Since my last article was also about a recipe from my grandmother, why not dedicate the whole week to her cooking skills. I don’t know about yours, but my grandma was the best cook in town. But let’s not forget why we’ve gathered here today. Say cheese!
Making cheese has been an art for nearly ten thousand years beginning in Europe, then spreading around the world. There’s hundreds of different kinds of cheese with a range of flavors, textures, and appearances. Since it’s been around for so long, one may think it’s a difficult task to make in a home kitchen. Fortunately, soft cheeses are remarkably easy to make with only three ingredients:
whole milk
vinegar
salt
So how do these three simple ingredients come together to make such a great tasting cheese? The secret is in the vinegar. Traditionally, many cheeses require the enzyme called rennet to break down the milk proteins and separate the curds from the whey.
Vinegar will also curdle milk, but the result will be softer curds because vinegar isn’t quite as strong as rennet. Rennet will produce curds that are sturdy enough to make harder cheeses such as cheddar. If you want to expand your cheese making, rennet can be purchased online.
The result? An incredibly creamy and delicious ricotta-style cheese!
The steps to making this amazing-tasting cheese at home is very simple. Begin by bringing one gallon of whole milk to a simmer, about 195°F/90°C (try not to let it go to a full boil). Stir continuously so the bottom does not scorch.
Meanwhile, place a strainer in a large bowl or in the sink and line it with cheese cloth.
Once the milk reaches a low simmer, remove from heat and stir in ¼ cup of white vinegar. The mixture should begin to curdle and separate into curds and whey. Stir in about a half teaspoon of salt and let it stand for ten minutes.
Next, strain out and discard the whey leaving only the white curds. Keep the cheese in the strainer with the cloth lining for about an hour to allow it to drain completely.
Once the whey has drained, collect in the cheese cloth and give it a light squeeze. This should remove any excess moisture while also forming it into a loose ball. Store in plastic and enjoy, no aging is required! Fresh cheese can be kept in the refrigerator for about a week.
There are many variations to this recipe, and many recipes to use it in. If there’s no white vinegar on hand feel free to substitute with homemade apple cider vinegar or the juice of one lemon. Fresh cracked black pepper and additional salt may be added, or even fresh herbs, minced garlic or homemade pickled garlic. Spread on toast or bagels, or even enjoy as a dip on crackers for a simple appetizer. Fresh cheese would also work well in place of ricotta cheese; make amazing lasagnas, baked ziti, stuffed shells, or even desserts like cannolis.
Mozzarella is another soft cheese that has a few extra steps and the addition of rennet, but is also easy to make from home. If you want to keep it simple, other cheeses that can be made using the vinegar method include cottage cheese and mascarpone. For mascarpone, heavy cream is used in place of milk. For cottage cheese: skim milk is used instead of whole milk, more vinegar is added, and the curds are mixed with half and half before serving.
There’s nothing more satisfying then knowing exactly what is in the food you’re eating. Cheese seems like that untouchable ingredient that has to be bought in the grocery store, when really it is as easy as adding vinegar to heated milk. The soft, creamy fresh cheese has so many uses that it’s well worth taking a little bit of extra time to make!
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Since my last article was also about a recipe from my grandmother, why not dedicate the whole week to her cooking skills. I don't know about yours, but my grandma
Planning for medical emergenciesis one of the biggest challenges one faces. This is especially true if the situation will occur with limited outside resources on which to rely. There are several things you can do to improve the odds for yourself and your loved ones, including solid medical knowledge, the leadership skills necessary to create a makeshift hospital, and a comprehensive medical stockpile.
Education
Many people underestimate the immense value an education in a practical field like medicine will have in emergency situations. These types of skills can be bartered for goods and services in addition to being beneficial for yourself and those in your party. Training as a nurse or doctor is obviously going to be at the top of any resident wish list. However, any medical training will include basic skills that could be valuable.
Any career in the medical field will pay well and allow you to make interpersonal connections, receive continuing education, and give you access to information earlier than the general public. All of these are important considerations when preparing for an uncertain future. Be sure to keep any textbooks and potentially useful class materials with your supplies to use for reference.
Medicinal foraging and herbalism are other medical skill sets that will be indispensable for the long-term maintenance of medical supplies. There are local courses in most regions that will teach participants to identify plants native to the area and the best places to find those plants with medicinal and nutritional value.
Herbalism studies will teach people to prepare those plants as effective treatments and remedies for a variety of medical concerns. While many natural remedies are not as effective as their modern-day counterparts, they are far more effective than no care at all. The ingredients to prepare them will also be more readily available if modern amenities are unavailable.
Makeshift Hospital
One’s leadership style will play a significant role in how well any makeshift hospital is organized and run, as well as the type of patient outcomes it produces. In times of disaster, everyone looks for one person to take control and make them feel safe. That person will wield substantial power within the community, and knowing how to competently care for others is an excellent starting point.
The list of supplies needed, and the organizational effort required to run a field hospital are immense. Start with basic supplies and build as your training and budget allow. The most important component of successful adaptation will be in the training and implementation of any plans you make. Make an effort to have quarterly or annual preparedness training for everyone who will be working together in the event of a disaster. If everyone knows their role, where supplies are located, and how to handle specific scenarios the real event will go much more smoothly.
Medical Stockpile
It is important to have a portable medical kit as well as a more comprehensive stockpile for larger emergencies. The portable kit should contain everything necessary for basic survival. The American Red Cross is a great place to find resources on a personal kit with basic components. The CDC and the WHO have excellent resources for planning on a much larger scale.
Don’t let the larger preparedness options overwhelm you initially. They are only appropriate after personal planning has reached maximum capacity. However, it is a good idea to begin looking ahead to create a plan for those who think they will want to take the initiative for their personal or local communities.
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Planning for medical emergencies is one of the biggest challenges one faces. This is especially true if the situation will occur with limited outside resources on which to rely. There
As much as you maybe want to believe your email is safe, it’s not… Prying eyes are watching you… Anyone who walks by your computer as you’re checking your email is privy to its contents; moreover, you could accidentally forget to log out of a public computer, malware could be recording screenshots and keystrokes, and (if unencrypted) your emails could be intercepted by unauthorized parties.
Data loss is a common issue, especially in regards to email. Accidental deletion is an example of email data loss, but all is not always lost in these situations. Email data recovery professionals can perform diagnostics and services in order to recover the lost data. And superior security software can ensure that your emails are encrypted and protected from malware attempts.
How to Keep Your Email Safe
Despite the fact that what’s lost can be recovered, it’s important to be proactive about email data protection. Take note of the Hillary Clinton email controversy? Presidential candidate Clinton used her family’s private email server to send official communications, including more than 2,000 emails which (once discovered) had to be retroactively marked as classified information.
Clinton’s use of her private servers has been widely debated because some members of congress believe that her actions violated State Department protocols, as well as some federal record-keeping laws. Although it’s debatable whether or not she was in compliance (she insists she was in compliance with federal laws), what’s not debatable is the security risks email poses.
Clinton was criticized for using her BlackBerry while appointed as Secretary of State. An unsecured BlackBerry poses a threat to security, and it’s just one example of how not secure email can be and how Clinton herself is fairly computer illiterate. She could have avoided the issue by not using personal email accounts for official business and ensuring that she was only corresponding about matters of national security from a federally sanctioned and secured computer.
You can avoid the issue of data hacking by avoiding transmitting sensitive emails on unsecured servers and unprotected mobile devices.
You can do everything on your end to protect your email, but if your recipient isn’t following a security protocol, you’re still at risk.
No matter what, it’s essential toencrypt your email. Especially in situations where your email correspondences include sensitive information, an encryption is vital to ensuring your emails aren’t intercepted by unauthorized third parties. As your email travels from the email server to its intended destination, if unencrypted it can be stolen by hackers. Only sign up for email with SSL-encrypted websites, which can be recognized by their link which begins with “https” instead of the unencrypted “http”.
Email Safety after Sending
You can do everything on your end to protect your email, but if your recipient isn’t following a security protocol, you’re still at risk. If your email account is on a private server, then you can manage your rights. Ask your IT team to include security features, such as a Do Not Forward option. This option ensures the email cannot be forwarded to others, nor can it be printed or copied from. You could also include something in the address bar that warns the user to read the email privately, such as “This email contains sensitive information,” or another type of warning that stops the recipient from reading it around prying eyes.
Also, and this is a big one, never ever transmit private information using a social media account. Facebook and other social media networks collect data on you, and they use it for their purposes… You don’t need that level of data breach in your life, and especially shouldn’t open your business up to it.
The rule of thumb here is to always assume the worst: nothing you email is truly private. Take proactive steps to ensure as much privacy as possible, but avoid transmitting anything that could damage your business or reputation. Change your password often, encrypt your data, and avoid opening your emails around lurkers and you should sufficiently minimize your security risk.
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As much as you maybe want to believe your email is safe, it’s not… Prying eyes are watching you… Anyone who walks by your computer as you’re checking your email
If you’ve been prepping for a while, you may have used some of your provisions during short-term emergencies. Perhaps you’ve used some when a storm knocked out power for a few hours. You know you’ve prepared well, because you were able to make meals without the use of kitchen appliances, and you had alternative lighting with fresh batteries. Simple things, like a manual can-opener, are additional proof that you’ve prepared well. A short-term power failure may even be a welcome change from your daily routine, and an excuse to make dinner on the grill.
On the other hand, prepping for an event that could result in societal collapse is no longer fun and games, it’s about your survival. It’s no longer a matter of settling for canned food for dinner. If we are forced to live through a grid down scenario, it’s whether or not you’ll have any food at all. It’s about dealing with starving people, who, in their desperation, will try to forcefully take what you have. It’s this possibility that drives you to take prepping to the next level.
Before you allocate significant cash resources to weapons, supplies, and survival equipment, you probably want to know what the odds are that you’ll ever need it. What is the likelihood that an event, or chain of events, could be serious enough to cause the collapse of society? Do the odds of that happening justify the significant cost of prepping for it? If you’ve never experienced anarchy, how will you know if you’re well prepared? It’s up to you to decide.
A massive and sustained power grid failure could cause a collapse of society, and it might happen in the not-to-distant future. I arrived at that conclusion not by accident, but rather by careful consideration of facts. As an Information Technology Professional I am well aware of the daily attacks on networked computer systems, and I know that cyber-criminals are getting smarter. Cyber-attacks on retailers and financial institutions are common place, as are attacks on U.S. Government agencies. With these things in mind, a successful attack on the power grid is not just possible, it’s inevitable. It’s not a matter of “if”, but “when”. Due to the severity of the damage that is possible, and the potential for a widespread and long-lasting outage, it’s high on my list of things that could result in a collapse of society, and therefore it’s what I prepare for.
Need more evidence? Consider this: In December of 2015, a freezing day in the Western Ukraine, a lone hacker shut down electricity to 225,000 residences. Power was restored in about 6 hours, but imagine a situation where multiple attackers attack multiple locations in a coordinated attack on the U.S. power grid. If successful, the outage would be widespread, not just localized to a specific area or region. To inflict the most suffering, the attack would probably occur in the winter months. Some communities, hospitals, and other facilities would have power from emergency generators, but only until they run out of fuel.
Cyber-attacks on retailers and financial institutions are common place, as are attacks on U.S. Government agencies.
A successful attack on the power grid need not be a cyber-attack. Just as 911 was a coordinated physical attack, coordinated physical attacks on multiple power generation or distribution sites are also a possibility. As undamaged facilities attempt to make up for the shortage created by the damaged facilities, they would become overloaded and eventually the entire power grid would shut down. Power plants that are able to isolate themselves from the grid would function for as long as they have fuel, but you and I may not be lucky enough to be in one of those areas.
Without communications, you won’t know where they are. You may recall the movie Waterworld, where Kevin Costner searched for “dry land”, not really knowing if it actually existed. For some people, searching for a stable society with electricity would be similar to that. Just like in the movie, avoiding the “bad guys” and struggling to survive, would be routine.
Terrorists hope to inflict as much suffering as they can on America. The recent attack in an Orlando nightclub appears to have been carefully planned, with escape routes blocked. As terrible as that attack was, less than 60 people lost their lives that morning. On the other hand, a coordinated attack on the U.S. power grid would cause massive suffering and death. I choose to take the threat seriously.
As disastrous as a successful coordinated physical attack on the power grid would be, an EMP event would be even worse. An EMP event could be either a deliberate attack by an enemy, or a massive solar flare. One such solar flare occurred in 2012, but barely missed the earth. Had earth been in its path, large parts of society would have been without power for months, if not years. A smaller solar eruption in 1989 knocked out power to Quebec.
In the event of a successful attack, or a large solar eruption, unprotected electronic devices would be destroyed. This includes the modules in your car. Imagine losing the use of your car, no working communication devices, no radio, no TV, no light, no refrigerator, and you could no longer cool or heat your home. It wouldn’t matter if you could make it to the grocery store, because the shelves would be empty within two days. In the event that a widespread power outage was to last for more than a few days, it’s easy to envision panic and anarchy.
It’s not just the hardship brought on by an absence of electricity, but also the confusion that results from the absence of electronic communications, that would lead to panic. Perhaps you can live without your phone, without texting, tweeting, or email, but being unable to check on loved ones might be more than some folks can handle.
Prepare for a situation such as this with the assumption that the power grid will be down for a very long time. Widespread damage to automobiles, as well as devices that contain sensitive electronic components, make up a worst-case scenario, and it would take months or perhaps years, to fully recover. A powerful EMP event would be just that bad. With these things in mind, for me, a comprehensive plan is actually two plans:
My plan does not include an option to bug out on foot. I simply can’t carry enough with me to survive for very long, especially in the winter months. Instead of buying lightweight camping equipment, I’ve invested in weapons, ammo, and security devices for my home and property, not to mention stockpiles of food, and water purification capabilities. If I’m going down, I’ll go down fighting. Up until that time, I’ll be comfortable in my home.
In the event that I absolutely cannot stay in my home, I plan to bug out using my ATV vehicle. I’ve taken steps to protect that from an EMP attack. While I won’t be able to carry as much with me as I would like with that vehicle, the ability to travel off-road offers advantages over a standard automobile. In the event of an EMP attack, roads would be clogged with disabled vehicles. I can easily bypass obstructions with an ATV, and travel far from a danger zone in a relatively short time. I’ll go back for additional supplies only if I feel that I can do so safely.
I have a pre-selected bug-out location, and relatives not living with me are aware of it. Should they need to bug out, they know that they’re welcome to join me. In fact, in such a situation I would rather be with people I know and trust, instead of those I happen to meet up with.
My Provisions
My list of provisions includes most of the items you’d expect to find in anyone else’s list, so I won’t discuss those here, but I have additional items and special preparations that you don’t often see in others lists.
I own a small generator, but don’t consider it an integral part of my survival plan. Generators are impractical, primarily due to the need to store large quantities of fuel. A generator would only be good for the first few days, as you hunker down and begin to implement your survival plan. Once the stored fuel is used up, and all nearby sources of fuel exhausted, generators are useless. Additionally, the noise and smell of a generator advertises your presence to those who would harm you.
My alternative source of electricity is an off-grid solar-electric system which I described in detail in a previous post (Living in Comfort when the SHTF) on TPJ. My preps include the ability to repair any damage that may occur as the result of an EMP attack. Spare parts and test equipment are stored in a Faraday Cage to protect them. I’ve also stored CFL and LED lights, and other portable electronic devices that contain components which could be damaged by an EMP attack. I doubt that my solar panels would be damaged by an EMP event, but I have spare blocking diodes, just in case. I also have a spare inverter and charge controller. My batteries are protected from the elements, but not shielded from an EMP attack, since an EMP attack would probably not damage them.
Like my provisions list, my bug-out kit includes items that others may not have considered. Since GPS may be down, a compass is a must.
In the event that I have to bug out by ATV, and if time permits, I’ll take the major components of my off-grid solar equipment with me. I believe I can disassemble and pack the equipment in 6 hours or less. Once I’ve arrived at my bug-out destination, I’ll set up a makeshift off-grid solar electric system.
My alternative electricity preparedness is far greater than most other preppers for a reason; it’s an important component of my survival strategy. I’ve also taken great care to protect communications equipment, and to maintain the ability to provide refrigeration, lighting, and the ability to charge portable electronic devices. Having electricity for power tools would make rebuilding after a disaster much easier. Communications equipment may provide vital information, in the event that broadcasts exist. Lights can be used to help secure an area, be it a home or camping spot, unless there is reason to believe that those lights will attract unwanted attention. I’ll share what I have, with the expectation that others in my circle will share their special skills, such as hunting, fishing, trapping, medical, food preparation, construction, security, etc. Hopefully, my group will include at least one member who has the desire, strength, stamina, and know-how to maintain a large garden. My preps include seed storage.
Solar Panel Starter Kit 400W
Should I need to bug out, it’s likely that I’ll be able to find a working refrigerator/freezer, a necessity for preserving food, and to keep medicine from spoiling. However, if an EMP attack were to damage the refrigerator’s control module, I know how to bypass that, and apply power directly to the compressor. The refrigerator/freezer could then be controlled by a mechanical timer, so that the compressor doesn’t run continuously. The modification is easy to make, and I’ve included a mechanical timer in my bug out supplies.
The alternative refrigeration device at my home is a 6 cubic foot chest freezer. It uses much less electricity than my upright refrigerator/freezer, and therefore is less of a load on my off-grid solar electric system. I can also use it to make ice, which can be used in a cooler for items that need to be kept cold, but not frozen. Because the chest freezer is a simple device, I can easily make the wiring change I described, should that become necessary.
Another prep that is currently a work in progress is the storage of important survival information. Understanding that the World Wide Web will probably be down, I’m storing as much information as I can on a Kindle Fire. Subjects include; medical information, edible plants, crop production, food processing and storage, water purification, raising animals for food, maps, and so on. I prefer the Kindle Fire over a laptop or PC because of its portability and low power consumption. It can easily be charged from the accessory socket in any automobile, or with the off-grid solar system I’ve described. I’ll store the Kindle Fire in a Faraday Cage until it is needed, or until I bug out. If I bug out, I’ll wrap the Kindle Fire in aluminum foil and store it in a waterproof bag.
Understanding that an EMP attack may be followed by additional EMP attacks, my provisions include the ability to put together a Faraday Cage once I’ve arrived at a bug-out location. When not in use, sensitive devices will be stored in that.
What is a Faraday Cage, and how do I make one?
A Faraday Cage is an enclosure of any kind which includes a layer of electrically conductive material. It can be as large as an entire room, or smaller than a deck of cards. The device(s) to be protected are wrapped in the conductive material, but insulated from it by a non-conductive material. The electrically conductive material can be metal, including aluminum foil, or a fine-mesh screen. The electrical signals will not pass through fine mesh screen, but there must be no openings larger than that. There should be no hole or gap larger than 1mm, about the thickness of a dime.
A simple Faraday Cage can be made by wrapping the device to be protected in non-conductive material, such as cloth, and then by wrapping that with three layers of aluminum foil. Make sure there are no holes or gaps through which electrical signals can pass. Put that in a cardboard box, and then wrap it with aluminum foil. This provides two layers of protection from EMP signals. That might be considered overkill, but you don’t know how strong the EMP signal (the attack or solar flare), will be.
The type of Faraday Cage described above would be well suited for bugging out, but inconvenient for frequently used devices. Instead, a metal toolbox, or metal cabinet, lined with cardboard would work well. Aluminum tape, the kind used in duct work, can be used to seal holes and gaps. Steel wool can be used to better seal gaps around the door, if needed. Wrap the devices to be protected in aluminum foil, and then place them in the metal container. This method provides two layers of protection, but easier access to frequently used items.
A larger Faraday Cage can be made by using a metal trash can, or an unused chest freezer, but you might have to seal the seams on the lid or door. A device wrapped in aluminum foil, placed in a cardboard box that is also wrapped in aluminum foil, and then placed in a sealed trash can, would provide three layers of protection, which would probably be enough to protect devices from strong EMP attacks.
Imagine losing the use of your car, no working communication devices, no radio, no TV, no light, no refrigerator, and you could no longer cool or heat your home.
After you’ve built a Faraday Cage, test it. Place a tuned-in radio in the Faraday Cage. When the cage is closed, all electronic signals should be blocked, and you should no longer hear the radio broadcast.
Conclusion
Can you live without your phone, texting, tweeting, and email? That may seem like a silly question, but I wouldn’t rule out the psychological effect of losing those capabilities.
Survival without electricity is possible, of course, but I wonder how long most people will last without it. The winter months would be very difficult. On the other hand, the ability to process and store food until it’s needed would free you from the daily task of finding food. The ability to cook food using kitchen appliances is not just convenient; it’s more discreet than cooking over a campfire, adding to your security. The availability of lighting would allow you to extend working hours into the evening, and contribute to a level of protection from those who would steal your supplies, or harm you.
Banding together with others can dramatically increase your survival odds. Many of us already have a stockpile of food, and know how to purify water for drinking, but the greatest threat to survival may come from other humans. Having one or more group members with military or police training would reduce the likelihood of falling prey to those who would do you harm. Additionally, each member of your group will need to willingly perform a set of chores that match his/her age and abilities. A portable database of survival information will help to fill in survival skill gaps within a group. Your Christian values dictate that you take care of those who cannot care for themselves, but you’re wise to weed out those who are able, but not willing, to contribute. There is no room for those who would jeopardize the survival of the group. Survival is not just about stockpiling, it’s also about producing.
If you find yourself in need of a group to join, assess potential groups carefully. Keep your assets hidden, and don’t discuss them until you’re sure you can trust the group. If the group has a very liberal mindset, they may want to take your provisions, and distribute them among the rest of the group. Make sure you understand the “rules”, and are willing to abide by them. Assess the group leader. If he/she more closely resembles a cult leader than a resource manager, move on.
Since you don’t know how strong the EMP signal (the attack or solar flare), will be, you won’t know the extent of the damage until afterwards. It’s possible that computers, TV’s, radios, cell phones, CFL and LED lights, and portable electronic devices will be ruined. Devices that do not contain sensitive components, such as incandescent light bulbs, electric frying pans, and hot plates will probably work, but none of that will matter if you don’t have a source of electricity. Without electricity, refrigerated food will spoil.
Prepping well for a power grid failure requires an alternative source of electricity, other than a generator. That alternative source of electricity needs to be robust, to facilitate lights, refrigeration, communication devices, power tools, and kitchen appliances, as well as to contribute to home heating and cooling. While a small off-grid system will give you all of those capabilities, a larger system will allow you to do all of those things simultaneously, significantly contributing to your quality of life. Most of all, the system needs to be sustainable. A mid-size off-grid solar electric system is the best choice. It’s expensive, but one such system can serve multiple families within a survival group.
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Like millions of other preppers, I live in the southwest portion of the United States. That affords me the advantage of great scenery, mountaintop views and vast areas of land where I can escape the normal everyday business pressures of life by finding an outdoor area to escape into and reconnect with nature. Those vast open landscapes, however, expose an area that most preppers pay little attention to normally, which is how to communicate over those vast areas of land and communicate off-grid completely when needed.
In case you haven’t already noticed, time after time the news media reports that an experienced hiker, hunter, camper, or outdoorsman was found hurt or later found dead because they couldn’t notify anyone that they needed medical help. So even though their cell-phone worked in town, their departure into the wilderness created their own personal “grid-down” scenario, as their only means of semi-reliable long-distance communication (their cell phone) was made useless by their decision to head into the great outdoors (and way beyond their carrier’s cell-phone range).
As both an amateur Radio operator of 35+ years (and owning a company involved in two-way communications), I agree with most ham radio operators and FEMA officials that the “best” grid-down communication tools (including your own personal grid-down emergency that might arise) normally involve ham radio or satellite phone gear, so let’s look at the various types of communication gear and see how they hold up in a disaster or emergency scenario (and realize that your personal “grid-down” situation will share similar off-grid communication challenges).
Many folks first step into two-way radio frequency (or RF) communications usually doesn’t involve ham radio or satellite phones, sometimes due to their perception of the learning difficulty, or the equipment cost, or even them not understanding how the different radio bands allow hams to “target” our communication ranges (vs. a single band like CB or FRS/GMRS).
I also don’t believe that ham radio is the “only” way for EMCOMM (emergency communications) either, but not because of my Extra Class amateur radio license, it’s because of the vast ham radio infrastructure (located all over the world) available to any licensed ham (plus the relatively cheap cost to jump into either ham radio or satellite communications now).
According to the ARRL (Amateur Radio Relay League), we have just over 22,000 U.S. ham radio repeaters as of January 2015, with thousands more located around the world. Here’s an example of how that existing infrastructure can make a huge difference:
Imagine a disaster that sweeps through an area, wipes out the local electrical grid, takes out the cell tower(s), destroys the local public service repeaters (Fire, Police, etc.), and takes out the local GMRS and ham radio repeaters, plus generally wrecks the community with downed trees, power lines, etc.
So if everything involving local communications is toast (or if you find yourself 25 miles from the nearest cell tower deep in the back country of your state) – what’s the difference between using a small handheld (HT) ham radio vs. a CB, FRS/GMRS, Marine, or MURS radio? Won’t satellite communication be affected as well?
First, the vast quantity of communication options still available to the licensed ham, including more repeaters and more HF bands to use, allow us to use equipment outside of the disaster zone (just like a satellite phone user). There are 566 repeaters in my home state of AZ, so the odds of another ham radio repeater still being within range (and unaffected by the disaster) is quite high. Your states repeater numbers are probably similar – look them up yourself and compare.
Second, newer 2nd generation satellite phones use low earth orbiting repeaters approximately 800 miles up, well above any natural disaster. What’s kept the public from using them more frequently (until now) was cost, but that’s no longer a factor, as satellite service is available for just $65.00 a month from us (that works out to just $2.17 a day with a free sat phone).
Many of the ham repeaters also have one or more backup power sources available, and thousands of them support IRLP or EchoLink modes, allowing those same small HT radios to “link” one repeater to another – around the world if needed.
Imagine being able to contact your family (living in another state) to tell them you’re ok just minutes after a disaster strikes – when the phone lines are down and the Red Cross hasn’t even arrived yet (or when you’ve fallen and broken your leg miles away from your vehicle and unable to reach a cell-phone tower). Hams (and satellite phone users) enjoy the security of knowing they can get a message through in virtually any situation (without depending on a fragile wired or cellular infrastructure that can easily fail or be overloaded when a disaster strikes).
Hopefully you’re now convinced that a small ham radio will provide much more range (with repeaters) than anything else of similar size, cost, or weight – short of a satellite phone (which we also offer). Let’s also explain the various radio(s) you might already have (or are considering) and what their true capabilities are (vs. the marketing hype).
FRS/GMRS, Marine, and MURS radios generally provide approximately 1 mile of communication range for every 1 watt of power, sometimes much less (depending on several factors including height of the antenna, surrounding buildings, mountains, etc.).
FRS (or Family Radio Service) units are all 1/2 watt radios with non-removable antennas that will normally provide a range of approximately 1/2 mile. FRS/GMRS combo radios usually have all 14 FRS UHF channels plus 8 more GMRS UHF channels, but these combo radios still have the non-removable factory antenna, plus their power levels are automatically set within the radio (1/2 watt on all 14 FRS channels, and normally up to 5 watts on only the 8 GMRS channels). Real world FRS/GMRS communication range is much less than the “Up to 50 Mile Range” marketing hype shown on the box.
Marine band handheld radios generally have 16 VHF channels (but can have as many as 88). Most have non-removable antennas, which help keep some of the handheld radios waterproof. Most radios have 1 or 2 watts output, but some claim up to 5 watts.
MURS radios (Multi-Use Radio Service) was previously a VHF business band service that required a paid license (like GMRS), but several years ago the FCC eliminated the license. Some MURS handheld radios can have up to 5 watts of power, but most have 2 watts. MURS units can have removable antennas, which will allow better performance than their FRS, GMRS, or Marine radio counterparts, but MURS radios tend to cost more.
CB radio communications have several unique issues to overcome in our disaster example. First, it’s highly unlikely that an outdoor CB antenna would have survived (if all other public service, GMRS, and ham radio fixed installations didn’t). That leaves mobile CB’s or handheld CB radios, but that still doesn’t overcome the biggest issue with using CB for emergency communications – which is physics.
CB radio (within the U.S.) is located between 26.965 and 27.405 MHz. That’s lower in frequency than Marine or MURS bands (approximately 152 MHz) or FRS/GMRS bands (approximately 462 MHz). Being on an HF band allows the CB signal to “skip” great distances (depending on the current condition of the various layers of the earth’s ionosphere, which will cause the HF radio wave to reflect). That skip effect, however, can cause EMCOMM problems.
Unlike hams (that have multiple HF bands, each with a different angle of radio wave reflection – thus allowing hams to “target” a range area that we wish to communicate with), CB users are stuck with whatever band conditions are currently present. So a CB signal from Phoenix may be heard in Pittsburgh, but a few minutes later might now be heard in Miami. That makes for some interesting CB conversations, but it means using CB radio for EMCOMM is highly unreliable.
Some also have the belief that when the “skittles hits the fan” (SHTF), they will just grab any radio (including any ham or GMRS radio) and use it, since they believe no one will care at that point. While that “may” be correct in a truly end of the world event, anything short of that will mean those folks will be very surprised to learn it simply won’t be that easy.
Counting on using the local GMRS repeater has already been discussed (remember the local GMRS repeater has already been destroyed in our scenario). Amateur radio repeaters are monitored for non-licensed use (even during Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Sandy, wildfires, floods, and earthquakes) and the control operators have different ways of restricting non-licensed use by various methods. Waiting until the SHTF is NOT the time to discover you can’t access the repeater that you had counted on for your emergency communication requirements.
The Technician Class amateur radio (or ham) license isn’t difficult to obtain. (We offer two different methods of study, one is a $10 book and the other is a $25 internet based online training course that will provide you with all the information you’ll need and guarantees you’ll pass.) Your actual FCC test consists of just 35 questions. Pass the test and join the 730,000 plus hams already in the U.S.
I’m all for using any radio you have available in an emergency situation, but you simply can’t count on your home’s outdoor antenna(s) to have survived, nor should you count on any local infrastructure, which means you really have to count on the radio gear you can carry (and perhaps what’s in your vehicle). Most hams prepare a radio “go-bag” (or BOB) in advance, an idea I highly recommend. With the rapid cost reduction in satellite gear, more of them are also including a satellite phone with their preparedness equipment as well, or they simply use it as an everyday carry tool (especially if they own a business).
Since both amateur radio and satellite phone service provides so many more reliable emergency communication options it seems silly to depend on CB, FRS/GMRS, Marine, or MURS radios during an emergency (options that provide you with the least amount of range – when you need it the most). With today’s low cost two-way ham radios and satellite phones, combined with the ease of getting your license, two-way ham radio communication is really a great EMCOMM choice, but many business owners also write off the monthly $65 satellite service plan cost as a legitimate business expense. Whichever you choose, don’t pack your bug out bag without one.
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Like millions of other preppers, I live in the southwest portion of the United States. That affords me the advantage of great scenery, mountaintop views and vast areas of land
There are great concerns about possible Ebola pandemic spreading outside Africa, media is bombarding us with this information.
You can read all sorts of information online, like possible reasons for fast spreading in Africa including religious beliefs and rituals there where people handled bodies without proper knowledge, contributing to the fast spreading. They also say that lack of general knowledge about diseases, hygiene and eating bush meat along with lack of training of local medical professionals caused the mess. Interesting to read, no doubt.
They also say that there is no way of some doomsday scenario of sick person getting onto regular flight, contaminating everyone, because it spreads through body fluids only etc.
All good info, but somewhere at the end of article there is one sentence that goes like this: “… so there is clearly no reason for panic…”
As I said few times before, whenever someone from government, law enforcement, or similar says “no reason for panic” I get strong urge to buy more ammo (food, water, gas masks…).
Just use common sense here. Would media really ever say it is time to panic? It is time to prepare? No. This would cause chaos and some people would overreact. Not show up to work anymore, this could lead to collapse itself. People do not think for themselves anymore so media to certain degree has to always calm people down. It is how the system works.
Soldier during Balkan War.
Panic is bad in any case. Reading how scared some preppers are, some people seem to be in constant state or emergency. This makes no sense and just makes life miserable. We prepare for every possibility to not be in panic mode.
First be prepared, then do not panic. Of course stay alert and use common sense.
Ebola is scary, and it can become big problem for sure, but just like sharks kill just about 10 people every year and elephants kill 10 times more, it is often what we perceive as harmless that can cause biggest problems. Survival is a lot about seeing dangers where they are. In this sense you should make sure your bathroom is not slippery because many people die by slipping in shower. Today I write about the regular killers I experienced during my time in war.
Wound Infections
It does not have to be big wound to get you into the trouble. When SHTF small cut can kill (literally). In world where there is no proper medical care you need to be ready to deal with problems like this. During my SHTF time there were lots of troubles with wound infections. Everything from minor cuts to bullet wounds had chance to be infected.
We treated infected wounds with what we had, over time with less and less resources it mostly became simple water cleaning, and local mixtures of things for treating infections. Recipes were different, from pine pieces to onions on wounds and similar, and of course local alcohol beverages.
Sometimes we had antibiotics, mostly we did not. Results were very random. What worked for one guy sometimes did not work for someone else. Some people died, others became crippled.
For future SHTF scenarios I suggest to learn as much as you can about wound treatment.
Remember that simply procedures like wound closing with steri strips can save you lot of troubles later, of course as more as you know (suturing, staples) it is better, and do not fall under the influence of movies, for example no, tourniquet is NOT always best choice for bleeding (mostly it is last), and simple covering of the wound with sterile 4×4 can do miracles later for preventing infections.
Store normal saline, iodine, peroxide and similar for wound treatment.
Learn how to do pain management, I did it many times with simple alcohol drink, it does not work well always. Again forget about movies.
Good advice to know how to use what you have, having needle and sutures without knowledge does not make too much sense.
Do not blindly follow advertisements about “miracle first aid kit for all SHTF troubles” you may end up with useless stuff in nice cammo bag. Like in all areas of life today, people try to also sell snake oil and miracle solutions in survival area. Knowledge is king.
Of course there is good stuff around to buy, but be sure to check what you get, good idea is to ask your friend who is in medical field what you actually gonna get in that kit, or even better to assemble your own.
Food (and water) poisoning
You can be sure that sooner or later you will have to deal with this. It is not only dangerous to be crippled with diarrhea and vomiting because at the end it can kill you, but also it can make you so weak that you can not perform your duties. In SHTF that means that you are too weak to defend yourself, or to go out and gather resources and similar, and that is bad. Again, thats why groups are important and lone wolfs have odds against them.
I think that everyone was poisoned with bad food or water at least once during my SHTF time. We dealt with it with teas and simply trying to give the person more water than he is losing it. There were casualties of course, mostly very old or very young.
First line of defense would be hygiene. Be very serious with it when SHTF. Have plan how to keep yourself and your home (and food and water) clean when SHTF. It is much better to think more about preventing that stuff to happen by how you store your food and handle it instead of having great first aid kit to treat the problems.
Mistake that people often make in case of diarrhea and vomiting is that they try to consume too much water too fast and that causes more harm than good. Point is to consume fluids very slowly and in small amounts. For example one sip of fluids every 20 minutes or similar, take rest and be careful with water and food intake in next 24 hours.
Already sick people
I know many people think that when we experience breakdown of system and total collapse everything will be about adrenaline, fighting, chaos and blood.
This is part of it, but mostly, especially in first weeks people who lived with small conditions are going to experience them much worse. Think about what small problems you might have at the moment that can become huge if you have to live survival lifestyle with heavy physical work every day, maybe lack of sleep, extreme stress and less hygiene. Problems will be multiplied many times.
For example your uncle had high blood pressure for years, he is on pills, and his family tries to „force“ him to eat healthy, and it is working more or less, but every now and then he ends up in emergency room because his blood pressure goes dangerously up. When SHTF what is the plan to regulate his high BP, and for how long you have stash of pills for him? Or how he is gonna be able to eat healthy or similar when SHTF? From my experience in survival situations, these people are the first to go.
Solution could be to try to regulate his blood pressure today as good as you can, to have stashed good amount of medication for him, and of course to learn everything about alternative means of treating that condition (with herbs for example). Point is to do all this today, because when SHTF you may not have chance or enough time for that.
As heartless as it sounds but also think about what to do with people who are against prepping today and who you know will run into serious problems once normal system is not there to support them anymore. Who will be angry and cause problems in your group if you simply decide to leave that sick uncle to his fate? At some point you have to know when train is full and you are leaving and it makes sense to think about this before.
How do you prepare for diseases? Besides first aid kit(s), what plans do you have? Share in comments below or on our Facebook page.
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There are great concerns about possible Ebola pandemic spreading outside Africa, media is bombarding us with this information.
You can read all sorts of information online, like possible reasons for fast
Of all natural disasters, earthquakes seem to bring with them the highest levels of destruction to property and health. Earthquakes are the results of geological processes which move the layers of the crust of the Earth, causing vibrations. Over the years, many earthquakes proved to be deadly, like the earthquake in Mexico in September 2017 which killed many people and left countless others homeless. The aftermath of the earthquake affected 1.5 million people simply because they were not prepared and lacked supplies.
Scientists have never been able to predict an earthquake and there is very little chance of them doing the same in the near future. This means that we can only hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Earthquakes cause countless damage to people, infrastructure and the economy.
Many people lose their houses, lives or loved ones.
People in the West have realized the need for the preparation for a situation in which an earthquake might damage the economy so bad that there is a dearth of the basic amenities of life. Power outagesand shortage of food are also some of the aftermaths of earthquakes. It is only good for ourselves if we are ready for such a situation.
You could be at your house or in the office when an earthquake hits. If you are indoors, move to a safe, sturdy place as quickly as you can. Make sure that you try to protect your head from falling objects. You should stay away from windows and glass objects. While inside a building during an earthquake, stay inside until the shaking stops and use the stairs instead of elevators in case of a power outage.
If you are outside, your most important goal must be to clear away from any area where there are buildings, typhoons, trees, lampposts, etc. If you are in a vehicle, stop and wait for the shocks to subside at a clear spot. Stopping at an underpass is going to be the worst idea that could come to you as it might fall and trap you. Broken power lines are another thing to stay well away from. Do not go near them even if the power seems to be off. In case you happen to be in the mountains or any kind of unstable land, watch out for landslides. Landslides and avalanches can be triggered by earthquakes.
After the first few shocks have passed, don’t be complacent. They might be a few of many more to come and even they could be harmful. Aftershocks are a very common feature of earthquakes and the time between them should be used to find a safe spot to wait the earthquake out.
Many people have stocked their houses in case of any natural disasters and they have basements full of supplies. These supplies are of many different types, for example, food, batteries, generators, water, etc. Many people make their own lead-acid batteries which last longer and are able to provide fuel-free energy conveniently. The sun, which is a blazing source of energy screaming to be used, can be easily utilized to our advantage in a post-earthquake situation. Solar power generators and solar panels have been installed in various houses which also charge lead-acid batteries easily using renewable sources of energy.
Food stocked up by these people includes dried food, frozen food, powdered food, etc. These foods and food powders are very good substitutes for normal fruits and vegetables because they provide us with the same sorts of vitamins in a much more convenient way. These foods last longer and are easily stored because they are in a compact form and are air-tight.
In a post-earthquake situation, your needs are not just about food supplies. Many other types of supplies are needed like medical kits, water filters, equipment, etc. Water is another very important supply which is very important in surviving a post-earthquake situation. Water is essential for every human being and a shortage of water can reduce your chances of survivaldramatically.
Practice drills are also held in many offices and schools to inform the people on what to do when an earthquake strikes. These are very important in instructing people on what to do and how to do it in case of an emergency and can potentially save many lives.
Each building includes evacuation plans so that in case of an emergency, a route is planned for you to take to exit the building. There is always more than one evacuation plan if one has been blocked due to some falling object in case of an earthquake. All the supplies are marked on the evacuation plan so that the available supplies are easily located and without difficulty. Priorities are established beforehand, as in what to do first and what to leave behind. This saves time and might be the difference between life and death.
Motorola MH230R 23-Mile Range (reality is more like 2)
Medical supplies are also very important if someone is injured during any such circumstance. The medical supplies can help you survive for longer if there is an earthquake and you have been injured by any sort of falling object or debris. Sanitizers and antiseptics can prevent your injuries from becoming worse if the injuries are bad and you have been trapped for a long period of time.
Other equipments like radios or walkie-talkies are also important in a post-earthquake situation. These allow you to establish and maintain contact with the outside world if you are trapped or stranded in an emergency situation. These walkie-talkies are essential when you are preparing for a natural disaster and they can also get you help in times of need.
The major problem with these natural disasters is that we cannot completely prevent all the damage they cause rather we can minimize the damage they do or prevent any further damage. They are very unpredictable and can cause huge amounts of damage, which might take years to repair. The earthquake that struck the northern areas of Pakistan caused a lot of damaged and the areas there are still under repair. This signifies the importance of not underestimating the strength of natural disasters and Mother Nature.
We can always only hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
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Of all natural disasters, earthquakes seem to bring with them the highest levels of destruction to property and health. Earthquakes are the results of geological processes which move the layers
My grandma always made the best canned foods… Let me guess, yours too, right?
Now, if you’ve never heard of this vegetable spread, let me tell you now that it’s unbelievable. It’s delicious on bread or even as a topping on rice for a quick vegetarian meal. It is also excellent as a sandwich spread and perfect for your stockpile.
This recipe is for a large batch and is intended for canning. You can cut it back if you want a smaller batch for immediate consumption.
The basic ingredients for the recipe, with quantities, can be found below:
8 lbs fresh eggplants
6 lbs red peppers
2 lbs onions
2 teaspoons salt (to taste)
1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
Bay leaves to taste
2 cups tomato paste
2 cups olive oil
Over an open flame (gas stove or grill), completely blacken the skins of the eggplants and peppers.
Peel skins off immediately. The easiest way to get the last bits off is to do it under a slow-running faucet.
Puree each of the three vegetables separately in a food processor. Place each in a separate bowl when you are finished.
Place oil and onion in a large pot and sauté onions for about 4 minutes over medium-low heat.
Add eggplant and pepper.
Cook until a thin layer of oil remains on top, and when a spoonful of spread is removed, only the oil should run off the spoon, not the spread.
After the composition reaches the boiling point, add the tomatoes then taste and adjust salt, pepper, and bay leaves to meet your tastes.
After 1 hour at medium-high heat, let it rest for 30 minutes. Spoon the mixture into sterilized jars of your choosing. It is easiest if they are all the same size.
After placing the lids, put the jars in a preheated oven for one hour at 220°F. Turn it off and leave the jars in the oven to cool completely before storing them.
Store them in your pantry, root cellar, or any cold, dark place you have in your house. They should last for at least one year.
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My grandma always made the best canned foods… Let me guess, yours too, right?
Now, if you’ve never heard of this vegetable spread, let me tell you now that it’s unbelievable.
When I say “hands-free light” I mean a miner/caver style headlamp or a clip-on cap light. I don’t mean a lantern or any equivalent. Lamps and lanterns have their place, just like the good ol’ portable spotlights and flashlights that also live in my house. However, when it comes to a portable light, it’s hard to beat something that leaves your hands free and moves around with your eyes. Their cost, usefulness, and weight make them an absolute must-have for preppers.
Different Types of Headlamps
There are two general types of headlamps. There’s the “miner” or “caving” style with a strap or two like this one:
LITOM Headlamp Flashlight with White/Red LED, IPX6 Waterproof Helmet Light
Then there are the clip-on “cap light” types that rides on a hat brim like this one …
ThorFire Cap Hat Light 5-LED Headlamp Rotatable Ball Cap Visor light Clip-on Hat Light
Both have some pro’s and con’s. Then there’s this guy, too, nearly a hybrid of the two:
ThorFire Cree LED Cap Light Headlamp 3 Modes Ball Hat Lamp Flashlight Adjustable Zoomable Headlamp 155 lumen
With any headlamp, quality matters. That is sometimes to regularly reflected in price. Cheap stuff is … well, routinely cheap.
I can find good Rayovac and Browning models at HAM fests and flea markets for $5-10. Not only is the price spot-on or lower than online, there are regularly examples out, so you can get a feel for how sturdy clips are, how scratchy/smooth the band is, how heavy they are to wear, and how easy the controls are to handle before you buy.
Headlamp Shopping Consideration: Battery Type
Different models run off different types of batteries. Most take standard AA or AAA batteries or specialty coin/button cell batteries of various diameters and power, with some caving/miner’s style running off of a 9 volt.
There are a few that run off of A23’s and periodically a “matchstick” 4A/AAAA pops in one of our pockets. Those and the button cells are not exactly sitting on every shelf.
Even if they’re not going to be the victims of any crazy pre-disaster or mid-disaster runs, I’m not going to be able to grab any if I don’t already have them should a natural or manmade disaster bears down on us. They’re also not particularly inexpensive, although some of them have pretty incredible lifespans, especially in an LED light that gets used for a few hours during dark seasons, and I haven’t found chargers for them sitting on many shelves in my neck of the woods (or at all, ever).
The more powerful the headlamp – miner/caver headlamp or clip-on cap light – the faster it will burn up those batteries. In some cases, that’s mitigated by a light running off of 3-4 batteries instead of two, and that starts getting pretty heavy on heads that aren’t used to hardhats or helmets.
Headlamps that run off common batteries are easier to keep powered. Headlamps with battery packs opposite the light source distribute the weight and are a little more balanced, but aren’t particularly great if you have long hair.
For a lot of my everyday purposes, I really like the slim, curving clip-on cap lights that use a button cell battery, even though it does use uncommon batteries. They’re lighter to wear and slimmer to stick in a pocket when I’m not wearing a hat.
However, for preparedness purposes and away-from-home headlamps, I stock up on the ones that run off one or two AAA batteries.
They’re still relatively lightweight, and AAA is a common size for us. I have plenty of chargers, and rechargeable and disposable batteries for them, to include some that stay in my truck with a mini solar window charger. That means I can afford more batteries and I have more options for battery sources, so I can keep them fed longer than if I relied on a less-common or specialty battery.
There’s also less aggravation involved when a battery gets replaced, and then a light immediately dies a hero’s death (or an inglorious one; we’re a family of klutzes).
For people who prepare for the worst, how much money and what percentage of a supply is invested in any given risk is something to consider. After all, our plans should always include a visit by Uncle Murphy.
Shopping Consideration: Light & Switch Array
I prefer the kind where the light options are one-click selectable instead of progressive click types, but I’m learning to look down and shade them with a palm before I touch them.
Some clip-on cap lights have progressive-click single-button controls that require running through various light intensities, colors and-or flashing sequences to turn them off. Some are available with one-click select-able settings.
Why is this a factor?
Because it’s rude to blind people, horses, and dogs whose vision has adjusted, especially if you love them. Sometimes it’s only as annoying as living with somebody who doesn’t close cabinets or drawers, but sometimes it’s really a bad time to have your rods and cones flip-flop and your pupils tighten to a pinpoint.
Being able to just automatically go from a low light to “off” also has advantages at bedtime.
Some of us are sensitive to sudden light increases, even when we’re aware it’s coming. Closed eyes are not always barrier enough. When we’re done reading and ready for bed, but have to progress through three colors or 3-5 intensities of light to turn a lamp off, we have a real potential to wake ourselves back up or disturb loved ones or partners. That’s bad enough on a camping trip or for a short-term outage. It’s the kind of thing that can become a constant bur under the saddle and lead to tempers and serious discontent in high-stress situations.
Hands-free flashlights are supposed to be making our lives easier, not harder. It’s not an insurmountable problem (hence, learning to hold a hand over the LEDs); it’s just something to be aware of when we buy. If we’re forgetful or only have one good paw, maybe we make sure to buy the selective-setting versions with a separate on-off switch, or that we buy ours with just one light setting. Lots of options.
Headlamp Pro-Cons by Style
As I said, I really like the flatter clip-on styles over the caving/miner style of headlamp.
They fit in back pockets of jeans and coat pockets very easily and without snagging everything else in there in winter. They’re light enough to clip to my stove hood and to lampshades during outages, to a branch or fence wire while grilling, or to a pack strap sitting at a campsite, and to clip to my shirt or coat collar if I’m wearing a ski cap or bandana instead of a hat.
There are clip-on cap lights with single optics and that prop up or rotate for convenience. They lose some of the drawbacks of a miner style headlamp, but they can weigh just as much and drag a hat down – which is a real pain if you wear glasses.
I’m also a chick, and the miner’s strap types snag my hair. That then gets in my way until I stop and re-band it. This is annoying when my hands are wrist-deep in raw meat, starchy potatoes, or garden soil.
When I’m wearing them without a hat, they rub my forehead uncomfortably. They’re a little bit heavier and a little bit bulkier, and you have to adjust multiple straps. They also give me one more length of strap to be snagging on things. Those annoyances add up when you’re already uncomfortable.
However, they, too, have their advantages.
There are some powerful cap lights available, but for the same price, there is usually a caver/miner style headlamp that penetrates further or illuminates a wider area.
I can find more powerful lights that penetrate deeper into space without extreme costs in the miner’s/caving style of headlamp. It’s kind of their wheelhouse, after all. I can think of a lot of situations where that added distance has a real advantage.
As with the clip-ons, I can find versions with variable light distance and area coverage, and with the miner’s style, I can sometimes find them Maglite style, where twisting a ring lets me condense to a narrow point or open up to a wider area. That’s pretty convenient sometimes, and the rings tend to hold up well to years of use.
I tend to find the caver’s and miner’s style sturdier and more resistant to boots and bouncing down stairs than the clip on’s, even when they’re a lower-grade camping model.
We call them “nighttime collars” for the pups because we sling them on before we turn the pack loose in low-light situations.
With a handy clothespin or a wire clothes hanger, they can be used in just as many places around the house as the cap lights. The strap has periodically gotten looped around my neck or arm, I can hook them around pack straps to keep track of those while setting up camp (and of the nephews and BSA kiddos in front of me when we’re running late into a site), and I can hang them on my rear-view mirror easily instead of clipping a light to the sun visor.
Which is better? It’s really just a matter of preference, and sometimes preference changes just by use. I have both, just like I own both firearms and airguns.
Image/Images: There are a lot of times when it’s not just nice to have a light follow our eyes without holding it in our hands – it greatly effects our efficiency and speed.
Hands-Free Lights – A Must-Have? Really?
Yeah. Because it’s dark out there. Most of us never truly know how dark it can be, even when we’re rural dwellers and backpackers, because there’s so much ambient light in most of North America. One of the big adjustments for non-camping suburban and city folks is just how dark a rural area can be – even with its household lights from electronics and appliances.
Long-term outages and a grid-down situation will change that, and potentially remove most or all of those constant glows from our lives. So light sources belong on any must-have list.
Especially in the dark, it’s really nice to have a light while working with my hands. Yes, there are all kinds of lanterns. I have quite the variety. Lamps and lanterns have to be carried around. That takes a hand, or requires fetching them. Other light sources are fixed and I have to move to them with tasks. That’s limiting my efficiency one way or another.
Cooking is one of those times when a lamp doesn’t always cut it and it’s nice to have the light turn with our heads.
When I’m sitting somewhere reading, playing cards, or cleaning a tool, a lantern works great.
When I’m moving around cleaning, cooking, filing animal nails and feet, going from the back to the front of my truck and somebody else’s vehicle miracling one of them to life, or doing chores in darkness, it’s really nice to have a light that moves with me and leaves me with both hands free.
When I’m walking the dogs, hauling game to a vehicle or home, or chipping/brushing/shoveling our vehicles free from winter’s grasp, a light that follows me around without adding much bulk, weight, or effort on my part is definitely worth the price of somebody’s fancy coffee or Big Mac meal.
Since headlamps are so affordable, and since they have the potential to increase my efficiency so much over having to cart a lamp or lantern around with me, since they take up so little room in storage for their backups and backup power sources, and since those power sources and chargers cross with so many other devices … for me, hands-free flashlights are absolutely a must-have item.
In bulk, if I’m a bartering type, because they’re just that useful in an outage and off-grid environments of all kinds.
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When I say “hands-free light” I mean a miner/caver style headlamp or a clip-on cap light. I don’t mean a lantern or any equivalent. Lamps and lanterns have their place,
Silver in all forms has been employed by mankind for its antiseptic qualities over millennia. The Greeks and Romans used a silver coin to purify bad water and to preserve milk and wine. In later times, a silver coin was taped to the umbilical wound of a newborn child to prevent infection. A silver solution is placed into the eyes of every newborn to kill any infection that was picked up from the birth canal during delivery and silver is used in every burn center the world over to prevent infection. Surgical bandages are now silver thread impregnated for speedy healing.
Most Doctors know the antiseptic properties of silver. Just ask your MD.
The history of nutrition shows that humans have utilized natural foods and remedies for many thousands of years. The earliest physicians turned to Mother Nature for virtually all their health aids. The effectiveness of herbs and botanicals is well documented and enjoys increasingly wide use by the general public. But, today, with the advent of corporate entities and the influence of Big Pharma and her allies in the FDA, along with their innate financial pursuits and considerations, all this has seen a wide-spread attack.
Natural remedies and holistic treatments are denigrated by corporate America and many MDs as a rule. After all, if natural remedies cost very little and modern pharmaceuticals are very profitable for corporate America, which do you think will get the nod from the moneyed class? Not too much of a brain twister here!
The ancients had to rely on natural means of preservation and storage for foodstuffs. Lacking refrigeration, they had to find natural means for keeping a safe supply for long journeys and hot summers. Not surprisingly, they employed the anti-microbial qualities of silver for the preservation of drinking water, milk and wine. By either utilizing silver vessels for storage and transportation or simply dropping a silver coin into a container or a wineskin, they successfully kept their foods in good order until consumed. Archaeological investigations in the domains of Ancient Rome, Greece, and Mesopotamia are the sites for this information. Cisterns dating from 600 BCE bare the evidence that silver coins were placed in them for water purification and storage. Wine vats from ancient vintners are silent testimony to the same practice. The ancients were pretty darn smart!
In Medieval times, royalty ate and drank from silver vessels, plates and utensils not to be stylist and for pomp, but for health preservation. Acidic foods would tarnish the silver utensils and create toxic silver salts that had a tendency to turn the skin grey or blue. Argyria was common in the upper classes and they were referred to as “Blue Bloods” by the common folk. They were healthy, lived long lives and were immune to the plagues that wiped out a large percentage of European populations in that period. The products that turned people blue (a condition clinically known as argyria) are not true colloidal silvers and nutritionists don’t use or recommend the use of cheap and toxic silver salts in the modern age of health care.
Many folks who go to the Internet in search of information on Colloidal Silver (and many other subjects for that matter) find quite a bit of hype, misleading and just plain disinformation that is placed there by pitifully ignorant postings. And, having found negative claims for Colloidal Silver, they terminate their research and remain ignorant of the facts. You simply can’t trust much of the info you get through the Internet, so be careful of the sources you find there. One of the common claims I see quite often is that argyria is caused by Colloidal Silver and that is simply not true. Colloidal Silver is eliminated from the body quite speedily, but silver salts are not. Argyria is the result of ingestion of improper chemical forms and silver salts that are concentrated in the skin. No practicing nutritionist would ever recommend the ingestion of silver salts, and the use of sodium chloride as an aid to generation is not a good idea.
True Colloidal Silver is safe and effective and is easy to manufacture right in your own home. Claims that it will “turn you blue” are simply the result of gross ignorance or some other agenda. The author has been generating Colloidal Silver at home and has ingested 2 oz. per day for the past 22 years without even the slightest tinge of blue skin. Additionally, being a college professor, I was exposed to the flu every winter and I always came down with a full-blown case plus 2 to 3 common colds. I have not had either of those ailments since beginning Colloidal Silver in 1992, and I DON’T take the flu shot.
I don’t know the motives (or hidden agendas) of anyone who writes this kind of “colloidal silver causes blue skin” tripe, but these folks are out there. The condition of argyria that turned the famous “Blue Man”, Mr. Paul Karason’s skin blue came as an intentional result. He ingested on a daily basis high doses of high-strength homemade silver chloride he made in his garage. He even bathed in the stuff and then “fixed” the silver by using a tanning bed in an attempt to make it into the Guinness World Records book. Deceased now of a cardiac condition, Mr. Karason never had any infections.
Recent Research
The clinical use and medical applications for colloidal silver were recognized as legitimate and approved by the FDA as early as 1910. Many research articles were published by the 1930s. Then came the discovery of penicillin and all that changed. The cheap and readily available colloidal silver products were suddenly abandoned and the pharmaceutical industry began pushing the very expensive and profitable antibiotics. Penicillin saved many lives during the World War II years and thereafter. However, antibiotic resistance has raised its ugly head with the emergence of MRSA and a host of several other resistant bacteria. In addition, modern medicine has practically no effective treatments for viral infections. The common cold, influenza, herpes, HIV, HPV, and hepatitis (A,B,C,D,E,F &G) and now Ebola are all viral infections.
C. Silver may be our only hope when it comes to these. And C. Silver is experiencing a re-emergence in holistic medicine over the past several years. HIV and even some forms of cancer are now treatable. Specialists in wound care are turning to the use and application of C. Silver in increasing numbers because of its immediate effectiveness.
Emergency disinfection of water is a continuing concern among those individuals who anticipate the eventual need for self-protection in these uncertain times in which we live. Public water supplies are vulnerable to unexpected disruptions and even the private water well depends on a reliable source of electrical power from which to operate. Hunting and camping away from normally dependable water supplies carry its own concerns as well. Water taken from streams and lakes carries its own hazards and the taste of Halazone is far from pleasant. C. Silver is well known for its ability to render these questionable water sources safe to drink, and without any undue taste or flavor to offend the Mrs. A test of C. Silver was run in Nebraska some years ago on a swimming pool that had been contaminated by raw sewage. The plate counts for E. coli ran upwards of 7000 CFU/ml. Addition of silver brought the counts to non-detect within 3 hours of inoculation. C. Silver should be a part of everyone’s survival kit.
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Silver in all forms has been employed by mankind for its antiseptic qualities over millennia. The Greeks and Romans used a silver coin to purify bad water and to preserve
Raising chickens is a relatively low-cost and trouble free way to provide fresh eggs or meat for your family. Right now when everything is fine they not only provide more nutritious and flavorful eggs for my home, but they are cheaper than store bought eggs as well. Should some disaster strike we would be able to rely on them for a source of food that with some attention and care could even be self-sustaining. I would just need to speak to the guy with the Rooster down the road and arrange some form of barter.
The trouble free aspect of this is less of a hard and fast rule and more of a guideline. I say this because on most days you really don’t have to fuss with the chickens at all. We have feeders that hold enough food to last for about three days. I have built an automatic chicken waterer that holds 5 gallons of water for them and this lasts at least a week even in hot weather. We have nine chickens now but only 5 of laying maturity and my normal routine is to simply go out to the coop and gather up fresh eggs.
About the only place we run into any kind of maintenance outside of cleaning the coop once a week and the regular feeding and watering is what I like to call escapee patrol. Our coop is completely contained with a 12 foot run surrounded by chicken wire on all sides. I have a door from the chicken coop to our garden though so when that door is open the chickens also have free range of the garden which is only secured by a four foot high fence. We have one chicken that flies over this four foot fence almost daily. I have taken to calling her Ginger from the lead character in the movie Chicken Run about a hen that tries unceasingly to escape from her own coop.
Ginger isn’t concerned with running away obviously as she never really leaves our yard. She keeps relatively close to her sisters on the other side of the fence, but she can’t stand to be trapped in there apparently. This wouldn’t really be a problem if she would just fly her white butt back into the garden every night but that is one trick she does not seem to want to perform. If I am here, around dark she will start pacing back and forth waiting to get inside the coop again. I walk out there and she runs up to greet me like I am her savior and as I let her back in the coop I imagine the other hens mocking her for trying to escape every day and never going anywhere.
When I haven’t been home, Ginger will some nights choose to escape the ground into a nearby Cherry tree that we have. I have pulled her out of that tree a few times too and I would really rather just not have to deal with her exploits anymore. I know her egg production is off and can’t imagine where she might be laying eggs when she is out all day. It certainly isn’t in our coop.
It was because of Ginger that I started to research how to clip the wings of your chicken for ideas and found that the process is very simple. Clipping the wings on your chicken simply prevents them from flying over the garden fence but they do grow back eventually. We have to do the same for the indoor bird too so it was my turn to experiment with trimming the wings on our chickens.
The process
The process is simple and I was able to find avideo onlinethat shows just how easy it is from . You basically just need a pair of sharp scissors to perform the wing trimming.
Step 1 – Get the chicken obviously. I don’t know if I would ever be able to capture Ginger unless I got her into a corner, but she does have a weakness for Mealworms. All I need to do is shake the container of Mealworms and she will come back into the coop as soon as I open the door.
Step 2- Fan out the Wing – You are going to want to cut the 10 primary flight feathers only and at a point below the major coverts that are closest to their body. The video below will show you clearly what to cut. Some people recommend only cutting a third of the primary wings, but this would seem to give you less time on the ground for your hen. I would prefer to cut them as far back as is healthy for the bird but still guarantees they wont be able to fly. Additionally, some people argue for cutting both wings while others maintain that only cutting one is sufficient. I am going to try just one wing to see how that goes.
That’s it! Simple process that should keep Ginger grounded for several months at a minimum and back in the coop laying eggs where she is safer and more productive for us. What chicken stories or advice do you have?
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Raising chickens is a relatively low-cost and trouble free way to provide fresh eggs or meat for your family. Right now when everything is fine they not only provide more
In the scenario where you and your family members would have to be able to rely on yourselves for a while or maybe even an indefinite time, first aid and home medical care should be among the skills you possess. That’s why making sure you acquire them should be among your key interests if you’re getting prepared for the worst that may come. No one is saying you should gain the skills of a neurosurgeon overnight, of course, but being able to craft up some home remedies and knowing a thing or two about what home care strategies to use for common ailments isn’t that hard. Luckily, the online community is ripe with advice and recipes for home remedies, so there are plenty of sources to learn from.
But while there’s an abundance of knowledge on what home remedies can be used for plenty of common health problems or injuries and such, not everyone learning about these things thinks about the needed tools too. If you read up on the various natural home remedies you can use for each type of common illness, you will see that some of them don’t really require much props besides a bandage, some massage and maybe a good night’s sleep.
We’re not going to go through all that here and now. Anyone can pretty much figure out how to massage a strained wrist or how to put a tight bandage over a light wound. The challenging part lies with crafting your own natural remedies out of plants and household ingredients. Most people only read up on this when they are already dealing with the issue. But since preppers always think things ahead and being ready for the down to earth practicalities of it all, you should also have a very clear image of the how-to involved, together with the tools and everyday household items needed for most of these natural cures. Here are our top picks, as well as the things you can use them for.
A Mortar and Pestle is excellent for grinding up herbs to be used in home remedies.
1. Mortar and pestle
This is the basic tool needed for crushing the plants or other medicine ingredients together into a form which is better absorbed by the human body. You will be able to use the mortar and pestle for a wide variety of cooking needs as well, not to mention the medical ones. If you make yourself a hefty supply of basic pills (like aspirin), you will be able to use the mortar and pestle for much more than natural remedies. For example, crushing some aspirin into a fine powder and applying it onto a bandage before putting it on a wound can greatly speed up the healing.
Salt and vinegar are substances you’d better stock up on as well. You can use them as carriers for a wide variety of natural extracts (which you craft using the mortar and pestle mentioned above, together with alcohol and bottles, as we’ll explain below). Salt can also be used for disinfecting areas in your house, killing flea eggs and thus keeping infestation at bay, (or even disinfecting small infected areas of your skin, like a nasty itch or a flaky scalp, in the absence of fancy shampoos).
Vinegar is also a good carrier for plant extracts, and can be used for good old fashion rubs (when dealing with a bad flu) as well. You can also help keep household items free of rust by treating them with vinegar (and oil).
3. Alcohol
After crushing the plant parts you need for crafting up a particular remedy, you need to put them to macerate in alcohol so that the liquid extracts and preserves the beneficial substances into a cure you can effectively use. Not to mention the other things alcohol is good for, from disinfecting wounds to sterilizing tools you will need for sewing up a medium cut and so on. As unpleasant as the thought may be now, you will be content to know everything there is to know if the situation should ever arise.
4. Brown glass bottles and vials
Those plant extracts you can use as natural remedies, crafted with the help of the mortar and pestle and alcohol, need to be stored somewhere. Glass vials and small glass bottles are your best bet, even if they tend to be fragile when hauled around. When preparing for any bad times which may come, choose recipients made out of brown glass (also called amber glass), since it protects the content from direct sunlight, which can damage the precious plant extracts inside and make them less effective.
5. Oils
Oils are also one of the best carriers for substances you extract for home remedies. Not only that they are able to preserve the active substance well, but they also are ideal for carrying them inside your body (through rubs). You can even add a few drops to your food whenever you feel sick and want to use the matching remedy if you previously crafted it (if the base oil you used is edible). So stock up on vials and some canola or olive oil before reading up on what remedies you can make like this.
6. Sugar
Sugar has plenty of uses besides its culinary ones: it can be used for scrubbing away dirt and harmful substances, and if you add a few drops of a plant-based home remedy to it you can also use it as a cure. Sugar can be used either externally (as a scrub infused with natural medicine, especially effective for skin irritations or funguses), or internally, to make certain bitter remedies more palatable (especially if there are kids in your family too).
7. Pocket knife
You will need the knife for several kinds of survival tactics, as any prepper is already well-aware, but you will also need it to carefully cut away the parts of plants you will use for home remedies. A smaller knife brings more precision to this task, which is why a pocket knife is the best fit, as long as it’s properly sharpened up. You will also use the knife for cutting up bandages, gently scraping up some solid substances you may need for the remedies, and so on.
8. Two stove kettles (one smaller and a good fit on top of the bigger one)
Finally, if you really want to do a good job with improvising natural medical remedies, you should have two small-ish kettles that you can use over a campfire as well as a stove and the likes. One of them should be smaller than the other one, so it can be placed over the larger (medium-sized) one. The procedure is similar to a bain-marie from cooking. The idea is that in the smaller stove some delicate substances extracted from plants should be cooked together for a cure at a smaller temperature than by using direct heat. Hence, the medium kettle will be filled with simmering water to distribute a more delicate and constant heat to the smaller one. Quite ingenious. This last technique is pretty advanced, but don’t worry, most natural home remedies you can make and use don’t require anything that complicated.
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In the scenario where you and your family members would have to be able to rely on yourselves for a while or maybe even an indefinite time, first aid and
