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In times of high stress nobody “rises to the occasion”.  Instead, we all sink to our training and competency.

Everyone has heard this statement in one form or another, but it is worth repeating.  Competency of a skill requires repetition.  I have spent significant range time with individuals in law enforcement.  I do not remember a single encounter when I have, not only been more competent, but also been complemented on my level of skill. I do not say this to brag but to help other individuals with a preparedness mindset because I believe everyone can achieve a high competency with a modern carry pistol.  The way this is accomplished is through “brief yet frequent” practice sessions.  I define this concept more definitively as, “A brief practice session between 30 and 45 minutes, typically alone, in which one expends approximately 100 rounds of ammunition”.

Why such a brief time?  Simply put – if you don’t use it you lose it.  The goal is to conduct this session at least twice a month.  Studies have proven that we all lose interest after a certain amount of time and then diminishing returns set in.  Also, the use of ammunition will be more cost effective if you focus on certain drills which we will explore later.  To summarize, handgunning is a quickly perishable skill.  I guarantee that without regular practice the individual who pays for a top shelf intensive training will have highly degraded skill after just a few short months if they are not regularly getting trigger time.

Why alone?  This is your time.  Inevitably your focused practice session will become a social hour (or two) when company is along.  You start competing, tell stories, whatever.  This range time is for you to do one thing – personally get better.  Yes, the range sessions where you clear out the safe and give everyone a run is extremely fun and exhilarating.  But generally, it isn’t building the long-term skill that can make a difference in time of need.  Instead you should look at this as time for yourself.  Focus.

Don’t take more than two pistols with you but don’t take less than two.  Having many with you will screw up the muscle memory.  Why not one?  Well while you’re shooting you should also have another loaded (more on safety at the range later).  The goal of these practice sessions is to familiarize yourself with the tool to the point that it is second nature.  Nearly an extension of your body.  Pride yourself in knowing your skill is improving and that you don’t have to show it every time.  That’s what concealed carry is all about anyway right?  Make sure your training complements the hidden nature of your weapon.

Budget yourself.  This “regular yet frequent” concept requires at minimum 2,000 rounds per year of your chosen caliber.  For better results it’ll probably turn out to be near 2,500 or 3,000.  This is approximately $350 (at least in 9mm for current prices at the moment).  Start thinking about your budget. What can you cut out easily?  We all are guilty of being frivolous with our hard-earned cash at some point throughout the year.  Cut out the coffee, impulse buys, etc. and you easily have enough for your yearly skill maintenance as well as additional to put away for the rainy days ahead.

Last comment about money – the price is still right for most ammunition right now – stack your practice ammo deep.  Also, budget the time in your schedule.  Be efficient with errands, chores, work, and family time and you can make it to the range more often.  I also am a proponent of carrying “fresh” carry ammo.  Not so much for the fact that modern ammo “goes bad” (it doesn’t) but this allows you to fire a couple magazines of high-octane defense ammo two or three times a year.  Furthermore, running your defensive round will ensure that it cycles well in your gun.  As for the training ammo you will want to at least go for the same bullet weight so that recoil is at least relatively the same (yes, I’m aware there are many other factors that go into that formula).Continue reading“Frequent Firearms Practice, by Keystone Scout”

When TEOTWAWKI happens, none of us know how it’s going to go down. Will it be a natural destructive force or world war? An asteroid or weapons of mass destruction? Massive starvation or biological warfare? Maybe you’ll have to bug out and leave home. Or maybe you’ll have to stand your ground and defend what’s yours. We have no idea what the world will be like, only that it will be different.

Regardless of how it happens, after TEOTWAWKI, all aspects of survival need to be considered. Of course, hunting, fishing, and foraging for edibles are necessary. And of course, be prepared with non-perishable foods and MREs. But long-term survival requires more. It requires a renewable food source that provides a wide range of nutrients and minerals, preferably in the form of fresh foods.

And that’s exactly what gardening does. Sure, gardening provides fresh fruits and vegetables to consume now, but if you grow surplus, it also provides food for preserving for times when fresh foods are not available. What’s more, gardens can also provide medicine, as well as feed for livestock, such as bees, rabbits, and chickens. This can expand your renewable food source to include sugar, meat, and eggs.

But let’s be realistic. What we think of as traditional gardening is most likely not going to be possible after TEOTWAWKI. First, our “modern” gardens are labor intensive. If a backyard garden were truly going to provide enough food to sustain a family, it would take hours in weeding and managing, something that most likely can’t be done in a world post-TEOTWAWKI.

In addition, many of the vegetables we grow in our gardens today take three or more months to reach fruition and a long-term commitment isn’t something that may be possible after SHTF. To make matters even more difficult, modern gardening isn’t designed to self-propagate, which means more working overtime to keep things growing and producing.

And then there’s the fact that a traditional garden, with its nice neat rows and lines, is easy to see. And, if we’re planning for the worst, having strangers see your food source isn’t something we want to happen, as they could steal or destroy it, both of which could be detrimental if you’re planning on it as a major part of your food supply.

So we can agree that traditional gardening is most likely out and not realistic for TEOTWAWKI. But here’s the thing:  Humans will return to growing plants for food. It may be right after the SHTF or it maybe five or ten years down the road. But when you’re talking long-term survival, gardening will most likely have a role to play.

That’s why you should start now. Gardening gives you good practice in learning to see life from a plant’s point of view and allows you to work on your green thumb, which can take longer than many realize to develop. Gardening also gives you the opportunity to get some growing spots established for future use, just in case you need them, but more on that in a bit.

What to Grown in Your TEOTWAWKI Garden

When it comes to gardening, most people tend to grow the same types of things: tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, broccoli, cabbage. But in a post-disaster world, you’re not going to want to follow that same path. As mentioned previously, many of the plants grown in gardens today aren’t the best option for your TEOTWAWKI garden. They take too long to grow, they don’t have a long shelf life, and they don’t self-propagate. Plus, depending on where you live, many of these plants may not necessarily thrive in your post-TEOTWAWKI environment.

So let go of what you expect your garden to be filled with, and, instead, consider growing some of these.Continue reading“The TEOTWAWKI Garden, by M.C.”

Now I might be just a mild mannered, right-leaning, Christian grandma, but in my former life I was a hardcore, back-to-the-land, Rainbow Family hippie. There’s a bunch of us (once young people) who learned survival and community building skills in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and we suspected that someday we might need to be teaching these skills.

The Rainbow Family name came from different native American visions of white people who would adopt Native American styles of life. (This was decades before the LBGTQ+++ crowd appropriated the “rainbow” and half of the English Alphabet.) For example the Hopi Eight Sign says: You will see many youth, who wear their hair long like my people, come and join the tribal nations, to learn their ways and wisdom….”[1]

We Learned From Native Americans

We were Indian wannabees in a white hippie sort of way. We would go to annual gatherings in remote parts of national forests, put up tepees and tents, have huge drum circles, smoke dope, dance, and commune with nature. When we weren’t “gathering” some lived on communes or bought homesteads to build on – many in the Northwest.

One of the first shelters alternative folks tried was tipis. Tipis are a magical place to live in for half of the year. Their diffused light and the ability to move the flaps according to which way the wind was blowing is unique and grounding to nature. Tipis are livable in the cold half of the year. I spend a winter at 9,500 feet in the Sangre De Cristo mountains (of Colorado) in a tipi and was comfortable. However it is hardly energy efficient. We used a very large wood stove, a lot of wood, and hay bales around the perimeter to keep warm. Many of us at that time lived a semi-nomadic life. Some had converted school buses, some tipis, and some yurts. But for people in the mountain West who were looking for a place to live for a few years and perhaps did not have the money or time to build a cabin or house the best option was to build earth lodges.Continue reading“Building Hippie Earth Lodges, by Valerie”