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(Continued from Part 2.)

Communication

Communication methods must be well thought out, ahead of time. Most communication methods that are mentioned on the blogs/literature involve electronics such as ham radios, CB radios, walkie-talkies, portable radios, etc. All of these require some source of power. As discussed earlier, computers are very fragile and should not be depended on for communications.

• What power source does your communications technology use?
• Do you have backups?
• If using rechargeable batteries, how many times can they be recharged before they die?
• Are your communication methods subject to eavesdropping? (HINT: the answer is yes.) How will you communicate securely when needed?)
• What is the range of your communications technology?
• Have you practiced using it?
• Can you communicate with your neighbors or similarly minded preppers?
• Is the technology stored in such a manner that it is safe from an EMP?
• What will you do if the government/invaders/whoever knock on the door to confiscate your communications?

Look into alternatives as well. Telegraph between close neighbors might be feasible given a battery, telegraph key and wire (old phone wires, perhaps?). Coded light signals using lights or lanterns might be another method. Another method might be drum codes. A drop location to leave messages that can be checked by those who share that drop location might be another option. After all, humans communicated for many years before our current electronic technology became available. Consider researching and learning some of these older methods.

Medical Care, Health and Hygiene

An extremely important part of planning is to prepare for the health, hygiene, and medical needs of your family. An assessment of the health issues of members of the family/group is essential. As is the overall physical fitness of each member. I mentioned earlier that I went on a program to lose weight and improve my physical fitness. I have also changed my diet and lifestyle and been able to get off all prescription medication.

• Is your weight at a healthy, physically fit level?
• Have you had a recent physical?
• Have you made any necessary diet and lifestyle changes to eliminate prescription medications as much as possible?
• Do you have a year’s supply of prescription medication stored? Do you rotate this supply?
• Have you had a recent dental exam and cleaning?
• Taken care of any caries or necessary dental work?
• Have you had a recent eye exam?
• Do you have a spare pair of glasses? Plenty of extra contacts and solution? Spare reading glasses?

• Have you stocked up on medical supplies? Bandages, antibiotics, burn ointment, splints/wraps, disinfectant, sutures, etc.
• Have you taken any first aid/medical training?
• What herbs and/or essential oils do you have on hand?
• What will you do if a member of your group is giving birth?
• Is there a local midwife?
• Is there a local doctor who is similarly minded?
• Do you have soap, toothpaste and other hygiene items?
• When you run out of hygiene items, can you make more?
• How much toilet paper do you have and what plans do you have for when it runs out?
• Do you have the means to wash clothes when the washer and dryer are not functional?

I located two books which have been very useful in preparing. One is called “Where There Is No Doctor” and the other is “Where There Is No Dentist.” Both are available online as free PDF downloads. I found the dental one very helpful in describing exactly the dental tools and techniques needed when no dentist is available. The medical one is also very helpful.

Many medical supplies such as scalpels and sutures can be purchased from veterinary supply catalogs when unavailable from other sources. Even IV saline can be purchased from these suppliers. Some drugs may require prescriptions, discuss this with your friendly fellow prepper doctor or veterinarian.Continue reading“A Prepping Reality Check – Part 3, by Mama Bear”

(Continued from Part 1.)

Now that you have decided on a physical location that provides the best probability of survival for you and your family, let’s look at the next stage.

Food Production

• Do you plant a garden each year? If not, why not?
• When you plant your garden each year, where does your seed come from?
• If you are ordering seed each year from a catalog or internet or purchasing seed at a local store, how are you going to plant your garden when that is not available?
• If you are raising hybrid or GMO varieties, how will you save seed for the next season since these vegetable types will not breed true?
• If you use a tractor or tiller, where will you obtain fuel to run the equipment?
• How do you water/irrigate your garden?
• Where does this water come from and will it still be available during TEOTWAWKI?
• How will you fertilize and with what?
• How will you preserve and store what you harvest?
• What will you do if a third party comes to confiscate your harvest?

Personally, I purchase and grow only open pollinated varieties from which I can save seed. This also decreases the amount of money I need each year to plant the garden. And this past winter, I had fresh tomatoes for salads through December in my greenhouse. The savings I put into purchasing orchard and vineyard plants. I use raised beds and no till gardening with drip line for irrigation from the well run by solar. No fossil fuels needed and maximum water conservation.

Grains will be an issue for most after the first year. If you have a year’s supply of wheat then if society is not back together what will you do when that runs out. Having seed to grow wheat and other grains is a start. However, grains are extremely labor intensive without power equipment. Anthropologists estimate a stable community of approximately forty people in order to have enough labor to plant, grow and harvest the grain necessary to keep them fed.

Once you have planned to provide for vegetables and hopefully, fruit, then there must be provision for protein/meat.

• Can you set a snare?
• Can you trap?
• Do you have supplies to set snares and traps?
• If you do not have livestock, why not?
• What are the rules/regulations/zoning regarding livestock at your location?
• If you intend to hunt and live off wild meat, how long do you think that will last when everyone in the area is doing the same thing?
• If you are sheltering in place and are prohibited from having livestock, consider having rabbits which can be easily kept in a garage, basement or spare room.
• What about putting up shelters which can be used for shade until TEOTWAWKI and then converted to livestock shelters for the animals acquired through purchase or barter after the SHTF?
• How will you feed the livestock?
• How will you provide water?
• If you are able to grow feed for livestock, how will you harvest or store the feed through the winter?
• How will you protect the livestock from predators, both four legged and two legged?
• Have you ever hunted?
• Have you ever butchered an animal?
• What will you do with the offal, hide, horns, etc.?
• Do you have plenty of beans or other alternative protein sources?

Most areas will be hunted out within 3-4 months or less. If you do not have livestock, consider rabbits, chickens, and hogs as your first purchases. Rabbits, chickens and hogs can be fed with scraps from the garden and kitchen with some hand harvested grass for the rabbits and hogs. Remember that breeding pairs will be necessary in order to have a sustainable meat harvest over several years. When acquiring livestock, look at whether you will be able to breed them locally (within walking distance) if you do not acquire breeding pairs. Also plan for the ability to feed them with forage or grain. It also may be possible, if you do not want to have livestock, to arrange a barter agreement with a neighbor who does have livestock to provide garden stuffs, labor, or security in exchange for meat.Continue reading“A Prepping Reality Check – Part 2, by Mama Bear”

Editor’s Introductory Note: Here at SurvivalBlog, over the years, we’ve talked a lot about the importance of good doctrine, when finding a church home. We’ve also delved into discussing the role of local churches in dispensing charity. And we’ve discussed home-churching. And more recently, we’ve discussed the need for organizing and training armed security for churches. But today, we present a new wrinkle: How to keep a church group meeting regularly in times of pandemic, while at teh same time minimizing the risk of communicating diseases. Please prayerfully consider what ShepherdFarmerGeek has to say. If you then feel convicted to do so, please bring up this topic with your church elders, and take some substantive steps.

Pray the 91st Psalm, often. We are surely now living in the day of “…the noisome pestilence.” – JWR

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.” – Psalm 91 (KJV)

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“Faced with these crises in nature individually, it could be possible to fix the problems causing them. But confronted with multiple interlinked emergencies that in combination amplify one another’s impacts, people are facing unprecedented dangers and many communities cannot cope.” – Fiona Harvey

Ah, yes, this global pandemic is coming into focus. Our country will be affected. The virus is worse than the media (and government) wanted us to believe. And so here we are. And we need to give attention to our churches so that their ministry and the Good News (actually Great! News) continues to get out.

We need to break the inertia and normalcy bias and denial and outright un-Biblical theology (God will do it all for us and we “only need to pray”). The time is now.Continue reading“Church Pandemic Preparedness, by ShepherdFarmerGeek”