Notes from JWR:

The producers of NBC’s Today television show have already interviewed two SurvivalBlog readers, but they are looking for one more family, for a taped segment. They are looking for a “typical suburban survivalist family” somewhere within 200 miles of New York City, for an interview. E-mail: Josh Weiner of NBC.

—

Today we present the first entry for Round 23 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.

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 foods, courtesy of Ready Made Resources.

Second Prize: A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of $350.

Third Prize: A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing.

Round 23 ends on May 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.

Survival of the Fittest by Mike Hussle

When it comes to preparedness for disasters, people can be very imaginative. Thinking through every possible scenario, difficulty or danger helps them in choices such as, “what type of firearm is the most practical?” “What medicines is it a good idea to have on hand?” Or, “where is a good place to go if it is no longer safe where I live?” These questions are all sound, practical thoughts for anyone who wants to be prudently prepared for emergencies.

One factor, however, largely gets neglected, if not ignored. Perhaps that is because you can’t simply purchase this most central and important factor of preparedness: yourself! Fitness is a huge asset in any dangerous or challenging situation, and is key to coming out on top of a survival situation. If you are reading this but are out of shape, you have some work to do.
Another problem that needs to be addressed is identifying what, exactly, fitness is, and what about fitness better prepares you for survival?

Fitness, like firearms, must be practical to be worthwhile. That is, it must be functional. If it’s not, it isn’t doing you any good. So what is functional fitness? What physical abilities and skills should every person have? And why is this important for survival preparedness, above firearms, food or any other supply gathering?
To demonstrate the point, let’s take a look at two scenarios. As a throwback to many of our childhoods, they are written in a “choose your own adventure” style.

Scenario #1.
In the first scenario, you are walking down a street in the city. Times are tough, and crime is on the rise. Due to legal restrictions, you are unarmed. While you wait to cross a street, two men approach from your right. You turn, and see one of them holding a knife down low. They demand your money. You decide to resist, and in an instant, your plan is to strike the one with the knife and then get out of Dodge.
Option A: Functionally Unfit: You’ve been taking yoga classes and maybe some bicep curls and crunches a few times a week, and you feel pretty strong. You wind up, and put those “strong arms” to use. The blow you land surprises the man, but it barely moves him. You turn and run. Adrenaline’s pumping, but after only fifty yards of sprinting, you’re winded. The two men catch up. The End
Option B: Functionally Fit: You’ve been doing old fashioned core lifts (dead lift, squats, etc.) along with gymnastic and military exercise, and even interval running mixed in. You wind up- your powerful lower body muscles generate a huge amount of force, transferring it through your strong core into your arms. The blow you land comes from your whole body, which you have learned to use properly. The man is on the ground with a busted nose. You still run, because the other man might be armed, and knives cut strong people too. After a quarter mile, you’re still going strong, but your assailants have slowed down, winded. You round the corner and lose them for good.

Scenario #2.
During the Trojan War, Aeneas needed to escape the city with his family and other survivors. The Greeks were massacring, raping, looting and destroying so to stay was a death sentence. Aeneas’ father was an elderly man, incapable of keeping up with the group as it fled the carnage.
Option A: Functionally Unfit Aeneas: Aeneas has a weak lower back, and cannot lift his father, let alone carry him. He must choose to either abandon him to a certain death, or walk slowly with him, until they are both captured and killed. The End.
Option B: Functionally Fit Aeneas: Aeneas is of sound body, and is physically trained and ready for battle. His strength is not about looks but about ability. When his father falls behind, he picks him up, carrying him with his strong back and legs, and not only keeps up with, but leads the others to safety.

These scenarios should hopefully paint a picture of how important real fitness is in emergency situations. There is more to evaluate, of course. Ask yourself the following questions: Could you subdue an attacker? Could you carry a wounded person to safety? Save a drowning man? Can you lift a heavy load? Carry heavy gear for a long distance? Are you capable of hard manual labor for long times? Can you climb? Can you catch someone you’re pursuing, or escape pursuit yourself? Could you survive in the wild? In an emergency, are you more of an asset or a burden to others?

In evaluating yourself, are you sounding more like a warrior or more like a weakling? Capable of coming to others’ aid, or incapable of even defending yourself?
The problem is, this is the point where most of us (guys especially) lie to ourselves. Admitting weaknesses or even pulling your head out of you-know-where enough to see your weaknesses is a difficult thing. As a man, I know that most of us guys would prefer to ignore the question, or inflate our heads with bicep curls and other non-functional exercise built for looks. For women, this is also a big temptation- to either do nothing, or to do everything with their dress size in mind instead of their overall athletic ability.
Functionality shines a light on our physical condition, and in a way, on the condition of our character. Take, on the one hand, the couch potato. His flab, his atrophied muscle and pathetic lack of stamina are the physical manifestations of his laziness and lack of discipline.

On the other hand, you have the bodybuilder. He can bench 400 lbs, but he can’t run a mile. He dead-lifts huge weights with a hex bar and a belt, but he can’t lift a heavy object in real life without hurting his back. He works hard for a beach body, but what good does it do him? His hard work has been for the wrong reasons, and his lack of functional fitness is because he was too vain to let go of exercises designed to make him look better.

Functionality brings clarity, helping us to see what’s important, and humility, helping us to make an honest assessment of our own strengths and weaknesses.
Functional fitness is well rounded. Strength is important, but so is endurance. Power is important, but so is stamina. There are multiple ways we can evaluate our fitness. One very good list was written by Bruce Evans and Jim Cawley of Dynamax, Inc. It has been adopted by well known groups and is a good, rounded list of skills and capacities every person should have.
1. Cardiovascular/Respiratory Endurance – the ability of body systems to gather, process, and deliver oxygen
2. Stamina – the ability of body systems to process, deliver, store, and utilize energy.
3. Strength – the ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units to apply force.
4. Flexibility – the ability to maximize the range of motion at a given joint.
5. Power – the ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply maximum force in minimum time.
6. Speed – the ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement.
7. Coordination – the ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movements.
8. Agility – the ability to minimize transition time from one movement pattern to another.
9. Balance – the ability to control the placement of the body’s center of gravity in relation to its support base.
10. Accuracy – the ability to control movement in a given direction or at a given intensity.

Having looked at what skills or capacities men should have, what exercises help us achieve those? There isn’t room in one article to list and describe all of the many great exercises that are functional, but for further reference, we list, explain and discuss these, as well as daily workouts at my web site. For the time being, we will list some fundamental exercises, and some basic principles of functional fitness. After that, we’ll take a look at how this can be done at home, for little to no expense.

Example Exercises:
1. Front Squat
2. Romanian Deadlift/Deadlift
3. Kettlebell Swings
4. Overhead Press
5. Pullups
6. Pushups
7. Ring Pushups/Bench Press

Body Mechanics and the Real World:
Programs based on aesthetics tend to use movements that isolate muscles. But the body was designed such that multiple muscle groups work together. Furthermore, in real life, very seldom will you lift or move anything without using multiple muscle groups. While this doesn’t mean every isolation movement is therefore useless, it does mean that exercise should be focused upon compound and whole-body movements.

Fiber Over Filler:
Most non-functional exercise programs utilize a 3×10 format: three sets of ten repetitions (“reps”) of each exercise. This is the bread-and-butter of a program designed to maximize the growth of muscle cells mainly by way of the fluid in the cell. The strength gains made this way are not proportionate to the size gains.
A functional exercise program chooses performance over appearance. To build strength it utilizes a low repetition, high weight format. This maximizes the growth of the muscle cell primarily via the number of muscle fibers within the cell. This will build muscle size too, but it is primarily geared towards gains in strength-to-mass ratio (i.e., how strong you are for your size).

Stamina
A functional program also makes use of very high repetition, low weight movements. This is done to build endurance, stamina, etc. This cannot be overlooked, because strength is only good as long as it lasts.

Intensity.
If the exercise you’re doing is comfortable, you’re not getting anything done. Without challenging yourself – without pushing yourself to a level that is genuinely hard for you, what are you doing? Because you’re not progressing.

Au-Natural.
In exercising – particularly in a functional way – you are saying you care about your body, your potential, and living more as God intended. There’s some irony, then, when our steps back towards our natural design and fulfillment are made with machines, fancy equipment and chemical supplements. If we’re moving towards a fulfillment of how we were designed, why do we need those things? What we are able to accomplish with simple gear, our bodies themselves, and with our surroundings in nature can be as good as and even better than with treadmills, hydraulics, isolation machines and so on. Why run on a treadmill if you can run outside? Why run on a flat surface if you can run on a trail? Why seek out fancy or even gimmicky gear when simple, rugged, time tested gear – or even no gear at all – can work so well?

Premium Fuel.
Closely aligned with the notion that the closer to natural movement, the better, is the basic premise of simple natural diet:
If you can’t pronounce it, don’t consume it.
A simple diet consisting of as much whole foods and as little processed foods as possible is a realistic step towards letting our bodies function as God intended. Fueling our bodies with simple, natural foods will fuel us the same way we have been fueled since the dawn of time.

Austere is Good.
Gym memberships are prohibitively expensive. Owning your own fancy equipment is no better. Most people are at times like these scrimping to invest wisely into supplies they may need in emergencies or hard times. Expensive gear just doesn’t fit into that plan. However, as said above, expensive gear is neither necessary nor what is best. So what are some types of gear that are functional and inexpensive?
For those that can afford it, this gear is absolutely the best “bang for your buck”:
1. Olympic lifting set- an Olympic bar plus solid rubber bumper plates. Nothing beats this for safe, amazingly effective training. If not, an iron-set is an ok alternative- just be careful with it!
2. Kettlebells – kettlebells are the “AK-47” of fitness. They can be used for strength, power and stamina. They are getting more common on the market, which means prices are coming down.
3. Pull-up bar- whether for hanging in a doorway or outside, a bar to practice pullups on is absolutely essential for training those upper back muscles- so important yet so underrated!
4. Gymnastic rings- these can be used for everything from pullups to other drills to strengthen your chest, arms, and especially your core! Hang them from your deck, rafters, a stout tree branch, and you’re good to go! Rings are also very portable, which is a plus for those that need a gym in a backpack.
5. Dumbbells- these are on the bottom of the list, but they are practical and relatively easy to find. Even Wal-Mart has them. [JWR Adds: Used weight sets are often available free for the asking, via Craigslist or Freecycle.]

If you do not have any money budgeted for gear, or if you want to supplement on the cheap, you can make very, very effective gear from items at hardware stores like Home Depot!
1. Sandbags- These are the biggest, most all around useful money saver in a do-it-yourself gym. Get yourself an army surplus duffel. Better yet, get two. Go to a hardware store and buy yourself several bags of either sand or wood stove pellets. If you choose sand, wrap them again in contractor grade trash bags. Place the amount of weight you want into your duffels. You now hold a super-tool. Any of the basic Olympic, core strength lifts or kettlebell motions can be performed with this ultra simplistic bag.
2. Pull-up bar- no, this is on both lists on purpose. You can easily make your own pullups bar with some steel pipe from the plumbing section. Place it between some deck columns, between rafters, etc. $10-to-$12 gets you a solid bar to strengthen your upper body.
3. Your own body! While bodyweight training is not the end-all-be-all, it can accomplish a very great deal. Gymnasts are incredibly strong, and this is with years of bodyweight training. Your body comes with you, and any space where you can move at all becomes the gym. Check out Fatal Fitness for examples of bodyweight training.

Sound Mind, Sound Body.
In training physically, you are also preparing yourself mentally (and in a way, spiritually) for any difficulty that you might face. Overcoming extremely challenging tasks, overcoming laziness, the need for comfort… all of that will form your character, so that when exceptionally difficult times come, you will be strong enough to adapt and survive. Improve yourself, harden yourself! Take on the challenge; prepare yourself for whatever may come. Whether that means a survival or emergency situation, or simply living your life more fully now, it is worth it! Dive in to functional fitness, and watch as you begin to transform into a stronger person, more able to deal with anything!

About the Author: Mike Hussle is Vice President of Fatal Fitness. He has trained many people in strength and overall conditioning, for sports, military preparation, and general health and wellness. He is also the founder of DailyStrong.com. This article was adapted from a chapter of his upcoming book, “Austerity.”

Letter Re: Walking Tractors and Similar Powered Farming Implements

When I saw the Basic Utility Vehicle (BUV) mentioned in SurvivalBlog, I couldn’t help but notice how similar it was to the rigs used by a lot of farmers in Thailand (and I would assume a lot of other places in Asia). When traveling around Thailand I couldn’t help but notice what appeared to be effectively motorized donkeys. Men had them rigged to trailers.

A little research showed that they are known as “Walking Tractors”, are made all over the planet, the and serve the same function as the BUV. One thing that I like about the idea of using them is their interchangeability of parts. Assuming your trailer gets hit by a truck, your tractor is still good. If your tractor is breaks down, you attach your trailer to a mule.You can hook up, plows, trailers, tillers, and every other sort of thing you may find useful on a tractor

Some Images of Walking Tractors:

There is one in here that has a nice image of some guys hauling logs using them

Clear image of a trailer for Walking Tractors

Regards, – Jeff C.

JWR Replies: These next two items were first posted in the early days of SurvivalBlog (circa October, 2005) regarding rear-tine tiller/tractors and ATVs:

 

The Micro-Farm Tractor, by “Fanderal”

My goal, like so many of us, is to be able to pre-bugout, to a retreat I can live on full time. I dream of having a few acres out in the country where I can mostly support myself on what can be produced on my own land. When I first started to think about it, and plan for it, the first question of course is “How much land?” After getting past the obvious answer, “As much as possible”, came the more reasonable answer of: “enough to do accomplish my primary goal of optimal self-sufficiency.” After more study I came to realize that five or so acres is about all I could really work. Five acres, when worked intensively, will produce far more than a family of four can consume. This five acres would contain everything, House, Barn, a one to two acre garden, chickens, Rabbits, Goats, et cetera.

So having settled on five to seven acres, I turned to the issue of what tools, equipment, and other assets would be needed to make my micro-farm work. Beyond the usual hand tools. And shop tools, my research led me to study power equipment appropriate for the Micro-Farm. What I found was the Two-Wheel, or “Walk-behind” Tractor. A good example of the class is the BCS 852 with a 10 horsepower diesel engine. It has a single cylinder engine mounted in front of a trans axle. The Trans axle drives a pair of wheels that are from 3.5 to 6.5 inches wide, and 8 to 12 inches in diameter. It is also equipped with front and rear Power Takeoffs (PTOs) used to transfer power to a variety of implements. For me this is the optimum retreat utility tractor. To justify that statement I need to go into a bit more detail as to why. As with all things, this selection is based on my plans and intentions, but I believe that they are generic enough to qualify as a general solution for most people, but as always Your Mileage may Vary (YMMV).

The factors I am taking into consideration are:

Size of Farm.
Number of people available to work it.
Safety
Maintainability
Fuel availability/economy
Life expectancy under the projected load

The truth is most of us have not, or will not be able to acquire more than five to 10 acres of land. If you can get more, fine, get it; you can’t have too much land, but you can leave yourself short on other things by buying more land than you really need, or can work.
In most cases the garden will be run by just one or two people, either because of off farm employment or the kids may be grown and gone before you make the move. People that are already doing this will tell you that one to two acres, if worked as intensively as is reasonably possible is all one person can handle. If you have more land, then you have the option of bartering produce, for labor to work more acres. But I would still keep it in two-acre units.
The core concept of survivalism/preparedness is independence; you can’t be independent if you can’t do most, if not all the maintenance yourself. While yes, most anyone with any mechanical aptitude at all can work on most regular tractors, however they have four times as many cylinders, fuel injectors, and fuel lines, twice as many tires, use much more fuel, and mostly are too much tool for two to five acres.

When the world ends there will be no more fuel deliveries from anywhere, and if there are then they will be prohibitively expensive. So you need a fuel that you can produce yourself, to me this means biodiesel. It’s a fuel you can make yourself; it will substitute directly into the tank with no modifications to the engine, and gives almost exactly the same performance, as regular diesel.

So with these concepts in mind I started thinking about what the ideal tool would be. I eliminated most regular four wheeled tractors like the Ford 9N and the International Harvester (IH) Farmalls because to buy one of their modern counterparts new is very expensive, and to find parts for older ones that you can buy on the cheap can also be expensive. While there has been a lot of development in compact and subcompact tractors in the last few years, they are mostly compact technical wonders that have all kinds of computerized fuel injection systems, high volume, high pressure hydraulics, and just lots and lots of things that need to be maintained or fixed. Simplicity is crucial.
My search for information about small farm tractors, as with most things today, started online. I started from the position that a Walk-behind Tractor would be the optimum choice because on the surface it met two of the most important criteria, Fuel requirements, and maintainability. The most important question remained, how much land could be worked with it and still expect it to last a lifetime.

Dean M., one of my online sources, who has actually been running a Market Garden since 1989, says that much of that time was spent downsizing his garden to it’s current 1.5 acres. According to Dean,one to two acres is about all one person can work, when trying to maximize the production of a garden. The general consensus is, that the limit on how large a garden you could work with one of these machines,is really set by how much labor was available, rather than the capacity of the machine. To answer that question I needed input from an expert. In my web search I found many companies that make and sell this kind of equipment, but they are almost all overseas. Of the domestic companies most only sell Walk-behinds as a sideline. I found Earth Tools, a company in Owenton, Kentucky, which specializes in small-scale commercial agriculture equipment. Joel Dufour founded Earth Tools in 1977, and all they sell is Walk-behind tractors. .

I asked Mr. Dufour about the capability, capacity, and requirements of walk behind tractors for a TEOTWAWKI scenario. He recommended not the largest one he sells, the 948 but rather the model 852, which comes with an optional 10 hp diesel engine. He says the 852s are far more versatile than the 948. Based on what his customers are actually doing with the units, and have been doing for nearly 30 years he gave me the following information about capabilities, and requirements of these units.
You can work up to two acres of Market garden per person, and/or about 15 acres of Haying for livestock. With proper preventative maintenance, used in a commercial agricultural operation, a tractor like he sells will last 20+ years. They can haul up to one ton on a two-wheel trailer. Depending on the specific task, running 8 hrs on a gallon of fuel is possible. He has several customers that make their own biodiesel and run their 852s on it, and have reported no problems.

When it comes to maintenance requirement the diesel engines are designed for 5,000 hours TBO (Time Between Overhauls), and are meant to be rebuilt twice before replacing crankshafts or connecting rods. That means that the engines have a 15,000 hr life span minimum (with proper maintenance). For routine maintenance they only use 1.5 quarts of oil per change, which needs to be done every 75 ours or annually–whichever comes first. The oil filter is cleanable and the air filter is replaceable. The conical clutch lasts 1,000 – 2,000 hrs, and can be replaced in less than 2 hrs. All maintenance, including overhauls can be done with regular hand tools, the only exception being one $25 tool for working on the transmission if it’s ever needed.

One point that Mr. Dufour thinks is undersold is safety. He pointed out that one of the most common fatal accidents on a farm is a tractor rollover. When operating one of these units on a slope, even if you were on the downhill side of the machine, and you couldn’t get out of the way, they only weight about 300 lbs, so it is very unlikely you would suffer a life threatening injury. Where as with even the smallest of standard tractors if it rolls over on you, death is the very likely outcome.

So let’s look at how these machines match my original requirements:

Size of Farm:
A 10 HP machine will work as much land as most of us will be able to get, and work, without being too big for the job.
Number of people available to work the land:
The constraint is number of people vs. planting/harvesting schedule; again it is well matched to the 5 to 15 acres, with which most of us will wind up.
Maintainability:
There is nothing that the owner can’t do on these machines, from routine maintenance to a complete overhaul, which would require more than basic mechanics hand tools, and one inexpensive specialty tool.
Safety: I don’t care how much the machine can do or how well it does it, the one thing that you absolutely cannot afford in the post-TEOTWAWKI world, is an injury. So the machine that is least likely to cause me harm is way up on my list
Fuel availability/economy:
These units can be had with Gas, or Diesel engines. Gas engines can be run on alcohol with modification. Diesel engines can be run on biodiesel without modification.
Life expectancy under the projected load:
You can work as much acreage as you have time and people to work without over working the tractor. They are truly an agricultural grade machines, not glorified Home duty units.
While I’m not trying to sell this particular tractor, however if we use its characteristics as a baseline then I think it is fare to say that a diesel Walk-behind Tractor would make an ideal vehicle for a Micro-farm. It is the core power unit for almost all farm tasks, can be adapted to do just about anything else that requires up to 10 HP; from electrical generation to pumping water, with the right connection to the PTO. It also meets or exceeds the core requirements that I laid out at the beginning. This is not to say that there might not be other machines that would also work, but if you are starting from scratch like most of us, then this is a good objective solution.
Related info:
http://www.earthtoolsbcs.com/
http://www.chelseagreen.com/1989/items/neworganicgrower
http://www.bcsshop.com/
http://www.adriatica-grifo.it/g/main.htm

JWR Adds: 
 From the standpoint of a small acreage survival retreat, a walk-behind tiller/tractor makes a lot of sense. When the Schumer hits the fan, fuel will be at a premium, so it is logical to get something that will give you maximum useful work with minimum fuel consumption. And as Fanderal mentioned, they will also minimize tractor rollover accidents. This is especially important at a retreat with a lot of newbies. (Just because you are accustomed to thinking “safety first” at all times doesn’t mean that your recently-transplanted Big City friends and cousins will be!) 

If you need to cultivate significantly larger acreage, then a full-size tractor makes sense, but only of course with significantly more training and more voluminous fuel storage.  BTW, the new “crawler” (rubber tracked) tractors have a lower center of gravity that traditional wheeled tractors and hence are much less prone to rollovers.

I used a gas engine Troy-Bilt Horse tiller for several years and found it very reliable. The BCS products are made in Milan, Italy. At a list price of $3,799, these are not cheap.  But if you go with the principle of “buying something sturdy and reliable once, versus buying something flimsy, multiple times”, then this sort of purchase makes sense. To get the most for your money, shop around for a slightly used, diesel-powered unit.

One other consideration: Tractors are noisy and can be heard from a long distance. Wear hearing protection whenever operator a tractor or tiller.  In a post-TEOTWAWKI survival situation, this may mean one individual wearing earmuffs operating the tractor, and another individual that is concealed 50 to 100 yards away, on dedicated security duty.  (Otherwise, operating noisy equipment like a tractor or chainsaw might be a noisy invitation to get bushwhacked.)

Here are some additional useful URLs:
http://www.groworganic.com/item_GT034_.html
http://www.wikco.com/bcsfeaturesg.html

Here was a letter in reply:

Jim:
In response to the excellent article, “The Micro-Farm Tractor”, I have to say my best bet for all-around small farm tool would be the diesel all terrain vehicle (ATV). ATVs have quickly infiltrated into many farms today, as haulers, sprayers, snowplows, transport, and so on. You can purchase many available farm accessories that make it into the equivalent of a mini-tractor, as well has many hunting related accessories, since they appeal to the hunter’s market as well, like gun racks, camo, storage, and essential noise-cutting mufflers (very effective units can be had at Cabela’s). I would suggest a diesel unit, since they are longer lasting, more reliable, and you can use stored (for several years with proper preservation) or improvised diesel (biodiesel.)  I was out elk hunting last year in foul weather and I immediately saw the advantage hunters had getting around in the muck with an ATV. If we had actually taken an elk, we would have had to spend all weekend hauling pieces of it out! (In a way we were glad we didn’t get one where we were hunting, seven miles down a mucky old road, with steep hills to the right and a steep ravine to the left). With an ATV, we could have gotten a whole animal out in one or two goes, with a lot less slogging in the muck. Just make sure you’ve got a winch, and maybe even a come-along. Also, many of the hunters were able to cruise with an ATV on trails that would (and have) gotten me stuck in the mud. To sum it up, I plan on purchasing one or two as soon as our move to a few acres of rural property in southern utah is completed early next year to use as my mini-tractor, hunting companion, snow plow, all-around hauler and 4 wheel drive short distance transport. – Dustin

JWR Replies:  In addition to biodiesel, you can also legally use home heating oil if operating off road. (The only significant differences between diesel and home heating oil are the “no tax cheating” added dye and the standard for ash content.) There are several options for diesel-powered ATVs. These include:

The Kawasaki Mule.

and,

The John Deere Gator.

(The U.S. Army Special Forces uses John Deere Gators, but I’m not sure if that’s because they are the best ones made, or just because of a “Buy American”  contracting clause.

Note: Polaris also made a diesel quad back around 2002, but they were reportedly problematic, so they were quickly discontinued.

Mexican Flu Update:

Swine Flu Pandemic Likely to Hit UK tn Early Autumn Before Vaccine Ready John Oxford, Prof. of Virology at St. Bartholomew’s said “the number of cases in Britain unrelated to travel suggested the H1N1 virus was “silently spreading around. When children go back to school in September the virus has an opportunity, and normally it takes it. That’s the scenario we should prepare for and that’s what we are preparing for.”

Swine Summer Spread Raises Pandemic Concerns

WHO official says world edging towards pandemic

Economics and Investing:

GG sent this: Europe Unemployment Rate Rises to Highest Since 1999

Also from GG; India Exports Fall by Record Amid Global Recession

Wow! Spot silver is pushing $16 per ounce. I stand by my long-term prediction: The Dollar in the dumpster, and silver “sky high.” Note that there will probably be another sell-off during the upcoming Summer Doldrums for the precious metals. It is just about as predictable as the hills turningbrown golden in California each summer. Just look at that dip as another buying opportunity.

Items from The Economatrix:

Peter Schiff: Wall Street Unspun

GM Bankruptcy Watch: Woe to Main Street Bondholders

GM to Sell Hummer to Chinese Company

Getting Out of GM While the Getting is Good

GM Bankruptcy Spells Disaster For Small Suppliers

GM, CitiGroup Removed From Dow Jones Industrial Index (Gee, this ongoing index shuffle sure makes everyone included smell like a rose–when in actuality the “missing” companies smell more like fertilizer.)

Consumer Spending Dips, Savings Rates Surge

Silver Posts Biggest Monthly Gains in 22 Years

To Hell in a Bond Basket

Chapman: Gold To Stand Against Big Devaluations “What we are about to tell you may be the most important information that we have imparted in almost 50 years. something very bad is looming – we don’t know the exact configuration yet, but we think the key is the collapse of the dollar, which will send gold and silver to considerably higher prices. These events could unfold over the next 2 to 4 months. There could be devaluation and default of the US dollar and American debt. You must have at least a 6-month supply of freeze dried and dehydrated foods, a water filer for brackish water, and assault weapons with plenty of ammo and clips. You should put as much of your wealth as you can in gold and silver coins and shares. You should not own any stocks in the stock market except gold and silver shares, you should not own bonds the exception being Canadian government securities, you should not own CDs, cash value life insurance policies and annuities. And, needless to say, except for your home you should be totally out of real estate, residential and commercial because it will remain illiquid for many years to come.”

Peter Schiff Vlog Report 29 May 2009

Odds ‘n Sods:

Safecastle‘s semi-annual 25% Off Mountain House storage food sale ends on June 5th. Members will get a free copy of the novel One Second After by William R. Forstchen if they purchase four or more cases of Mountain House foods.

  o o o

Cheryl and Brett both sent this: Study: Global Recession Making World More Violent, Unstable

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More news from Cousin Kim’s Proletarian Paradise of Paranoia: North Korea Nuke Progress Sign Of “Dark Future”, and North Korea Preparing to Fire ICBM

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Reader “OSOM” mentioned that Gary North has just launched a free web site, Deliverance from Debt, to help Christians get out of the debt trap. It would also doubtless be useful for non-Christians.

Two Letters Re: Protection from EMP Effects for Photovoltaic Panels and Communication Gear

Jim,

I’m not very certain Solar Panels or photovoltaic (PV) Modules if you prefer) are up to surviving electromagnetic pulse (EMP). Solar Panel manufacture is akin to basically creating large scale photosensitive semiconductors and few manufacturers will quote even static electricity resistance, much less EMP resistance. Additionally, most PV modules have bypass diodes to protect cells. Some designs put these diodes in the junction boxes, while others incorporate them more integrally in the PV assembly.
Obviously the controllers are at great risk, but the modules themselves are not free from risk.

About the only references to PV and EMP you can find are discussions concerning space deployed PV Modules being at risk to solar flares, which have many characteristics of an EMP event.

I just made some queries with contacts at University of Manchester and Michigan Tech. They told me that there that almost no EMP test results have been released to public domain, but that their Aerospace departments feel that PV Arrays are vulnerable at the junction level as well as the wiring diode matrix and controller levels.

The [PV-powered] satellite literature repeats the observation that even a minor solar flare can wipe years to decades off of the life of a PV array and a full coronal mass ejection (CME) will take the array out. Though an EMP [cascade waveform] is not exactly the same radiation, the corollary is there.

Several of the Disaster Shelter Builders state that PV Panels are at risk in EMP and include shielded storage for “after the event panels.” I wonder whether that is marketing hype or good science? For now, this is the best that I can find. – Steve W.

 

Mr. Rawles,
There is a very detailed 4-part article about EMP protection for Amateur Radio equipment. It’s a study that was done by the ARRL in the mid 1980s. Product model numbers and such have changed, but the basic concepts haven’t. If you want to just skip to the recommendations, go to “Part 4 of “Electromagnetic Pulse and the Radio Amateur”.

In a nutshell, they make the following recommendations:
1. Your equipment will not survive a direct lightning hit no matter how well protected. EMP or near-misses can be protected against.
2. Install a high-quality surge protector on all AC power cords. You’ll need to shop around to find one with the highest possible rating.
3. Install coax surge protectors (available from most ham radio suppliers) within 6 feet of the radio equipment to be protected.
4. Install a grounding antenna switch and keep the antennas grounded when not in use. (Note: antenna switches are often used when folks have multiple radios/antennas, such as a CB and ham radio or a 2 Meter VHF radio and a scanner. Make grounding the antennas part of your checklist when shutting down the station after use.
5. Get a piece of Copper plate or thick sheet metal, install it on the wall or workbench your equipment is on, and attach all equipment grounds and protection devices to this. Install a good Earth ground, per their guide. This basically consists of 2 or more standard electrical grounding rods connected with #6 solid Copper wire that is buried. I’ve found that the electrical panel bonding lugs sold in [building] contractor stores work great for this.

Finally, the book Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson H. Kearney [Available for free download] states that equipment such as hand held radios with short antennas (less than 14″) should be okay against EMP. Grid connected electronics would be more vulnerable, and stuff with long antennas worse still.
Here are some quick links to EMP protection devices:

Solar Panel charge controller protection.

Coax lightning protection (manufacturer)

Cheers, – JN-EMT

Letter Re: Anesthesia for Traumatic Times

Jim –
I’ve been reading your blog for a while now. Just thought I’d weigh in briefly on the anesthesia issue. For background, I am a general pediatrician with experience in emergency pediatrics. Also, I am a fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine.

Three quick points:

1. Under the vast majority of circumstances it is possible to work on mild to moderate traumatic injuries in children without anything more than local anesthesia. Papuses work great and should be considered as part of an advanced medical kit that is intended to treat children. If a papuse is too expensive or bulky, there are all sorts of ways to immobilize children with sleeping bags, pillow cases, sheets, etc. (one just has to use imagination – for example, try both arms in a pillow case across the back). Obviously, the papuse idea only addresses immobilization of the patient and does not assist with pain management. However, even in an academic pediatric emergency department, we often concluded that the risks of non-anesthesiologists administering anesthesia outweighed our concerns about pain.

2. Dermabond is one of my favorite products. The screaming and struggling at the University of Chicago pediatric emergency department dropped by 95% when Dermabond was introduced to the market. It’s a bit pricey but very simple to use. I never had any “formal” training in dermabond use because it was simply unnecessary. Carefully reading the instructions should suffice for survival oriented self-training on the product. My biggest concern would be to avoid gluing an eye shut. Even a glued eye is not a disaster as can slowly be reopened with cooking oil and massage. People have suggested on your web site, as well as at Wilderness Medical Society meetings, that super glue (same active ingredient – cyanoacrylate) could be used for the same purpose. However, I have personally found it to take much longer to dry and to be far less reliable at keeping the wound closed. Just last weekend I tried a new rubberized formulation of super glue on a laceration of my own and was disappointed to find that it peeled away the very next day – something I have never observed with Dermabond. Lastly, Dermabond can successfully be used on joints as long as it they are immobilized. This is less of a concern in children than it might be in adults who might have to remain physically active.

3. I’ve personally experienced a hematoma block. Several years ago, I had a broken rib that was so painful I couldn’t breathe except in small gasps. Worried about the possibility of a secondary pneumonia, my doctor injected hydrocortisone and lidocaine directly into the fracture site. The block worked great and I was able to breathe normally again.

On another note, I have noted a number of formulas on your blog for mixing up wound cleansing solutions. The current research based consensus at the Wilderness Medical Society is that wounds may be cleansed with plain drinking water. So, simply treat questionable water with a filter, by boiling, or with an appropriate chemical agent and leave it at that. In fact, a Camelbak (or similar system) is an ideal wound cleansing device. Just put the bladder under an armpit and squeeze a large volume stream of drinking water from the tube directly into the wound. The mouthpiece itself can either be carefully washed or simply removed prior to use. – A.F., M.D.

Economics and Investing:

In what must be one of the the most monumentally bad investments in history, the American taxpayers are now the majority owners of General Motors (GM), which presently has a market capitalization of around $480 million. The cost? We bought our 70% stake in GM for a paltry $50 billion. When I last checked, shares of GM were selling at 64 cents each, and GM (now nicknamed “Government Motors”) has filed for bankruptcy protection. I suppose that they’ll tell us that we can “make up for it, on volume.” Not wanting to miss out on a piece of the action in the deal of the Century, “the Canadian and Ontario governments are putting in $9.5 billion for a 12.5% stake.”

Reader HPD mentioned Mish Shedlock’s most recent missive (or should I say “Mishive’?): More Prime Foreclosures; More Re-Defaults

Also from HPD comes this Wall Street Journal piece: Black Swan Fund Makes a Big Bet on Inflation

Fred The Valmetmeister recommended Chris Laird’s latest commentary on the commodities markets posted at the Kitco site.

L.L. sent this: Geithner tells China its dollar assets are safe. L.L.’s comment: “Yes, perhaps they’ll get their money back, but will the dollar be worth anything in five or ten years?”

From GG: A Pessimistic Assessment, Especially for Europe; Commentary from Niall Ferguson, Transatlantic Author and Academic

Also from GG: Elliott Wave Guru Sees Dark Days Ahead

From Florida Guy, a New York Times article: Industry Fears Americans May Quit New Car Habit

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Once again, recall the story of banks hiding explosive risks in their portfolios. It is not a good idea to trust corporations with matters such as rare events because the performance of these executives is not observable on a short-term basis, and they will game the system by showing good performance so they can get their yearly bonus. The Achilles’ heel of capitalism is that if you make corporations compete, it is sometimes the one that is most exposed to the negative Black Swan that will appear to be the most fit for survival." – Nassim Nicholas Taleb: The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable (2007)

Notes from JWR:

It was tough to judge the 24 excellent entries in the most recent round of the SurvivalBlog Non-Fiction Writing Contest. The grand prize winner is: Mike U., for his article “Unconventional Wisdom for CCW Permit Holders”, which was posted on May 19th. He will receive a three day course certificate from OnPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for his choice of three-day civilian courses. He will also receive two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried foods, courtesy of Ready Made Resources.

2nd Prize goes to RangerDoc, for “Health, Hygiene, Fitness and Medical Care in a Coming Collapse”, posted on May 8th. He will receive a”grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of $350.

3rd Prize goes to Jim B., for “Preparing Your Family for ‘Interesting’ Times: A Covenantal Christian Perspective”, posted on April 8th. He will receive a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, courtesy of Arbogast Publishing

Honorable mention prizes go to four writers. They will each receive a $30 Amazon.com gift certificate.

Note to the prize winners: Please e-mail me to let me know your snail mail addresses!
Today we begin Round 23 of the writing contest. This round of the contest will end on July 31st.

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Since our readership is still growing rapidly (nearly doubled in the past 10 months!) , I’ve just increased the SurvivalBlog advertising rates by 10%. (At this point I have almost too many advertisers!)

Letter Re: Many Weeds are Actually Edible Wild Plants

Dear Mr. Rawles,
I read your blog every day and enjoy all of the helpful information that you and your readers post on a daily basis. I just wanted to pass along this information on edible weeds that can be found in ones backyard or about anywhere where plants can be grown. To most people weeds are just that, weeds that need to be destroyed to keep the yard or their property looking nice. But some weeds can also be eaten if a person knows how to identify them and cook them properly. In the event of a worst case scenario these ‘weeds’ can help sustain a person or a family for a brief period of time or be a nice addition to stored food, providing needed fresh veggies and nutrients.

The following is a list of some of the most commonly found ‘weeds’ in a yard or field that can be edible:

Burdock (Arctium lappa) Cultivated as a vegetable in Japan where it is known as gobo. The stalks are scraped and cooked like celery. The roots can be eaten raw in salads or added to stir fries.

Cattail (Typha latifolia)
The pollen can be used to enrich flour. The unripe flower spikes can be cooked as a vegetable and the young shoots and inner stems are eaten raw or cooked.

Century plant (Agave americana)
The flower stems and leaf bases can be roasted and eaten. Certain species can be made into alcoholic drinks such as tequila.

Chickweed (Stellaria media)
Can be added raw to salads or cooked as a vegetable.

Chicory (Cichorium intybus)
The roots of this plant are used as a coffee additive. The sky blue flowers are also edible and make a terrific addition to salads.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
The flowers can be made into wine or jelly. The roots are sometimes used as a coffee substitute. The young leaves make a nice addition to salads.

Epazote (Chenopodium ambrosioides)
A tropical American weed commonly used in Mexican cooking to flavor corn, beans, mushrooms, seafood, fish, soups, and sauces.

Garlic mustard (Alliaria officinalis)
The young leaves add a mild garlic flavor to salads, sandwiches, and soups.

JWR Adds: Exercise caution when gathering weeds on any land–whether public or private–that is outside of your personal control. Don’t overlook the risk that you could collect weeds that have been recently spayed with herbicides! Also, just as when mushroom picking, be absolutely sure that you are gathering the intended item. A mistake could prove fatal.