be listed as “bomb making materials”.  The training even goes so far as to instruct officers that the items are cleverly disguised as legitimate, such as gasoline stored near a lawn mower, pipes stored in a shop building or gunpowder stored with reloading materials.

One course I attended used the example of a person employed as a plumber being the target of a search warrant.  In this example, the officers were told how to use his employment as a plumber as further evidence of terrorism.  The suspect’s employment would be described as an elaborate scheme to justify possessing pipes and chemicals so as to have bomb making materials readily available.  Based on this example, all plumbers are potential pipe bomb makers.  All gun dealers are plotting to provide arms to gangs or terrorists.  All pest control companies are preparing mass poisonings.  By using this logic, simply having the ability to do something criminal automatically makes the person guilty of plotting the crime.  With all the various methods of manufacturing methamphetamine, it would also be easy to claim that a disassembled clandestine drug lab was located during the search.   In other words, it is easy to frame anyone for possessing bomb making materials (or other crimes) if the officer knows what items to list in the report and how to link these items to terrorism.

Another common tactic used in DHS sponsored training is the slander of certain ideologies by linking an erroneous characteristic to a particular group. Here are some examples:

  • These groups hold the anniversaries of certain dates as significant such a Ruby Ridge, Waco and Hitler’s birthday
  • They oppose abortion, support gun rights and are affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan
  • They are fearful of big government, espouse support for the Constitution and want to kill police officers
  • These groups collect firearms, survivalist books and explosives
  • These extremists read books such as Patriots, One Second After and The Anarchist Cookbook
  • They are religious zealots, reading the book of Revelation, speak of the second coming of Christ and plan mass murders to summon the end of the world
  • These people grow their own food, raise livestock and plot attacks on commercial food production facilities

Do you see how this tactic works?  List common characteristics of libertarian/conservative minded people, then throw in a slanderous accusation.  If A and B apply, then you should automatically presume C applies as well.  If they were disturbed by the incidents at Ruby Ridge and Waco, then obviously they must celebrate Hitler’s birthday.  Officers are being conditioned to assume criminal and terroristic views when politically-incorrect views are observed.  As simple-minded and ridiculous as this line of thinking is, there are some officers who unfortunately buy into this.

Another training session I attended two years ago discussed the dangerous of people who have strong views of the U.S. Constitution.  One trainer made the statement that “these people actually believe the Second Amendment gives them the personal right to own a gun.”  Of course, the trainer failed to mention that our Founding Fathers, as well as recent Supreme Court rulings, verify this view as being completely accurate.  The obvious attempt here was to suggest to officers that the Second Amendment does not apply to individual gun ownership and to be suspicious of anyone who holds such a view.  It was also stressed to be cautious of anyone who quotes the Constitution and even worse, actually possesses a copy of this radical document.  Incredibly, in the United States of America today belief in our founding legal principles is now grounds for being labeled a domestic terrorism.  Imagine how they would respond to some of the known statements of Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry or George Mason concerning the issue of individual liberty and limited government.  It is true that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.

There are several things that we, the patriotic, self-sufficient defenders of liberty can do to counter this effort.  First, get involved in local elections.  Elect county sheriffs who will not fall for such propaganda nor go along with oppressive federal agendas.  Elect city council members who will not tolerate such behavior by their city police department.  Elect state representatives who will hold state agencies accountable for participating in such tactics.  Bring these issues up during elections, demand a public statement on their position on such propaganda and a promise to stand against these efforts while in office.

Second, get to know your local law enforcement officers.  It is much more difficult for DHS to brainwash officers against people they personally know.  When you are viewed as a neighbor, friend or fellow Christian, these officers are far less likely to submit your name to a terrorist watch list or view you as a potential terrorist.  We want local officers to be personally offended when they hear members of their community slandered in such ways.

Third, always be friendly and courteous when speaking to your local officers.  Even if that officer has fallen for this propaganda, be sure not to resemble the negative stereotypes labeled to us.  After the fifth, sixth or maybe tenth time he deals with one of us, he or she may come to realize we are of no threat to law enforcement or anyone for that matter.  Eventually, the officer may attend one of these training sessions, hear the propaganda and say to himself, “This isn’t true, I’ve dealt with many people like this, they are God-fearing, liberty loving Americans, they are not the enemy!”

I hope you find this information useful.  Please remember that there are many people in law enforcement that have not, and will never, fall for DHS propaganda.  Some of the most patriotic defenders of liberty and believers in self-sufficiency can be found in law enforcement.  Officers like me will continue to do our part to fight tyranny from within while the general public can do its part by electing liberty-minded candidates to office and educating their friends and neighbors about issues important to all of us.

Letter Re: Advice of Eastern Oregon

Mr Rawles,  
I am very glad to hear your facts, comments and Godly encouragement and read the many articles on your site regularly. Thank you for standing in the gap and for your ministry in general.  

Would you help us understand your reasoning for recommending eastern Oregon? My husband and I have looked and looked at eastern Oregon to move to or at least buy a piece of land to relocate to in a G.O.O.D. “bad to worse” scenario. We currently are on the liberal side of the Cascades in Oregon because of my husband’s work. The problem we have found with eastern Oregon is the real lack of dirt and water. How on earth would we ever be able to grow enough food in “gravel”? Or ever have enough water to be “self sufficient”? Or any cover of trees to hide our ventures? I know you are a very busy man, but we trust your wisdom and if you have any articles or suggestions on how to do these things we would love to hear them. Really we would, I am not being sarcastic. The land in eastern Oregon is much more affordable for us. We earnestly serve the Lord, have four children, homeschool and one income.     Thank you again for serving the Kingdom.   Many blessings, – K.H.

JWR Replies: I really like the low population density and conservatism of eastern Oregon.  I would much rather live in a semi-arid region than live west of the Cascades, even if it means hauling in top soil and building a greenhouse. Most of the western counties in Oregon have California-style politics, too much rain, crime, high property taxes, traffic, restrictive zoning ordinances, and insanely expensive building permits.

There is a surprising amount of timber in eastern Oregon, but most of it is in the upper elevations. But I recommend looking for land in the lower river valleys.

Just be sure to pick a piece of land with plentiful water.  They are scarce, but you can find properties with springs or that have frontage on rivers or year-round creeks.  Pray and search diligently.  Trust in God’s providence for that perfect piece of land.

See my Recommended Retreat Areas static page, and the maps in my book “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation”) for some details on the portions of Oregon that I recommend.

Economics and Investing:

Food Inflation Kept Hidden in Tinier Bags. “As an expected increase in the cost of raw materials looms for late summer, consumers are beginning to encounter shrinking food packages.” (Thanks to C.D.V. for the link.)

Yuri L. suggested this, over at Frugal Dad: Nine Ways to Prepare for Food Inflation

Reader Tony B. sent this: No One Cries for Argentina Embracing 25% Inflation as Fernandez Leads Boom

Wow That Was Fast! Libyan Rebels Have Already Established A New Central Bank Of Libya

Items from The Economatrix:

Gerald Celente & Lew Rockwell:  Gold, Guns and Getaway Plans  

Salivating at the Upside Potential of the Gold Market  

15 Indications that Bad Times Are About to Hit the U.S. Economy  

Odds ‘n Sods:

Until midnight on March 31st, Lulu.com is offering a 20% off sale, for any product. That includes the 2005-2010 SurvivalBlog Archive CD-ROM! So if you’ve been delaying, here is your chance to save a couple of bucks. Order now! To get the 20% discount, enter coupon code “SPLISH305“, during checkout.

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M.E.W. suggested this from the left-of-center Mother Jones magazine: Survivalist GOP Rep.: You Should Probably Avoid Cities. (Republican congressman Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland shows off his preps.)

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Pierre M. sent this: The Bronx Zoo’s Statement About the Missing Cobra, with Sentences Reordered From Most Comforting to Most Frightening. (Well, at least she wasn’t gravid!)

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We are pleased to welcome our newest advertiser, Mayflower Trading Company. They have a diverse product line including some unusual items like micro-hydro DC power generators. Their on-line catalog also features Maple Leaf brand storage foods and do-it-yourself food storage products like pressure canners.

Note from JWR:

Today we present another two entries for Round 33 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 round case of 12 Gauge Hornady TAP FPD 2-3/4″ OO buckshot ammo, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $240 value), 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 33 ends on March 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.

Strategic Relocation in Australia, by The Former South Aussteyralian

I’ve had great difficulty figuring out how to approach writing this submission. Initial versions came out a bit prideful and preachy. In the end it’s usually best just to stick to the facts. So here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’ll let you interpret it yourself.

Please note that this submission comes to you from Australia, so (as y’all say) “your own mileage may vary”. Furthermore, I understand that this is not a survival “silver bullet”. It is intended as a temporary solution for those of us doing the best we can with what we’ve got.

Roughly 36 weeks ago my family and I were living in the suburbs of a city housing over a million people. Our landlord wanted even more money than the already ridiculous amount we were paying. We’d suffered through the worst summer in memory (which barely edged out the last one and the one before that). We had water restrictions, power grid failures, and the buffoon in charge of it all was bragging that by 2020 our population would be up by another half a million. In short, we decided that the time to Get Out of Dodge (G.O.O.D.) was now. But how? We couldn’t afford to buy a retreat property outright. In fact, we weren’t even in a financial position to acquire a mortgage.

We looked at our options. Staying in our home state was out of the question. It ticked just about zero boxes for TEOTWAWKI survival. We considered dozens of factors, and from the short list went with the one that felt right for us. Tasmania. (I know there’s a big empty spot in the middle of our country, but it’s empty for a reason. Trust me!)

We talked to our family and friends about it. The consensus was uniform. We were crazy. Regardless, many were still supportive and this was a major factor in our successful relocation.

Problem one was getting jobs. We needed employment from the time we arrived or no house rental agency would give us the time of day. Fortunately nurses were in strong demand and my wife had recently attained her nursing degree. She was offered a job with a large hospital and we began applying for rental properties.

Well… being that we were so far away, most of them still didn’t want to touch us with a ten foot pole. In the end we had to find the cheapest places available and offer to pay three months rent in advance. That made the agents sit up and take notice! We got two offers immediately (both very rural) and in hindsight we chose the wrong one. This brings me to my first piece of advice. Beware of false economy. We chose the cheaper house but since it was an extra 15 miles out of town we ended up paying much more in petrol than we saved in rent. Expect a lot of trips to and from town in your first six months!

Back to the planning. We had a place to go to, but now we had to get there. We’d already moved out of our old house and were staying with my wife’s parents. We’d also gotten rid of a good 50% of our stuff and were selling or donating anything that wouldn’t fit into two cars and a trailer. Easier said than done! We planned the trip in great detail, but nothing ever goes quite according to plan. We lost a half day of packing prior to lift-off because when we went to pick up our hire trailer the clerk had every trailer connection imaginable except for the one that we needed. The frustrating part was that our tow car was only five years old and had the most common of connectors. It was many a pensive hour before the trailer maintenance man arrived with a “spare” connector, however, this was just an appetiser for that evening. We packed, repacked and by 9 pm (T-minus 7 hours) had crammed everything except ourselves into what space we had available. We were about to settle in for a stressful nights sleep before the 4 am start when a voice inside my head said to me “you really should make sure you know where all the car keys are… just in case”. Sometimes you get that voice in your head that sounds different than your normal inner monologue, and whatever it has to say is usually important, so naturally I froze in terror. Lo and behold, the hatchback key was missing. What’s more, it was blocking the exit and the column lock was engaged. It was going nowhere. The house was turned inside out. The cars were ransacked. Meanwhile I called every after hours locksmith I could find in the yellow pages. The three responses I got was “not available”, “can’t be done in the dark”, and “it’ll cost you $900”. After we’d partially disassembled the steering column in a fit of desperation we got a call back from a fourth locksmith who promptly arrived and cut us a key on the spot for $200. It was a costly reminder to always have another key handy. By the time we repacked the cars it was midnight and we were too stressed to sleep anyway.

Our lack of sleep made the following 14 hour drive very unpleasant. We thought we’d given ourselves plenty of time to get to the Bass Strait ferry in Port Melbourne but we somehow arrived there with only a half hour to spare. The GPS had a hand in this. I should have updated it or (better yet) bought current maps. We realised the next day that a single flat tire would have seen us miss the ferry and lose our non-refundable tickets (and before anyone says “I can change a tire in less than half an hour, remember, we’d have to unpack the car to get to the spare and repack it afterward). Another piece of advice. If you’re ever covering a trailer with a tarpaulin in windy/rainy conditions, invest in a cargo net to hold down the tarp. Our tarp resembled a bunch of knotted blue ribbons by the time we arrived, and because it poured with rain our belongings were thusly soaked.

The ferry trip was rough but I slept like a baby. My wife and her father were another story. By the time we’d exited the ferry and driven another two hours they both looked like zombies. Amusing in hindsight, but imagine traveling to your retreat after the SHTF and having to scan constantly for ambushes, road blocks etc. Under those conditions a mere hour of driving would be utterly exhausting. Preparing S.O.P.s for driver rotation if you have to travel post TEOTWAWKI is prudent.

Miraculously we made it to the rental agent’s office with thirty minutes to spare, despite the GPS and the weather. Remember, your GPS probably doesn’t have settings for “it’s raining, I’m tired, and I have a trailer weight that exceeded my braking capacity as soon as the road got wet.”. My GPS tried to take me down some pretty steep goat tracks, and one narrow road that had recently (read: since I bought the GPS) been turned into a dead end street. An annoyance now, but a death trap during Schumeresque times. Seriously… Get maps!

Twenty more miles later we arrived. It was a cheap little cottage/shack on a large block in a town of 200. The local river was a stones throw away if your arm was any good, and on the other side was woodland. To say it was modest would be putting it mildly, but to us it was a mansion. #(As a side note: we now refer to this trip as “the pilgrimage”, and it’s given us a newfound respect for the men and women who struck out into the unknown when there were no maps, roads, or really much of anything to assist their journey. They were truly made of sterner stuff.)

We bought some overpriced wood at the local store and gleefully put our wood fire heater to use (what a novelty)! It didn’t take us long to realise how much wood you can go through, especially when your house is poorly designed and insulated. Remember that other house I told you about? It was far more modern than this one and would have been much easier/cheaper to heat. Another false economy! At any rate, we got settled in and my wife began doing her 3 hour round trips to work while I looked for work in the area. The first month was a real eye opener. We expected to learn as we went along, but… well what can I say. As country living goes, we were greener than grass. We ran out of things constantly. Not for want of money but for want of foresight. It was a one hour round trip to the nearest supermarket which wasn’t exactly open 24 hours a day. It meant that if we forgot to buy milk, then our cornflakes were eaten dry and our coffee was served black (the horror)! It was a crash course in stocking up and a valuable one at that. Travel time was another oversight. It just adds up and up and up, along with your petrol bill. It can wear you down quickly when you’re not used to it. The local school was not far from that supermarket I mentioned earlier. That means our boy’s schooling equated to two hours of driving per day Monday to Friday (home schooling was looking better and better).

By the end of the first month I’d secured part time work. The pay rate was very low and it was shovel and barrow work but it’s key importance was that it provided a foot in the door to get some local references. The first week revealed just how soft I really was (though thankfully not as soft as most of the other workers). Previously I’d done plenty of hands-on work in my spare time but labouring all day was a different matter. If you’re planning on becoming a post TEOTWAWKI farmer then I hope you’re in very good shape. I gained 5 kilos in as many months (not of fat either) and every meal seemed to gravitate toward meat, meat and more meat. It also demonstrated to me the worth of good tools. On my work site we’ve replaced so many cheap tools that we’d have been financially better off buying good ones from the start, to say nothing of the time and work efficiency lost. Post TEOTWAWKI you wont have the option of buying another cheap shovel or pick. How many flat screen televisions would you have to trade for a Fiskars brand splitter or axe? I digress.

At the end of the first month we were blessed with the news that our second child was on the way. The previous nine months were fruitless in this regard, yet perhaps if we’d been successful before the move we might never have undertaken it in the first place. What came next was less fortunate. A mystery blood condition caused my wife to suffer a massive clot in her brain. Doctors were slow to diagnose it, and by the time they did it required urgent and lengthy hospitalisation. It was so large she was considered lucky to have survived it.

We were all emotional wrecks. My daily routine consisted of getting our boy to school, going to work, picking up our boy from school, visiting my wife for as long as I could and getting home to clean up and prepare for the next day. Nine hours of work (home-making included) and four of driving wasn’t the exhausting part. Living with the fact that every day might have been the last day I would hug my wife simply crippled me like nothing I’d previously experienced, and as I write this I understand how survival scenarios can break someone down, even if they have the beans, bullets and band-aids they need to survive.

Thankfully, our family arrived like the proverbial cavalry to help with basic day to day tasks. We also found out what financial hardship was really like. We went to the wall and only got by with more help from our family. The lessons for us were; If you can retreat to an area where you have family then it would be a wise choice. You just cannot predict life’s ups and downs. Family are like the shock absorbers of life. In fact, one of the main reasons we left the city was so they could turn to US in times of great need. We ate humble pie on that one but hopefully in time we can repay them. Lesson two was a double dose of a previous lesson. Travel time is a burden not to be underestimated. Moving an hour out of town to start with would be much wiser than an hour and a half. It can make a huge difference by the end of the week. Lesson three? Hope for the best but plan for the worst. The last thing we anticipated was losing our primary source of income. It was a mix of equal parts diligence and dumb luck that I even had a job by that stage (jobs here are scarce and getting scarcer). I wont tell you to get rid of your debts because it’s far easier said than done. Downgrading your car for something more affordable? That’s realistic. Do you really, really need that huge flat screen television? Sell it! Suddenly you have a monetary buffer for bad times. Keep it secure, or better yet, pay out expenses like food (storable food) and firewood in advance once you’re there. It’s better than money in the bank.

During that five months we struggled greatly yet, surrounded by trees, wildlife and good people, we never regretted our decision. Even our family members who shared our burden agreed that we’d done the right thing. They’re a stubborn lot but I sense that even they are beginning to smell the economic smoke. After our 6 month lease was up we applied to rent a place a little closer to the city (but not much closer). We’re now in a much nicer house that costs more to rent, but it’s proximity to my job, our boy’s school, doctors clinic, chemist and supermarket (if needed) combined with its superior build (heat retention, solar hot water etc.) more than make up for the difference. We’re still an hour away from the nearest city (which is really more like an overgrown suburb) but we’re still in a far better position than we were nine months ago living in a suburban sprawl. Having read this you may be thinking “the heck with that” but I’ll list some of the benefits we’ve gained while struggling with the hardships:

• The tap water tastes “proper”. i.e. Not like watered down chemicals.

• The air is fresh. In fact, I can barely tolerate city air anymore.

• My boy can ride his bike down the street without us worrying.

• There are no gangs or dealers. They wouldn’t last five minutes 😉

• Nobody here jumps out of their skin at the sight of a gun, law enforcement included.

• Locals sell fresh grown fruit and vegetables at lower than store prices. The taste (and nutrition I’d wager) is also superior.

• The local butcher sells meat that’s actually fresh.

• Growing food in your back yard is perfectly commonplace.

• Imagine putting aside your Bugout Bag to focus on your Get Home Bag.

• Good picnic, camping, hunting and fishing sites are not far at all.

• There are tons of people that can teach almost any survival skill you want to know.

• Television reception is terrible. • The local work is likely more in line with what you’ll be doing post Schumer.

• Saving money is easier when the nearest fast food outlet is a two hour round trip away.

• Farm auctions and country garage sales are prepper heaven.

• You wont feel out of place driving a beat up, old (read: EMP resistant) pickup/ute.

• When you have the means to pick out a retreat property it’ll be easier to scout for a good one.

• No incessant background noise means you can actually hear yourself think. It makes planning and focusing your thoughts a lot easier.

• You’re not being constantly bombarded with advertising telling you to buy things you don’t need.

Most importantly, you’ll be integrating yourself into a group of people that will be able to support each other when times get bad. Am I squared away? Heck no. In fact, I’m barely more equipped (logistically) than I was before the move. Yet I rate my survivability as an order of magnitude higher than it was when I lived in the periphery of a large(ish) city.

Now, here’s some stuff that I learned (some of it the hard way):

• Check whether your mobile phone service provider has coverage for the area you’re moving to, and check your phone has a strong enough signal for that matter. A new phone or provider will be easier to arrange before the move.

• Ditto for internet service providers, assuming you still want to read SurvivalBlog. Personally I’m still catching up on the August to December archives by way of the local online centre (not OPSEC Optimal, I know.)

• Budget for firewood as applicable. I recommend you steer clear of the idea that bringing a chainsaw and a block splitter will allow you to slip seamlessly into “mountain man mode”. Unless you really know what you’re doing your wood supply will deplete faster than you can replace it. When I arrived there was an article in the paper about a life long forester who’d just killed himself felling a dying tree that threatened nearby power poles. He was a professional and reportedly one of the best. Doubt you can kill or injure yourself, even cutting up fallen timber? Watch the television series “Axe Men”. It will give you respect for the factors involved.

• Be realistic about the place you rent. Out here the rent on a 600 square yard block and a 20 acre hobby farm is not much different, but you’re not bringing a ride on mower or a flock of sheep with you, right? 20 Acres might seem great, but check with the owner/agent where your maintenance responsibilities end and theirs begin.

• Play friendly with your landlord, even if it means biting your tongue once in a while. There are only two rental agencies where we are so if you burn your bridges then your future options will be severely limited.

• You will be asked why on earth you moved to the boring old country (it’s a trick question). There’s no need to start quoting Mel Tappan. Just tell the inquirer that you want a safe, clean place for your kids to grow up. They will smile, nod, and leave it at that.

• Mind your manners, especially on the road. My car is common in the city, but out here it’s unique within a 40 mile radius. You will be recognised and remembered by your conduct so it must be spotless 24/7.

• Buy those maps! If you need directions the gas station attendant won’t go near your GPS, and you don’t want to mess about with all that “take a left, then a right” nonsense. What would you do if the main road washes out in a flood? Many of the roads out here are not on any database. Likewise, some of the roads that are on the database are actually privately owned (my GPS didn’t understand the concept of “trespassing”) so get maps, and be prepared to alter them accordingly.

• Ditch your fancy “sort of 4WD” before you move to the country. If you can find an old 4X4 pickup in the city where nobody wants one then you’ll probably get it cheaper. Country folk seem to drive their vehicles ’till they’ve pretty much returned to the earth. Not many used vehicles for sale out here at all… Of course, be mindful of any potential registration pitfalls. Here in Australia, for a car to be re-registered in a new state it typically has to pass a roadworthiness inspection.

• You might find yourself falling in with other recent city leavers looking for that “tree change”. Don’t! If you hear someone say “I’ve never gotten along with the people here” or something to that effect then politely excuse yourself and avoid them as a rule.

• Attend the local firing range (or similar) even if you don’t have a gun yet. Despite the average 20 year age difference between me and the locals there they really spoke my (our) language and offered plenty of advice and assistance. This is especially important in states/countries with vague and confusing firearms legislation. Also, these are the guys that will be heading up the “neighbourhood watch on steroids” post Schumer, and they’ll be more than a little wary of a relative stranger turning up to the party heavily armed and outfitted.

• Join the local church if applicable. If the bomb drops tomorrow and you’re not squared away then you’ll be on the soup line with everyone else. I’d rather be the guy spooning out the soup than the guy at the end of the line. Also, churches are often the nexus of the local underground economy. Just mention that you need work, or firewood, or a cheap sofa and the word will go out on your behalf. Of course it’s expected that you pass on these charitable efforts to the next person in need, but that’s like me telling you that water is wet.

So how can I sum it up. a) If you desire a retreat property in your current state then keep your city job and move as far in the direction of your imaginary retreat as your finances and time considerations will allow you to commute. or b) If your state is likely to become a meat grinder after TSHTF then act now! Apply for jobs in another state, remembering the three D’s. Dirty, Dangerous or Dull. Take the pay cut if you have to. Maybe you can apply for jobs with a large store chain that will be willing to shuffle you to another store location as soon as you can make up a believable excuse for your move. In either case, once you’re an hour or so out of the nearest city (make it as small a city as possible) you can look for work locally. Then, once you’ve got that local work then you can move even farther out. BTW, just to be clear, “an hour out of the city” means an hour of travel beyond where the houses have given way to trees or pasture.

“But nobody out in the country will employ me”, I hear you say. That depends entirely on your outlook. As times get tougher out here in the country a lot of people are doing the opposite of what the average SurvivalBlog reader is trying to do. They’re moving to the city where they can find higher paying jobs! They don’t want to downsize their living arrangements so they’re going where the money is. That’s why half my weekends are spent at garage sales. There are jobs to be had out here but there’s a proviso: You have to want it more than the next guy! I got a job, partly by luck in coming across the advertisement just in time, but also because when I turned up for the interview they could tell just by looking at me that I was dead serious about my application. I wanted the job, and what’s more, I would work hard to keep it. Six months later my references now speak for themselves and in a place where everyone knows everyone else, references are everything. I’m no superman, so if I did it, then you can too! You just have to want it bad enough.

So clearly I’m not that guy with a hundred acres of farmland and a concrete bunker with a bunch of armour piercing rifles and heat seeking bullets (kidding). A year ago I found SurvivalBlog and I felt like I’d arrived at the party too late. Then I remembered the old saying; “You don’t have to outrun the lion. You just have to run faster than the other guy!” If you really pulled out the stops. If you quit letting excuses hold you back. If you stop waiting to win the lottery and start making some hard decisions, how long would it take for “home” to be at least an hours drive away from Schumer ground zero? When I lived in the city I always felt like my preps were completely inadequate, and always would be. Like I was using a shot glass to bail water out of a sinking boat. In my new location my prepping is beginning to move under it’s own momentum because out here preppers fit in rather than stand out. I don’t feel out of place buying 20 cans of corn when it’s on special because the person in line behind me is doing exactly the same thing. How can I put it other than to say that I am becoming one with my inner survivalist and more importantly my family is too. So promise your wife a massive flower garden (or you husband a workshop). Promise your daughter a pony and your son a quad. Do whatever you have to in order to get them on board and G.O.O.D. so that in nine months time you can write a submission telling the new batch of survival stragglers that they can do it too! Through all the hard times (it seems we’ve had our fair share thus far and them some) we’re becoming hardier people and a tougher family unit. Surviving TEOTWAWKI requires nothing less.

So get cracking. You wont regret it. Despite all that’s happened we’ve never regretted our choice. And don’t worry about TEOTWAWKI coming tomorrow. After all, It’s already tomorrow in Australia!

Musings From a Novice Gardener, by Mike in Western Pennsylvania

Last year I planted my first home garden in my adult life. I am 46 years old and grew up most of my years in suburban America so I had little experience with the nuts and bolts of a family garden but I did spend twenty years in the Marine Corps so I do have a level of self-sufficiency that I garnered over the past 20 years during my service in the Marines.

I will also add that my Dad did a little family gardening in the 1960s and 1970s but by the 1980s we were a complete suburban family relying on the modern food chain supply of commercial America. My Dad’s grandfather definitely was a master gardener as he had 12 children (my Dad was the oldest), and did not make a lot of money so he had what I would consider a huge family garden. I helped both my father and grandfather during my youth so I had a small amount of ability but almost 40 years of gardening regression made me pretty much a novice once more.

That did not stop me one bit. When I retired, I announced to my wife that I was “cutting” a garden in the backyard last year as soon as the snow melted. She thought I was crazy as I used a motorized sod cutter to cut a 40’ x 30’ garden in the backyard. She said I had bitten off more than I could chew. Well, I just took that as a challenge and went at it with some gusto. My production was varied and I had some winners and I had some losers (more losers I would say) but what I learned last season was invaluable and I am eagerly awaiting this season to apply hose lessons.

Lesson #1: There is no substitute for good soil. If you have crummy soil (like I did), augment it with some kind of compost. At the end of the season, after my less than bountiful harvest, I had a local soil company dump four tons of mushroom manure on top of my garden and I tilled it in. I live in western Pennsylvania where there are more rocks in the soil than there are stars in the universe and it is hard to get a good garden started with just a thin layer of substandard soil. Again, get some augment and build up your garden height so your seeds and plants have a fighting chance.

Lesson #2: Check with the local agro stores and find out what kind of soil you have. Take a few samples and have them analyze it. If you buy from them, they probably won’t charge you for the service either. Most veggies like a particular soil PH so find out what it is and add the proper augments to your soil to get it to a particular acidity or non-acidity.

Lesson #3: In my regular crummy dirt garden, I planted everything I could find, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, peppers of all kinds, squash, corn, onions, garlic, potatoes, carrots, beans, and some spices.  Some did ok, others were pitiful. Again, soil is everything if all else remains the same. On a couple of smaller circular plots, I planted some tomatoes according to a group of bio-dynamic gardeners in Bradford, Pennsylvania. They have a web site (just search for biodynamic tomatoes and it will take you to their web site) which I found and I did exactly as they told me to do in my little circular garden and wouldn’t you know, I had cherry tomatoes growing out of my ears. I started from seeds they sent me and planted three small plants in my little mound and I had mutant tomato plants by mid-summer. They got to a height of 9’ (that’s not a typo) before they fell over from the weight of the tomatoes. I harvested around 2,000 cherries from the plants; it was simply amazing. The secret is in how you prepare the hole in the ground. 3’ wide by 2’ deep and start filling it with table scraps during the winter and spring and add equal parts of manure and dirt until you get a 2-3’ high mound of dirt that has 4-5’ of depth due to the original hole. The plants “feasted” on the garbage through the season and the results were amazing. I’m not advertising for these guys but the process can be applied to pretty much any plants you want to use.  Remember, you don’t have to compost the garbage, just dump it in the hole, cover with dirt and manure and repeat until it is a big round mound, plant your desired crop on top and watch the miracle happen. I had small rows in my crummy garden last year but I am going to do more mounds in it this year and do the same thing with my other plants and see what I can produce. I had tomatoes in the crummy garden as well as they super plot and the ones on the crummy side did crummy so I know it was soil and compost that was the catalyst for the mutant yield in the “super” plot. As I said, I am excited.

Lesson #4: Potatoes! I had a great start to my spuds and then did something very stupid. I got attacked by Colorado Potato Beetles and used some insecticide on them. The first dose took care of 50% but when I did it again, it pretty much wilted the plants and they never recovered. I still managed to harvest decent size reds and whites mid-summer and even replanted some more seed potatoes and got a second smaller harvest in October. Bottom line, don’t use store bought chemicals to deal with your bugs. Find out what natural solutions work and use them. I have read that planting different plants next to each other is symbiotically beneficial and I plan to do more of that this season.

Lesson #5: We get pretty good rainfall here in western Pennsylvania but I am going to add a few rain barrels, dig a small trench for some PVC piping and run it from the barrels to the upper side of the garden with soaker hoses attached at the intervals I have my garden rows set. Since my barrels are above the level of the topside of my garden, gravity will do the trick for water distribution.

Lesson #6: Save every bit of food scraps from your table and start composting today. The feeling that my wife and I get from knowing that everything we do not eat will make it back into the garden makes us feel so much better than throwing it out in the garbage. In a spiritual sense, I think this is what God intended us to do from the beginning so we don’t need to add fertilizers or any other miracle growth stuff since our soil will be rich with organic nutrients year round. We saved one of the plastic containers that the kitty litter comes in and since it is made to keep the smell in, our little compost bucket in the garage never emanates any odor; until of course I bring it out to the garden, did my little hole, and dump it in. I realize that there are tons of folks that have composting down to a science but garbage is garbage and it will decompose under the soil, trust me. On those occasions where I have dug up a small part of a prior load of garbage, it has been quite odiferous.  If you want to compost, have at it. If you want to do it the simple method, it works too. Just give it enough time to decompose in the soil before you start tilling for the spring plant. I try to have a ready-to-go hole into which I can dump refuse during the season so it will be ready for the next year.

Lesson #7: As low key as you can, get your neighbors involved in starting their own garden as well. Invite them over when you are out and share with them what you have produced. You will be amazed at the communal feelings that start to develop over the sharing of food. My neighbor and I started doing this at the same time, and although he has no idea of my prepping beliefs, he is “in training” whether he knows it or not! We share our veggies and have a lot more in common now than just golf! My other neighbors are getting into it as well. I let them borrow some of my tools to get them started and then the eventual list of questions start getting asked. “How big should I make my garden? What should I grow?” This is really all it takes to get your neighborhood on the road to self-sufficiency.

These lessons learned are by no means a complete or comprehensive list of “how to’s” but I hope that by sharing what I learned as an evolving home gardener will help you in your gardening adventures down the line.

Precious Metals–When to Begin Reducing Your Holdings

I often get e-mails and letters from readers about precious metals, and most of them are wrong. Many of them were about silver:

  • In 2001, when I formally called the bottom, for silver, I got taunting letters. Those naysayers claimed that silver was heading down further, perhaps to $3 per ounce.
  • In 2005, I started getting whining “I missed the boat” letters. That was when the silver bull was still just a calf. People have continued whining, ever since.
  • In 2008, when silver was $9.80 per ounce, I got my first “this is the top for silver” letter. I’m still getting letters like that.
  • In 2010, the “silver is soon heading to $200 per ounce” letters began to arrive.
  • In early 2011, I started getting “silver crash alert” and “silver bubble is about to pop” letters.
  • Today, (with spot silver now around $37.32 per ounce) I got a letter claiming that silver was about to crash, and that it would bottom at around $4 per ounce.

I need to clarify a few things. First, silver is not a reliable investment vehicle. Stop thinking of it as an “investment.” The silver market is too thin and volatile for that. Owning silver is more properly a hedge on inflation and insurance against a Dollar collapse. To illustrate:

  • In 1964, $1,000 face value in silver coins could be had for $1,000 in FRNs. (Still “face value.”)
  • In 1979: $1,000 face value in pre-1965 silver coins briefly spiked to $25,000 in FRNs
  • In 2001, $1,000 face value in pre-1965 silver coins hit a low of $3,600 in FRNs. (3.6 times face value.)
  • In March, 2011: $1,000 face value in pre-1965 silver coins costs $26,680 in FRNs. (26.6 times face value.)

Next, I must mention that 1979 (when silver briefly spiked to $48.70 per ounce) was an aberration. This aberration was created when the Texas billionaire Hunt brothers and their Saudi buddies attempted to corner the silver market. They were stopped when the COMEX regulators brutally enacted Silver Rule 7 which effectively raised the margin requirement for silver futures contracts for big buyers to 100%. That move destroyed the futures market. It forced the Hunt Brothers to cover their positions and divest their holdings into a falling market.

Just for the sake of argument, let’s surmise that the current run-up in the price of silver is indeed a “bubble”.  Even if the COMEX committee again artificially hammers the market, the subsequent bottom for silver would have to be at least $10 per ounce.  Why? Because the underlying stair steps in currency inflation don’t ever go away. The Dollar will never have the same purchasing power of a decade ago.

But I don’t think that silver is yet in a speculative bubble. The true value of silver and gold haven’t changed substantially. Rather, it is paper money that is losing value. I believe that the value of the U.S. Dollar and the world’s other fiat currencies are simply diving into a chasm, following an orgy of government over-spending. The current bull markets in silver and gold are just reflections of the ongoing destruction of the Dollar and the world’s other pager currencies. For this reason, even if there is a major correction in silver, I doubt that the bottom will be any lower than $20 per ounce. The silver market fundamentals support my outlook. Silver is scarce and become more scarce with every passing year. (Which, by the way, is one of the reasons why I recommended that my readers ratio trade out of physical gold, and into physical silver.)

Will a gallon of premium gasoline ever sell for $1.00 per gallon again?  Will silver ever be $4 per ounce again? No, not unless they knock a zero off the Dollar. Inflation is unrelenting.

Take Some Profit and Put it in Tangibles
I must reiterate that silver is not a reliable investment vehicle.  But it is a reliable hedge on inflation and provides protection from a currency collapse. Don’t be a greedy silver bull. Market manipulations are impossible to predict. When they do come, they will likely be draconian, and they will get the silver longs screaming for mercy. If the future delivery price of silver again approaches $50 per ounce, it is very likely that the COMEX regulators will artificially raise the margin requirements or otherwise change the trading rules in an attempt to crash the market. If there is a price spike, short squeeze and shortage of physical silver, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the COMEX dictate that only industrial users (like Kodak, Fujifilm–both manufacturers of medical x-ray film) would be allowed to take delivery of physical silver when settling futures contracts.

When To Sell Some Gold
 Gold bottomed in April, 2001 at $255 per ounce. As I’m writing this, spot gold is at $1,430 per ounce. That is a 5.6x gain! There are few other investments that have done so well. At this juncture, I think that it would be wise for anyone who purchased their gold at $715/oz. or less, to sell one-third of their gold, NOW. (Well, wait for the next day where there is a spike upward.)

Immediately parlay the cash proceeds into additional practical tangibles (such as guns, common caliber ammunition, and productive farmland), and perhaps some silver, if you don’t already have some silver coins set aside for barter. If and when gold doubles again (to $2,860 per ounce), then it will probably time to think about selling another fraction of your holdings.

When To Sell Some Silver
 I’m setting an interim target of $41.90 per ounce for silver. That is ten times the 2001 bottom price and almost 30 times face value, for pre-1965 coins.That is a good threshold for preparedness-minded people to sell one-third of their silver holdings. Don’t be greedy and try to “call the top”. If you attempt this, odds are that you will be wrong.

My advice: Start cashing out when silver touches $41.90 per ounce. But don’t sell all of your silver into the rising market. Always maintain a core holding of silver for barter. Here in the United States, pre-1965 silver quarters (25 cent pieces) are the ideal coins for barter.

Whenever you liquidate any of your precious metals DO NOT leave the proceeds in perishable Dollars. Again, parlay the profit into additional practical tangibles.

If you follow my advice, you will have a balanced asset preservation strategy that will leave your family well-prepared. By diversifying into other tangibles, you will sleep better at night.

Economics and Investing:

Do you remember my warnings about “creative” ways that legislators might find to solve budget crises? Brace yourselves. CBO: Taxing mileage a ‘practical option’ for revenue enhancement. (A hat tip to J.H.B. for the link.)

My cousin in England sent this: Proof That Gold Is Not a Bubble

Gonzalo Lira: How Likely is QE-Three? (Lira thinks either that there will soon be be either more monetization or seizure of IRAs and 401(k)s.

G.G. flagged this: Morning Note: Gold Replacing Dollar as World’s Reserve Currency?

Also from G.G.: Buffett Warns: The Dollar Will Decline

Items from The Economatrix:

Stocks Falter Despite Improving Economic Reports  

Oil Slides as Rebels Take Libyan Ports  

More People Signed Contracts to Buy Homes in February  

How to Detect Fake Silver  

US Closes Small Bank Bringing 2011 Total to 26  

Odds ‘n Sods:

Free city lots offered for modern-day homesteaders in the Midwest.

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K.A.F. flagged this: Nine Best Canned Foods. For what its worth, JWR‘s favorite, canned salmon, tops their list.

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Wow! I just noticed that the 1950s novel “Atlas Shrugged” just jumped to #130 in Amazon’s sales rankings. No doubt renewed interest (above and beyond its perennial following), is due to the upcoming release of the feature motion picture. (Appropriately, the release date is April 15th.)

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Shortages of scarce natural resources coming, warn chemists. (Thanks to C.D.V. for the link.)