A Checklist for Beginning Gardeners by AK in Texas

You’re sure there aren’t any bugs in the garden.  The plants, the few that grew, don’t look like there’s an infestation or fungal problem.  There’s no odd spots or discolorations.  And yet, the radishes and carrots, with their deceptively lovely tops, haven’t produced anything more than pencil-thin roots underground.  The tomatoes produced one or two extremely delicious globes of fruit so that’s encouraging, but they never got to the height you expected or produced the amount you thought they would.  And forget about the lettuce.  It didn’t even show.  In fact, the only thing that seems to be doing well is the parsley and sage you planted as an afterthought.

This pretty much sums up my first two years gardening.  Discouragement haunted me those first two years and only four things kept me from giving up entirely:  the articles here on SurvivalBlog about prepping and TEOTWAWKI, the beautiful pictures I saw in Howard Garrett’s book on gardening in Texas, comments I heard at the local farmer’s market, and that one delicious tomato that had a taste I didn’t know was possible inside those typically mealy and expensive fruits.

For those who have started gardening and feel like they have a black thumb, I offer a list of things to check that I used, one beginner to another.  My garden looks much better today because of it and we may even have enough tomatoes to add salsa and spaghetti sauce to our food storage.

1.  Soil

Ideally, this should be checked before you even put plants in the ground.  We did.  But we didn’t know what to do with the information.  Our soil test said we needed to add more nitrogen.  We’re trying to avoid using conventional [petrochemical fertilizer] methods of growing since we doubt it’ll exist after the collapse.  So, we did some research online and found some who said nitrogen is always low because of the nature of the test and not to worry about it, while others said the problem could be fixed by adding more compost. 

We tried adding more compost.  It didn’t work.

We then read a book called Gardening When It Counts by Steve Solomon.  I highly recommend every beginning gardener read this book.  Through it, we learned not only that soil must be balanced, but so must compost.  I won’t go into all the details here since every garden’s soil is different.  The book does a much better job of explaining.  To sum up, compost is not the answer to every soil problem.  In fact, if it’s unbalanced, it will make the problems worse.  In our case, we found cottonseed meal and blood meal did an excellent job of adding nitrogen.  Our plants are growing much better than we expected, even with our laxity in the other items I will add to the checklist in a moment.

Another important question to answer is whether your soil leans toward clay or sand.  It’s a pretty simple test and I’ve seen it in more than one place.  Solomon’s book discusses it, as does another gardening book I like, the e-book Growing Your Groceries by Kimberly Eddy.

Take a quart canning jar with a lid that will screw on tight enough that no water will escape during the test.  Then, take about a pint of soil from where you plan on growing your garden.  Clear out any plant matter and rocks, pummel the soil until it’s as fine as you can make it, put it in the jar, make a line or similar mark to show where the top of your sample is inside the jar (we used masking tape and a permanent marker), fill it up with water to about an inch from the top, add 1 teaspoon dish detergent to help break up the soil, screw on the lid, and shake vigorously for five to ten minutes.  Older kids and a spouse come in real handy during this process.  What you’re trying to do is break the soil up as completely as possible.  Once your soil is looking uniformly finely ground, set down the jar in a sunny window or some other well-lit place and time two minutes from the moment you set the jar down.  While you wait, get a flashlight since you may need it for the next part as well as a marker and possibly some tape.  We found masking tape worked well.  At exactly two minutes, you’ll see that some of the soil has accumulated on the bottom.  We didn’t have any difficulty seeing it because of the nature of our soil, but some might, so shine the flashlight on the jar to help find the top part of that accumulation.  Make a mark.

That first mark is the amount of sand in your soil.  We have extremely sandy topsoil;  that’s why ours was easy to see.  At two hours, make another mark to show where the accumulation is at that point.  That’s your silt level.  If you really want to be thorough with this test, wait until the water turns clear to get your clay level.  It could happen within a day.  Ours took several days.  It looks like we have very fine clay in our soil.

Once you have all these marks, calculate the percentage of each.  Divide the height of that original mark into the other marks you made after the shake-up.

Solomon recommends doing this for every soil layer up to three feet deep or until you reach the point at which roots can’t go beyond, whichever comes first.  We’ve only done topsoil so far. 

The reason this test is so important is because it lets you know how much water your soil will hold, if any.  Ours is almost entirely sand.  There’s so little clay in it, it’s not worth measuring.  It doesn’t hold any water.  Judging by how bad our foundation is, I’m guessing the subsoil is sand as well.  I’ll come back to this when we discuss watering.

For those with the resources, it may be easier to add topsoil and ignore the ground underneath.  Some of our friends did that, and they have found the cost is worth it in the amount of vegetables they got.  We feel strongly we should try to improve the soil in our area, if not for ourselves, then for those who may try to grow something after we’ve moved elsewhere.

If you don’t have the money to do much to your soil, or feel as we do, then the next item becomes even more important.

2.  What Are You Growing?

My husband and I discovered we were trying to grow medium to high maintenance plants in poor soil.  We also were growing them too close together for our climate.

When we first started, we used a very popular book on gardening as our guide.  The plants ended up spaced very close together and it felt like we were watering all the time to no effect.  Sometimes even with daily watering they would look incredibly limp during our blistering Texas summers. 

Based on what we’d been reading, we asked ourselves a few questions:

*  Is the soil right for this plant (each one has slightly different needs)?
*  Is it too close to other plants?
*  Is it getting too much sun?
*  Is it native to this area?  If not, does it grow well anyway?
*  Does anyone else have success with this plant?  (Places to find out include farmer’s markets, neighbors and co-workers who garden, local gardening clubs, etc.)  If they do, what do they do and how much effort does it take?
*  Is it getting too much water?  Too little?

If you planned your garden using a book, cross-reference your plant with other books to see what they have to say.  Definitely check out any and all guides you can find on growing plants in your specific area, the more local, the better. 

In our case, we found out that tomatoes do fantastic in Texas in our area.  They adore the heat.  We have planted lots of them and accept whatever free tomato plants others are trying to give away.  On the other hand, we’ve chalked the peach tree off as a loss now that we know they’re very high-maintenance trees in our area.  We are going to focus on blackberries instead.  We’ve also learned carrots are tricky when it comes to watering initially and have decided to focus on them next year.

If I had it to do over again, I would start my initial garden with a focus on herbs, beans, greens (like kale and collard), barely domesticated edible plants (like Jerusalem artichoke), and maybe some beets for soup.  Oh, and tomatoes.  All except the tomatoes are easier to grow.

3.  Water

Perhaps water is not an issue in your area.  If so, you are blessed. 

Here in Texas, it is.  We learned from Gardening When It Counts that spacing the plants too close together means the water in the soil gets absorbed faster by the plants.  Sure enough, this year, when we planted them a bit further from each other (closer than recommended in Solomon’s book) they seemed to like the room and water, though still an issue, was not as desperate a situation as previous years.  At least until the dog days arrived early.  However, because they had a better start than other years, they’re handling the heat somewhat better.

So, if your soil is appropriate, and the plants are low-demand, but they aren’t growing as well as they should, water should definitely be checked.  Unfortunately, the best advice we found is also the most frustrating for those like us who like measured amounts:  the right amount of water for a plant is whatever it needs. 

Another fantastic book we used this year is the American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Gardening.  Our tomatoes looked a little dry so, as opposed to just following what that initial gardening book said, we looked it up in the “EofG”.  The initial book recommended one to two gallons a week for tomatoes.  The recommendation from the EofG worked out to five to six gallons per plot a week in hot weather.  The latter one works much better for our tomatoes and has perked up our sluggish cucumber plant as well.  Now that we have an idea of just how much water our plants take, and now that we know the nature of our soil, we find ourselves, during dry spells, watering twice a day.

It is also possible, as we learned with carrots, to over water.  So, just like in the previous section, read lots of books and find out how much water locals use in their gardens and what they’ve found. 

Finally, on this subject, it’s also important to watch your garden plot during a storm or a similar deluge.  Watch where the water goes.  Does it sink in quickly or pool on the surface?  Does it gather in one particular spot while the rest stays dry?  I’m sure others could think up several more, but those are the questions that stand out when I watch the rain hit my yard.  I’ve tried to plant with those natural pools and drier spots in mind and that’s helped this year.

The point is to avoid any water-related stress.  It will stunt your plants’ growth at every stage.  Even if they seem to recover, a plant never entirely recovers from it.  It will affect growth.  I’ve found there’s an art to watering correctly.  With so many variables, it takes checking on the garden every day to make sure things are going well;  or, in our case, checking twice a day.

If you’ve done this much work so far, I’m sure you’re asking yourself, do I really want to do this?  I personally believe everyone should have a garden.  I believe this because of what I’ve found a garden requires:  discipline, a good work ethic, the ability to prioritize, diligence, and observational skills.  If a person doesn’t have these, a garden helps you acquire them, and at a faster rate than you thought possible.

A garden will help you understand the myths and stories of our ancestors.  If you’re Christian, it will help bring to life many parts of the Bible.  If you have children who work with you in the garden (even our four year old has learned how to pull weeds) it can become a shared metaphor for things like bad habits (they’re like weeds, easier to get rid of them when they’re small) or how our actions affect our lives (you reap what you sow… even if it takes three years to figure out how to sow and reap correctly).

It also encourages humility.  All it takes is one hailstorm to realize how dependent we are on Providence for whatever we get each year from our efforts.  Mistakes, cut corners, and any slacking in the above mentioned character traits also encourage humility.  Humility is definitely something we need in this age when we think we can control nature itself.

So, even if it’s a struggle to keep your plants alive, there are more reasons than fresh tomatoes to grow a garden.  Growing a garden makes one a better person.  With that in mind, please keep trying, keep learning, keep investing time while trying to make sure you aren’t wasting money.

And if, after all this, it turns out you truly can’t put in the effort, hone a useful skill and barter with the gardening friends you’ve made along the way for their produce.  If they’re anything like my friends, they’ll be willing to share with those who have something of value to trade.

Letter Re: Walking –An Ideal Form of Exercise

Jim,
I am a nurse anesthetist currently working in Georgia. In the short time of about a year, I have been involved with preparing for a possibly very ugly future. I wanted to state that your web site has been extremely helpful. Your contributors on the blog site have given me many directions in which to prepare and think, as well as yourself.

Last summer, I was in a Borders bookstore with my wife and was passing a table in which your novel; “Patriots” was presented. It caught my eye, and I bought it. It was a real page turner for me (especially for the events of the day).  “Patriots” made me acutely aware of how poorly my family was prepared. Although, my wife is not necessarily of like mind, she has felt that the need to be somewhat prepared for a minor catastrophe. Thus in her mind it would be worth the time and money that I would be putting into preparing our family.

Like others that visit your web site to glean information—some families are in the position of where only one member has to be the one to do the “heavy lifting” of sorts. I welcome this opportunity because I am the one that has the desire, means, and opportunity to get the materials and training done. Since reading your book, watching the news (which is maddening and depressing at best), and reading other recommended books from your site—I have been able to acquire the basics and built from there. Those being; shelter in a lightly populated area; water from a hand pump/Berkey filtration systems; food for approximately a year; weapons/ammunition; medical/dental supplies; wood burning stove with wood; rosaries/Bibles; and tools. Building on this, I have signed up for a medical survival course, wilderness survival course, and Front Sight weapons course. The Lord has allowed me to do much in a very short period of time that others may not be able to have the means to do—but as my mother reminds me—-“When much is given, much is expected”. So while I do want to make my family safe—I am under no illusion that the Lord may bring many my family’s way for help/assistance.  But until that time, the prepping continues.

I would also like to thank a contributor that advised walking for a means of exercise to simulate real world situations in which one may have to travel a distance without the means of modern transportation. This suggestion spurned me to get out on the local high school track and walk. Fortunately, it is open 24 hours a day. Over the last couple months, I have worked up to walking 5 miles 3-4/week with an A.L.I.C.E. pack and boots. I do this at 4-5 am or 10-11 pm. I have read and trained up on doing some tying of ropes, which I practice for a short time on the bleacher rails (which would simulate helping others down a mountain/steep grade or even setting up a temporary shelter. Just a couple of suggestions with this type of training if you do it—start off with tennis shoes and work up to boots, start off with nothing on your back- then progress as tolerated with a light pack (I work out at the gym and felt I could do this in this manner—don’t hurt yourself, please). I also have the blisters on my feet to prove this isn’t something that comes easily. More suggestions: preemptively take some Tylenol or Ibuprofen to reduce the anticipated swelling (I also take regularly Tumeric seed, Emergen-C Joint Health (with glucosamine and chondroitin), cod liver oil, , olive oil which help reduce swelling and lubricate joints among other things) and a generic caffeine pill from Wal-Mart to get me through the workout in which I put myself through at funny hours of the day/night. This training has also given me a new appreciation for the men and women in the armed forces that defend our country—I really don’t know how they do it, no less be in the hot sun day in/out. My thoughts and prayers are with them (and your readers) as I hoof it around the track myself.

Thanks again to your many contributors and you. God Bless, – Michael in Georgia

Economics and Investing:

The soaring prices of gold and silver have been making lots of headlines, recently. All that I can say is that I told you so. I still recommend buying silver, on the dips!

A preview for other States? Nearly Bankrupt Illinois Forced to Pay Through The Nose to Borrow Money.

Gold’s Rise is “a Sign of Anxiety,” Not Inflation, ECRI’s Achuthan Says. “This next decade is going to be much more volatile…”

Items from The Economatrix:

Economy May Never Recover from Banking Crisis, Warns OBR

14 Reasons Why The US Government Will Never Have a Balanced Budget Again

Russia to Buy Canadian, Aussie Dollars for First Time Ever

Stocks Extend Gains as China Eases Currency Policy

More Borrowers Exit Obama Mortgage Help Plan

Gas Prices Going Back Up

Odds ‘n Sods:

Jeff E. spotted this article from Florida: Brazen home-invasion robberies stir Jupiter Farms residents to action

   o o o

RBS suggested this New York Post article: $7-a-gallon gas?

   o o o

Reader David W. wrote to mention that last week all of Intuit’s online services went down for several days. This sent much of the company’s critical accounting system, payroll and credit card business into cloudy limbo. Intuit’s President sent out this apology. David comments: “This was reportedly caused by a power failure that cascaded. But no one is talking about where or how a massively redundant distributed, multi-locational system went down from a single outage.”

   o o o

Cheryl sent a link to a piece over at Steve Quayle’s site: Shopping For Your Survival Retreat. This is is a repost from a letter that originally appeared here at SurvivalBlog, by reader John J.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

Conan The Objectivist: “Nay, to outwit your enemies, to see them fall at your feet — to purchase their horses and goods at low, low prices, hear the lamentation of their women and to deliver a six-hour speech, exposing the shortcomings of their philosophy and worldview and establishing a sane and logical framework in its place. That is best.” – Conan The Objectivist, Blogger Roberta X.

Note from JWR:

Last day! The special sale on the "Rawles Gets You Ready" preparedness course ends tonight (June 21st) at midnight, Pacific time.

—

Oh, and speaking of sales, keep in mind that the Mountain House sale, offered by Ready Made Resources ends on June 30th. Ordering any multiple of six can cases (even if mixed cases) gets you 25% off and free shipping. Partial cases are also 25% off, but $17 is charged for shipping.

Just the FAQs, Ma’am

I get regularly deluged with more than 200 e-mails per day, and that’s not counting spam e-mails. I regret that I simply don’t have the time to respond to all of your e-mails. To save time, here are some answers to some frequently-asked questions (FAQs):

1.) “Can you recommend a retreat group in my region?”

See my static web page titled: Finding Like-Minded People in Your Area

2.) “Why do you have a comma in the middle of your name?”

I use the comma to make a distinction between my Christian name, and my family name. My Christian name (James Wesley) is my property. My family name (Rawles) is the common property of all those that share the Rawles bloodline, and our wives. This is a Common Law distinction that is only used by a few right wingers who poke around law libraries. Every novelist seems to have an idiosyncratic affectation. George Bernard Shaw had his iron-clad five page per day writing limit. Clive Cussler has his car collection, and he includes an obscure collectible car in each of his Dirk Pitt novels. Charles Dickens cried when he read his own novels. The comma is my own little idiosyncrasy!

3.) “I can’t find your personal Twitter or Facebook page. Is it hidden under a pseudonym?”

I’m not a member, nor do I want to be! Please refrain from trying to get me to join Facebook, or any of the other social networks. Getting dozens of daily “John Smith is following you on Twitter” messages drives me crazy. I consider social networking a huge OPSEC risk, and I advise my readers to cancel their accounts.

4.) “Could we get together for a cup of coffee when I pass through Moyie Springs, Idaho next week?”

Sorry, but I don’t live anywhere near there! That is simply a mail forwarding address that I use, to help keep the actual locale of the Rawles Ranch secret.

5.) “Can you please forward my e-mail to Mr. X., who recently posted a letter in SurvivalBlog?”

For the privacy of my readers, I forward e-mails only under rare, exceptional circumstances. Also, be advised that I regularly scrub my e-mail folders, so I don’t have addressees that date back more than a few months.

6.) “How can I read SurvivalBlog on my cell phone?”

We have an RSS Feed available. Click on “RSS” in the left hand bar. That will bring you to: feed://survivalblog.com/index.xml. If you aren’t familiar with how to configure an RSS feed, see this tutorial.

7.) When I try to bring up your blog page in Firefox, I get a message saying: “Content Encoding Error” What is wrong? Is there a problem with your site, or with my computer?”

The problem is with you computer’s cache settings, not with the SurvivalBlog site. It is actually fairly common, with many web pages. Try re-starting you browser. If you still get the same error message, the workaround is to close tabs with SurvivalBlog, then go though these Firefox menus: Tools -> Options… -> Advanced -> Network -> Offline Storage -> Clear Now

8.) “Can you appear as a guest on my podcast?”

Because of my time constraints of writing, editing, and running a ranch, I only do interviews on network or “major market” talk radio shows. So unless your radio show has a very large listenership, I generally have to pass. Sorry!

9.) “I’m writing my own novel. Attached is my draft. Could you please edit it for me or read it and make some suggestions?”

I’d love to, but I don’t have the time. Sorry, but there aren’t enough hours in the day.

10.) “Can you put a link to my blog on your Links page?

I’m generally willing to put folks on my Links page. but only for blogs and web pages that I think would be of interest to a large number of SurvivalBlog readers, and only if they have no objectionable material. (Assorted ranters, racists, anti-Christians, anti-Semites, loose wing nuts, blasphemers, and folks with girlie pictures on their web pages need not apply.) Also, keep in mind that I don’t put up links until a blog can provide the bona fides of a six month track record, with at least weekly postings. (I’ve seen far too many blogs die young.)

11.) “Can you recommend an online dating site where I can meet a survivalist spouse?”

See my static web page titled: Finding Like-Minded People in Your Area.

12.) “I can’t find the “Post” button on your site.”

I don’t allow “autoposting” of comments from SurvivalBlog readers. This is because A.) I don’t want to have to have the time to moderate the posts and B.) I know from past experience that if I were to allow autoposts, it would quickly degenerate into a venue for flame wars and foul language. So I pick and choose the letters that will be posted. I am the sole “filter” for what is posted on SurvivalBlog. Just e-mail me what you’d like me to post. (There is no “Post” button, so don’t look for it!)

13.) “How can I order autographed copies of your books?”

Sorry, but I no longer do any mail order sales, so autographed copies of my later books are very hard to find.

14.) “When do you think that a Crunch or “Cliff Event” will actually happen?”

As I state in my Provisos page: I’m not a guru. I’m not a prophet. I’m just a guy with an opinion and perhaps the ability to extrapolate some trends. Your mileage may vary. I don’t know when, but I do know how the world will end, because I read the last chapter of the book. Come swiftly, Lord Jesus!

Letter Re: Self-Sufficiency E-Books Available at Project Gutenberg

Here are some fascinating country-living related books from Project Gutenberg. Some may be a little dated, given recent technological developments though…

Livestock feeder’s manual

The Making of a Country Parish

A Woman’s Wartime Journal (circa U.S. Civil War)

Home pork-making

Dry-Farming

Electricity for the Farm

Everyday foods in wartime (WWI)

On Horsemanship (Xenophon!)

Regards, – Jonathan W.

Letter Re: Lessons From The L.A. Lakers Basketball Victory Riot

Hi Jim,
I know that several readers have mentioned that they decided to hunker down in the city in their homes rather than bug out if the SHTF. A recent article and video shows what mobs will do when they are happy. Imagine what they will do if they are, hungry, thirsty, and without power for heating or cooling. Fire seems to always be a common denominator in such situations. The last place I would want to be is in or under my house when someone sets it on fire or it catches fire from a nearby house. The bad guys would not even have to use guns.

I worked the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles as mutual aid officer from the northern part of the state. That was a real eye opener. I will never forget being at a housing project (Imperial Courts) with 30, two man units. We were quickly surrounded by hundreds of people screaming at us. We were ordered to flee and we did. We were told that if we had not left, we would of been shot at from the rooftops within a few minutes. After that experience, I always tell people it only takes 1% of the population to disobey the law and the police cannot cope and the situation is totally out of their control.

Hunkering down in the city might work for the short term [in a societal collapse], but long term it is suicide. – PD

Letter Re: OPSEC and Pattern Analysis

Dear SurvivalBloggers:

The concept of operational security (OPSEC) is simple. You conduct yourself in a way that doesn’t give anyone the impression that you’re doing anything out of the ordinary. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? It’s not.

Everything you do and say is an indication of the things that are going on in your life. Most importantly, people tend to operate in predictable patterns. It’s called a rut. When you get into one, you define who and what you are. If someone has an interest in you, all they have to do is watch and establish that pattern. If you make a change, it stands out. Think about it.

You’re suddenly happy for no apparent reason.

You call the newspaper office from your work phone and put a hold on delivery.

You call the post office and do the same with your mail.

You leave brochures around for Disney World, and you live in St. Paul.

How long would it take someone who is interested to figure out that you’re going on vacation? You haven’t said word one about your vacation to anyone in the office or workplace, but it’s pretty obvious, right?

The same applies for your preparations. I know, it’s over the top obvious when you have a pallet of MREs drop-shipped to your driveway. The neighbors will notice. They may never say anything, or ask you about it, but they will know. Too obvious? Okay, try this. You suddenly take an interest in off-road vehicles. A 1965 Bronco shows up in your driveway, and you live in suburbia. You’re not known as an outdoors type of person, but suddenly you develop an interest in guns. The neighbors see you carry gun cases into your house, or out to your vehicle when you go to the range. How much intellect does it take to put those images together?

It’s the little things that make the difference. You set up a tent in your backyard, but you never go camping. Your house grows an extra antenna or two. You’re at the company picnic and the topic of camping comes up, and you spend twenty minutes telling your co-workers the difference between a 5.56 and a .223. You explain to them the best types of water filters available, and the best places to buy them. Someone is going to pick up on that.

This is not a bad thing in itself. In the military, we operated on a presumption of ignorance in many cases. It can’t be avoided. When your tactical air wing is being deployed, it’s hard not to let the world know about it. Everyone from the day care operator to the guy who mows the grass is going to know something is going on. The important part of that was to try to make sure they didn’t know where you were going, or what you were going to do when you go there.

So what do you do? Again, it’s all about patterns. It’s important to make your preparations part of your normal life. Don’t drop-ship that pallet of MREs. Instead, carry in a box or two at random occasions. Better yet, every time you go to the grocery store, buy a couple of extra of what you normally eat anyway. Someone will notice you carrying in boxes, but nobody will give a thought to a couple of extra bags of groceries. Once a month, do your grocery shopping and pay cash. Those store discount cards are an excellent way to track what people are buying. I’m sure if someone had access, they could tell what you have for just about every meal for the last year. You did pay for it with your debit card, right? They look up the name on the store discount card, match it with the name on the debit card, and viola! they know what you’re buying, how much of it, and most importantly, if you change your buying habits.

Is this paranoia? Probably, just a bit. Is it warranted? Probably, just a bit. One of the largest employers for the last several years has been the Department of Homeland Security. To put that into context for you, the Soviet Union called their internal security apparatus the Committee for State Security. We knew them as the KGB. (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti.) Did the pucker factor just go up a notch or two for you? I hope so. I have no delusions that there are people sitting around, discussing me in the context of a threat to national security. I’m just not worth their time. They have bigger fish to fry, and all that. Does that mean I’m not aware of the possibility that someone is taking a look now and then? No.

Does that mean that I’m not being careful about the image I’m putting out there? Nope. Most importantly, I’m constantly aware of my usual patterns. What I do and when I do it. I make a habit of letting people know that I like to camp, and that I go to the range a lot to shoot, just for fun. I don’t buy a lot of ammo at one time. When a sale hits on ammo or something else, I pay cash. The guy at the Army surplus store knows me. I go in and just talk on occasion, looking around without buying anything. When I do buy, I pay cash, and I never buy a lot of anything at one time. I park on the street, because I don’t have a garage, and wait until after dark to bring in the big packages. The neighbors don’t know me very well, and that’s the way it’s going to stay. I put out the image that I’m a fairly harmless guy, maybe a little redneck, but basically nobody anyone would be interested in. I don’t hassle cops, and generally try to be a good citizen.

Most importantly, I try to maintain a pattern of normalcy that doesn’t draw any attention to myself. If I have to hunker down, I can do that. If I need to throw it in the truck, (which I bought because, you know, I live in a little valley, and that last snow storm had me stuck for a week with that little car) and G.O.O.D., I can do that too. I don’t let the gas gauge get below half, because you know, the truck runs just as well on the top half of the tank as it does the bottom half. I keep an eye on most of the political situation, and even a closer eye on the economic situation, and try to be ready. That’s all we can do right now, but it’s important that we do it in such a way that WTSHTF, I don’t have sixteen neighbors showing up on the doorstep. – C.T.

Economics and Investing:

H.H. sent this: Venezuela Food Prices Skyrocket. H.H. asks: “How’s that Socialist Revolution workin’ out for ya, Hugo?”

K.C. saw a story on CNBC that is of interest: ‘Serious Market Problems’ in the Fall—Gold to Hit $2500. Here’s an excerpt: “In the meantime, Schatz said investors should expect a rally through June and into August—before seeing ‘serious problems’ in the fall. …Taxes are going up next year and so on the surface, people are going to have less money to invest and less money in the economy,” he explained. “We’ve also got a municipal crisis coming on the horizon that no one’s talking about.”

Items from The Economatrix:

Spain: The New Crisis in Euroland

Bank Run in Spain and its Destabilizing Ramifications for the Entire EU

Spain Plays High-Stakes Poker Game with Germany as Borrowing Costs Surge

Gold Rises as Euro Struggles, Share Prices Down

Spending Fable (The Mogambo Guru)

Odds ‘n Sods:

Kevin S. flagged this: How to Survive a Solar Storm. The article begins: “Scientists at NASA have been warning for some time of the dangers of space weather affecting the earth, and particularly the danger of solar storms. With the sun due to reach the top of both its 22-year magnetic energy cycle and 11-year Sunspot cycle in 2013, there’s real danger of magnetic energy damaging electronic equipment.”

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Reader EMB sent me a link to very practical piece posted at Hillbilly Housewife: Homemade Sanitary Pads. If you’d rather buy them pre-made, there is prepper-oriented home-based business that makes a “made-to-order” comparable item: Naturally Cozy.

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Food prices to rise by up to 40% over next decade, UN report warns. (Thanks to Damon for the link.)

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G.G. suggested this: More college-educated jump tracks to become skilled manual laborers.

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Dr. Steve sent us this gem: Buy Solar Power System, Get Free Gun

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"We truly have an ancient part of the brain that was about survival when we were prey but we seem to have gone past prey. We eat everything and nothing eats us." – Nick Nolte

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 29 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will 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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 500 round case of Fiocchi 9mm Parabellum (Luger ) with 124gr. Hornady XTP/HP projectiles, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $249 value), and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).with a retail value of at least $400, and B.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing, and B.) a Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.)

Round 29 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.

Some G.O.O.D. Thoughts, by J.I.R.

Before I begin discussing bugging out or Getting Out of Dodge (G.O.O.D.), I want to be clear on one point: Any travel during a disaster is dangerous. After TEOTWAWKI, it could be deadly dangerous. If you can avoid it, you should.

Mr. Rawles is a strong advocate of living year round at a well-stocked and well-chosen remote retreat location, and I couldn’t agree with him more. This is a great compromise that will get you through a whole variety of problems. Unfortunately, not all of us are so well postured and are forced to make due with a lesser solution. Your solution might be living near a city and maintaining a retreat somewhere. Or, it might be living in a city with a plan to go join relatives in an emergency. Or, worse yet, you may only have a vague idea of where you could go in an emergency. The purpose of this article is to explore the circumstances that could cause you to need to bug out and generate some discussion on tactics and maybe cause some of you to think seriously about where you will go and how you will get there.

Some problems are temporary and regional, but still too dangerous to face, like hurricanes. For these events, you need a bug out bag that can carry you to safety. You will also need a reliable means of transportation and a route to safety. so, where is safe? For a regional problem, you can move almost any direction out of the immediate area and make it to an unaffected area in a few hundred miles. In this case, cash is king. If you can live in a hotel or take a Some problems are probably better faced at home in the city or town where you normally live. An economic depression, for instance. Economic problems are likely to last for very long periods. Crime rates will rise, and so will prices. There may be terrible shortages of almost anything. You probably have a better chance of weathering it by hunkering down in your own home and trying to lower your household expenses. If you can continue paying your bills as best you can, you will have a good chance of hanging on and waiting for better times. Having a deep pantry and some cash or barter goods can make all the difference. You need to keep enough “money” in some form to pay your bills if you are unable to work for a period of time. Something like a pandemic disease can force you to curtail working or cut back hours and impact your income. If you are ready for that, bugging in is a good option for minor emergencies.

Bugging in or moving out temporarily to avoid a short term disaster are both relatively easy solutions, but will not serve if the worst happens. If we experience a total melt-down of services, bugging-in in any urban or suburban area is a bad decision. Once the power goes off, water stops flowing, food trucks stop and the police quit reporting for work, life near any city is going to be dicey and very short. Hiding is not an option unless you can hide your whole building since every building will be systematically searched for food within weeks. IMHO, bugging out is an urbanite or suburbanite’s only real option.

There are some serious problems with bugging out in during a disaster. If recent natural disasters are any guide, the roads can be expected to be clogged and fuel and food stocks low or non-existent. Consider the possibility of being stranded for days (or forever) in an endless traffic jam with thousands of other thirsty, angry, scared people. The towns along major roadways will be quickly saturated with people and run out of supplies. Where will those thousands of stranded motorists go once FEMA, Red Cross, and the national guard not around to rescue them? The last place you want to be is stranded with them. This is a sobering thought. If you make it past the swarm and get a clear road, what happens when you catch up to the guy who ran out of gas on a lonely stretch of road yesterday?

If law and order break down, the situation gets much worse. Property rights become very theoretic and hungry, desperate people will take whatever they need, if they can. Even without a traffic jam full of thirsty people, you face the probability of ambush and robbery. I have experienced this phenomenon in four different countries. Here is one example: In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DROC), immediately after the coup in the mid-1990s, it was common practice for local thugs to put up road-blocks and “tax” anyone passing by. The bad guys would place a log across the road and station one person next to it and the gang would sit in the shade nearby. Anyone passing would be robbed and sometimes gang raped or beaten if they couldn’t pay enough. We drove through the region in two Land Rovers with FN-MAG [belt-fed light machinegun]s mounted in ring mounts, so we were able to bluff our way past each of these roadblocks. As we approached each roadblock, we pointed our machineguns at the group sitting in the shade and announced (through a loud PA system using a local interpreter) that we were the US Army and ordered them to clear the road. They usually smiled and waved as they scrambled to clear the log from the road. We were, of course, bluffing to a certain extent, because we couldn’t afford a firefight any more than they could, but the group knew we would (and could) fight, so we got away with it. As soon as we were out of sight, the log went back in place. A single family in a car would have had to pay dearly every 20-30 miles and probably would have found themselves on foot very quickly–or dead.

Put into the context of the USA, I think local law enforcement is probably your biggest threat. It’s going to be awfully tempting for some towns to use the highways passing nearby to extend their tax base. When the local sheriff is running out of fuel for the squad cars, I think at least a few of them will attempt to tax “surplus fuel” from passing vehicle traffic. (I expect lots of fuel and food delivery trucks to get confiscated en route.) How many jurisdictions does your bug-out route pass through?

The message is clear. Your bug-out will have a much better chance of success if you get out early. If you wait too long, the roads will be clogged so badly you won’t be able to move. If you wait until the roads are jammed, the only way you can keep moving past them is with a motorcycle, bicycle or on foot. Cars are going nowhere in a bad traffic jam. Bugging out early is essential, but really can’t be guaranteed. Some disasters are sudden and you can’t be sure that you will react faster than the golden hoard. Having a well thought out plan can save your life.

1. Have a definite and reasonable destination. If you live in New York and plan to bug out to Montana, you are dreaming. Your destination needs to be reasonably close. Betting that you can refuel several times and keep moving in your primary bug-out vehicle assumes a lot. You may get robbed of your “extra” fuel or hit an impassable section of road and have turn around (if you can) and find another route. Your vehicle could be disabled along the way. If you can’t possibly walk there in a couple of weeks, it’s too far. I would estimate “reasonable” for me as roughly 200 miles. With a full tank of gas, I could reach that far if the roads were clear. If I had to walk, I could do it if nothing bad happened to me along the way.

2. Have a reliable vehicle. Your mini-van may be fine as a bug-out vehicle (as long as you can stick to paved roads), but it needs to be in top condition. Have a full sized spare tire (not a “doughnut” [mini-spare]) and a tool kit and air pump with you to repair tires and other mishaps. You may need oil, coolant, belts, etc that you can’t buy after a disaster, so carry some spares with you.

3. Carry all the supplies you will need. This is hard, but essential. You can’t count on being able to re-supply or re-fuel along the way. So, you need to carry fuel, water, food, sanitary and medial supplies. Carry enough supplies to get there even if you have to detour or get stalled for some reason. At the same time, you need to avoid looking rich. If you have a dozen gas cans strapped to your luggage rack and visible, you are going to be an awfully tempting target. You want to avoid envy at all costs. In an emergency, envy quickly turns into confiscation.

4. Be armed. Legal rights, especially property rights, are a legal fiction. They exist only as long as they are enforced. When you can’t count on the police to provide that enforcement, you have no recourse except to defend yourself. You have to use some judgment here, but there are times when a convincing show of force is the only right answer. Nobody sane wants to get into a gunfight, but the willingness and ability to do so can save your life. When you come across a stranded motorist standing in your path waving a pistol to stop your vehicle, your chances of getting past him will go up dramatically if your “shotgun” passenger really has a shotgun (or AKM) to provide a counter threat. If
you come under fire, your ability to shoot back may be your only hope of survival. Your passengers need to be able to provide a quick and deadly response to suppress the enemy or kill them. The people who say “violence never solved anything” are idiots who have learned nothing from history. Violence is the foundation of diplomacy. Without a credible threat of violence you have no rights.

5. Have a backup plan. Your vehicle can be stopped by too many things. If circumstances prevent you from using it, you need to have a plan for alternate transportation. A good emergency transportation system is bicycles. A bicycle can allow you to tow a trailer with over 200 pounds of gear at an average of 5-10 mph, depending on the terrain and your physical condition. I have toured on a bike towing a trailer and see this as a viable mode of travel in an emergency. You can travel roughly four times as fast as you could if you were walking while carrying four times the weight. With a trailer, you can carry your 60 pound bug-out bag plus another hundred pounds of supplies easily, but you will need to buy a sturdy cargo trailer, not the light weight stroller types. I recommend the Aosom Bicycle Cargo Trailer, available on Amazon for a little over 100 dollars. They are stoutly built, low profile for stowing on top of a vehicle, and rated for 180 pounds of cargo.

Choose bikes with comfort in mind. You will want a very slow low gear or you will be pushing them up every hill. A bike towing a trailer moves slowly, (under 10mph) most of the time and you never want to let your speed get over about 15 mph with a trailer. Count on moving slowly for long periods. Choose a gear that allows you to pedal about twice a second using little power. That will allow you to ride longer and further than you could in a higher gear or at higher speeds. Rest on the down slopes and continue to move at a slow pace and you will find yourself eating up the miles. You should easily be able to cover 50 miles a day, even if you are not in especially good shape. 100 miles a day is not an unreasonable goal if you have some riding experience and you are in good physical shape. If your retreat is about 200 miles away, you could cover the whole distance to your retreat in under four days if you had to.

If your vehicle quits on a lonely stretch of road, or you get stuck in a permanent traffic jam, having a bike for each member of your group could allow you to repack your essentials and keep moving. You can get bike racks for up to 4 bikes that attach to the rear of your car. Up to two bike trailers can be strapped down on the top of most vehicles if they have a luggage rack on top. You can load most of your bulky bug-out gear in bike trailers before you start, and secure them to the top of your vehicle roof and cover them with a tarp to cut wind resistance. Then, if you get stranded, you can quickly continue on your way at a slower, but still respectable speed. If you have kids too young to ride their own bikes, you can tow them in a cargo trailer sitting on your bug-out bag.

Another (generally dreaded) form of transportation is walking. People used to walk more than they do nowadays. My father, when he was a teenager, used to walk nearly 15 miles to see his girlfriend and walk back the same day. I used to backpack as a teenager and routinely covered 15 miles in rough mountains carrying a heavy pack. I also have some experience ruck-marching in the Army, so I have a lot of respect for LPCs (leather personnel carriers). The advantages of walking are huge, but unfortunately, so are the disadvantages.

Advantages: Mobility over almost any terrain. You can walk where no wheeled vehicle can go. You can leave the road and move cross country if you need to and detour around trouble. You may be able to travel parallel to a large road and remain unseen, especially if you travel at night. Security is easier on foot than in any vehicle. You can move silently and watch and listen to your surroundings. That lets you see dangers and avoid them rather than driving into them blindly.

Disadvantages: Walking is slow and tiring. With a heavy pack you will be lucky to maintain an average of 2 m.p.h. unless you have lots of experience and you are in good shape. That limits your daily range to 10-20 miles per day or even less. The longer your trip takes, the more provisions you will need to carry and the slower you will travel. If you plan to walk to Montana from New York, you would have to carry enough food for 3 months or more, which is simply impossible. It’s difficult to carry enough provisions for more than a couple of weeks at the most. Realistically, this limits your trip distance (without food re-supply, but foraging for water) to something like 200 miles. If you must carry your own water, your realistic trip distance drops to about 50 miles.

You also have to be physically able to do it. You can’t expect to walk far if you are out of shape, pregnant, overweight, elderly or have young children with you. All of these factors slow you down, limit your cargo capacity and also limit the number of hours you can travel every day. Any injury can make matters worse or even impossible. A twisted ankle by anyone in the group can end your trip. Be realistic with yourself when planning a foot movement and plan for the worst. Count on moving slowly and carefully to avoid injury and exhaustion.

Preparing in advance for foot movement can make all the difference. If you expect to move a hundred miles carrying enough gear to make it in good health, you need to do a little work in advance.

Get a good map! If you have a decent map (a paper map, not electronic) you may be able to save yourself miles of walking.

Good shoes or boots. Without good walking shoes, you are going to be miserable in no time. Sneakers are better than wingtips, but dedicated hiking boots are a godsend if you have to cover any real distance. Sneakers are less expensive, but they will fall apart fast, so the cost savings are an illusion. A good durable pair of boots are essential to have anyway. Cheap shoes will leave you barefooted in a few months. Try on the shoes with your walking socks before you buy them and get a set that are very slightly loose to allow for swelling feet. Wear them for a while to break them in. A long foot march is the last place to try to break in new boots or shoes.

Walking socks. Good socks are another essential item of gear if you plan to move very far on foot. Believe it or not, there are a lot of options and opinions out there about socks. Some people buy very high-tech socks for hiking. I used to wear a thin pair of dress socks or ladies knee-highs under a thicker pair of wool socks. Having a thin layer under heavier socks helps prevent blisters. Thick wool provides some padding and insulation and continues to insulate well even if it’s wet. But many modern backpackers hate wool because it dries slowly and gets very heavy when it’s wet.

Moleskin. A blister is a serious matter when you have to depend on your feet. If ignored, it will get worse and worse until you can’t continue. A broken blister can get infected very quickly. When you feel a hot spot forming on your feet or heels, you need to stop immediately and deal with it. One good approach is moleskin. This is a sort of adhesive bandage that you can put over the hot spot that eliminates the rubbing or chafing and prevents it from forming a blister. I have successfully used duct tape for the same purpose, but carrying a small package of moleskin is easy and lightweight.

Walking stick. In rough terrain or when you are tired, a sturdy walking stick can really help you keep your balance. It also gives you something to lean on when you stop for a brief rest.

Good sling or holster for any weapons you carry. Toting a 10 pound long gun around all day is exhausting and ties up your hands. Besides, it makes you look very dangerous and could draw unwanted attention. If you are carrying a long gun openly, you should have a sling that works with your pack. A long body sling that allows you to carry a weapon cross-body in the front will allow you to quickly grab your weapon and fire it without removing your pack. If you carry a pistol, experiment with your holster and pack together. Most holsters interfere with the pack belt.

Walking around looking like Rambo might be a bad idea. A better option might be to carry a folding stock weapon in a tent-bag strapped to your pack and a pistol in a Maxpedition Versipack. You can fit a folding stock AKM and a few magazines into a large tent bag and [with a short section of foam padding included] it looks like a tent unless it is closely examined. The Maxpedition Versipack is not an obvious holster and can be rigged to not interfere with your pack belt. This is a good compromise allowing you to travel without looking dangerous and still be postured to quickly present a weapon if needed. If things get really bad, you have quick access to a more effective weapon tied to your pack.

A good pack. Uh-oh. There are a lot of choices for a main bug-out-bag sized pack. Whatever you buy, be careful about buying a bargain pack. The mid-range bags around $100 are a safer choice, especially if you are inexperienced at walking long distances. On a good pack you will “discover” nice features you didn’t suspect you needed. I am partial to the “High Sierra” brand packs. A good bag will allow you to carry most of the weight on your hips and walk upright. I use a “High Sierra Long Trail 90 Frame Pack ” I got at Amazon.com and I love it. It’s a good choice for a large man like myself. But if you are smaller than 5’10 or so and have a waist smaller than 34 inches, you wouldn’t be happy with this pack. If you are small, I suggest their “Sentinel 65” or even the smaller “Explorer 55” models. If possible, try on the pack with some weight in it to see how the straps feel. A good pack is one of your best investments. I used an Army rucksack for years and hated it every time I had to do any serious movement. The frame doesn’t fit my body at all. If you get a good fitting, well made BOB, then I guarantee you will thank yourself if you ever have to walk with it.

Consider using a cargo carrier such as a bike trailer, stroller or even a wheelbarrow. These can allow you to move a lot of cargo with less physical strain than carrying it on your back. A “jogging stroller” or bike trailer can handle fairly rough terrain and allow you to move off road somewhat.

So, what do you have in your BOB?
That, of course, is a very personal question. Each person has their own preferences and opinions about what gear and supplies they consider essential. It’s one of those questions with no right answer. The biggest consideration is what you expect from it. A BOB packed to carry to a FEMA shelter a few miles away or get you home if your car breaks down will be very different from one packed to carry into a desert wilderness for a month. A 3 day kit is very different from a 2 week kit.

In general terms, You need to fit your BOB to your plan. (including contingencies). My own BOB is actually three different groups of equipment and goods that reflect my predictions of what I will need in three very different sets of circumstances. The core is a heavy backpack with a wilderness backpacking load of gear and 3 days of food. It includes the following stuff:

Water filter (PUR backpack model)
polar pure Iodine crystals
2 x 1 quart canteens and a canteen cup and 2 large steel spoons
1 quart pot and a small rocket stove
Small tupperware box hot beverage kit (tea, bullion, instant coffee and sugar)
Several plastic garbage bags and several freezer food bags.
6 x MREs. With care, this is enough calories for about 3 days…well, 2 days at least.
P38 key ring can opener
2 butane lighters
2 camping candles
Box of self striking fire starters
Small radio (Kaito KA1102 – this is one cool little radio)
LED light and spare batteries (rechargeables)
Solar battery charger
Fishing kit

Sleeping bag
insulating ground pad.
emergency blanket/poncho
real Army poncho
poncho liner (army. Great piece of gear!)
large drop cloth
10′ x 12′ camouflage poly tarp and 500 feet of 550 cord
Hat and wool glove inserts
set of thermal underwear and 2 sets of underwear and socks
Hiking boots
Bath towel (lots of uses, but really handy for field bathing)

Ka-Bar size sheath knife (7 inch)
Leatherman Multitool
Kukri machete Cold steel 12 inch. (multiple uses)
Bicycle tool kit
Ruger SP101 revolver and three speed loaders of .38 +P ammunition (total of 20 rounds)
I also have a large tent bag with a folding stock AKM, four magazines and 120 rounds.

Medical kit (Mine is fairly heavy because of the IV bags)

Spare eyeglasses
Prescription medication
Bar of soap and washcloth
3 pressure dressings (army)
1 large burn dressing
2 x saline IV bags and an IV kit for fluid replacement (rotate yearly)
sewing kit with 4 suture needles
aspirin (100 tabs)
iodine swabs
burn cream (not much)
Anbesol
Chap stick
white tape
band aids
emergency blanket (inexpensive)
Ammonia inhalers
Scalpels
Razor blades (and an old safety razor…gotta shave you know)
A new Toothbrush each for me and my wife
Safety pins
Large sling bandages (2)
ACE bandages (2) (These are a must)
Moleskin sheet
Dental floss
hand sanitizer
Insect Repellant
tweezers

A waterproof/fireproof safe with our important documents, cash and more spare eyeglasses. If I have to walk far, they can be transferred to a vinyl bag and fit in a side pocket of my pack. I also have $1,000 cash in $20 bills with the documents and a small wad of $1 dollar bills for machines.

My wife has a similar, but lighter bag. (Also with a .38 revolver and more cash). Both of these bags (as you can tell) are optimized for remote camping, but would be equally useful if we moved into a shelter or a hotel.

The rest of my bug-out gear, including weapons, food etc. depend on my need and build on the basic BOB wilderness motif and add three cases of #10 cans (food enough to last me and my wife two weeks at least), mechanic tools, pioneer tools, extra clothing, 14 gallons of water a full set of cooking utensils. I will also carry two motorBikes and a trailer in case the truck breaks down. The full-up kit takes 35 minutes to load by myself, but the hurricane kit only takes about 10 minutes.

My full vehicle kit has a 12 gauge coach gun in the front seat which is short enough to use from inside a vehicle and inexpensive enough to abandon, along with 80 rounds of buckshot. I also keep a nice old Ishapore 2A1 [7.62mm NATO Lee Enfield bolt action rifle] and 200 rounds in the vehicle, but less obvious behind the cab seats. While driving, I keep a Ruger P90 .45 ACP handy, but concealed. My retreat is only a few miles from my home, but if I can’t get there immediately, I feel well prepared to evade or walk or bike to the site without attracting too much attention.

Notice that my kit contents strongly reflect my plan. I plan to travel 300 miles to relatives in case of a hurricane or other regional disaster and plan to buy gasoline along the way. (I have 7 gallons of gas in two cans. That won’t get me very far, but that and the half tank of fuel I always have will hopefully get me far enough to be able to buy gasoline). In an orderly evacuation I should have no problem reaching my destination. If things turn nasty, I figure I can rent a hotel room or at least rig a shelter out of my truck and ride it out at some town along the highway. Whatever happens, the problem is temporary and I know help is only a few days away.

If I am bugging out because of TEOTWAWKI, I have to make it a few miles over suburban and rural roads in a gun-permissive area. The climate here is very mild, so I don’t have to worry about freezing or getting snowed in. I have pre-positioned most of my supplies and gear, so the BOB gear just has to get me there in one piece. I don’t need to worry too much about traffic unless I wait much too long to bug out. In fact, I could leave behind everything I am carrying and probably still make it to the site on foot with no serious trouble.

Your kit will need to reflect your own plan. I strongly urge you to start your planning with a set of triggers that could cause you to bug-out and then work out a solid destination. Build your G.O.O.D. plan from there. You may need extra fuel and vehicle emergency kit (or even two vehicles) if you strongly rely on your vehicle. You may need cold weather gear or snow chains or special tools. Think it out now and if possible, rehearse your bug out plan. You may find that you are over-prepared for the plans you are most likely to use. Or you may find that you have forgotten something critical