Here are 15 documents that I think are well worth downloading, some you may want to print sections of to have a hard copy.  Oh yeah and they’re all free!

 

FM 3-05.70 Army Survival Manual

This manual explains how to provide the five basic needs for survival, food, water, shelter, energy and security in multiple climates. 

 

SH 21-76 Army Ranger Handbook

This manual has a lot of information relating to battle drills, building clearing techniques.  I added it because if things really get bad, this information can be useful to share with our neighbors to protect the neighborhood.

 

FM4-25.11 Army First Aid Manual

I believe everyone should have basic first aid training, but this is a good book to use as a reference.

 

Where there is no Doctor And Where there is no Dentist

Both of these books are worth downloading, lots of great medical and dental information, would be great to have if 911 isn’t coming.  Hesperian the company that gives away free PDF copies has asked no one post the books on their own site.  You can still get these two plus many more free ebooks be clicking one of the links above.  I actually like these books so much I bought hard copies of several.

 

Survival and Austere Medicine

This is another good resource for medical information.

 

1881 Household Cyclopedia

This book list a huge amount of information that has been lost in current society.  This would be great info if the grid did fail, so printing off sections might be a good idea.

 

Introduction to Permaculture

This is a great resource that can help you begin to create your own food forest.

 

Vegetable Gardening in Containers

I picked this book because not everyone has land available to plant a garden, but even if you live in an apartment you should be able to grow something in a container.  If you do have land to plant a garden, much of the information will still apply.

 

Everything you always wanted to know about composting

Learn how to create your own compost, one of the best things for a garden.

 

USDA Principles of Home Canning

Knowing how to preserve food is a must, this pdf is full of practical information.

 

Home Canning Meat Poultry, Red Meats, Game and Seafood

Knowing how to preserve meats is also great info to have, that not many of us know.

 

Preserving Food: Drying Fruits and Vegetables

There are other ways to preserve fruits and vegetables besides canning.

 

Are You Ready? An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness

FEMA document that is comprehensive, covering multiple types of disasters that will help the individual, family and community prepare.

 

Abundaculture; Pathways to God’s Abundance

Christian Homesteader that created a document on living off grid. He covers solar, composting, composting toilet among other things 170+ pages.

 

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I try to support local businesses whenever possible. I like that I can get to know them and their history in the area. I also like that they are a part of the community and often support it in various ways. As an extension of this kind of thinking, I like to find out about the sites on the Internet that I do business with as well. Because the Internet can make things feel more impersonal, I often research potential companies before I spend my money there.

I do the same for companies that would like me to advertise their site or give a discount to the Preparedness Club. I’m not saying I have to know them well, but I try to find out if they’re shady and how they treat their customers. Because of this, I have decided that I would give companies who advertise on the site or support the Preparedness Club the chance to let you get to know them a little better. To do this, I will make a post from time to time, giving them the chance to do a little question and answer session with me.

Before I get to the Q/A session, I wanted to just say that I did research LPC Survival and purchased my Berkey from him as well as a Berkey sport bottle for each BOB. I want to thank Jeff for his support of Prepared Christian and of the Preparedness Club.
 

 

1. How did your company get started and what was its main goal?
We started over 7 1/2 years ago, and started offering Berkey Water Purification Systems & our main goal is to help people prepare while time is on their side.

2. What major changes have you seen since then?
People are more interested in prepping and survival then when we first started.

3. What would you like people to know about your company?
We have helped thousands of people get better prepared, and look forward to helping people for years to come.

4. How can your company help people to be better prepared?
We offer Berkey Water purification Systems, which help people have purified water using gravity only. We also offer many other products that help people prepare for whatever may happen.

Preparedness Club members save 7% on all purchases at LPC Survival. On a Big Berkey, that could be almost $20!

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I posted last week that our son rolled one of our cars.  He was wearing his seatbelt and was entirely unharmed.  Praise God he came out more than fine!  He was only a little sore the next day.  Thanks to all who prayed and gave well wishes from the other post.  Trudee and I went to the scene that night and I removed some items from the car.  I went to the impound lot the next day to get the rest.  I learned a few things and thought I would share them with you.

 

Passing Down Knowledge

I’m a bit embarrassed to say I don’t think we did a good enough job explaining to Logan what needs to be done after a car accident; how to get and use the escape tool (not that he could have reached the old one), how to cut the seat belt, how to break the glass, how to get into the trunk to get blankets or flares, if needed.  We didn’t explain that we call police first and then parents and we didn’t go over how to contact AAA.  Thankfully, a police officer from one town over was driving by at the time and saw the entire accident.  He contacted local police.

 

Car Kit

I keep a fair amount of supplies in the trunk.  There was damage to the trunk from the accident and it wouldn’t open.  The back window was blown out and I didn’t want to leave my gear in the car.  Luckily my back seats fold down to allow trunk access.  The accident happened very close to home.  If it had been more remote, it could have been longer for the police to arrive.  Knowing the kit that contains warm blankets (it’s still 30 degrees here) was there was a comfort.  As I mentioned, I don’t know that I have shown Logan how to get into the trunk that way.  You can bet I will now.

 

Topsy Turvey

We have the rescue tools shown below in the side pockets of the driver doors on both vehicles.  They will cut seatbelts, smash a side window and have a few other features.  We kept them in the pocket so that if we needed them, they would be within reach.  I hadn’t considered a rollover; I found the rescue tool in the back seat, well out of reach from the driver.  I have since replaced it with the ResQMe Car Escape Tool.  It is very light weight and fits on a key chain, so it WILL be within reach if needed.  It is designed so you can just pull it down to separate it from the keys.  You can then cut diagonally through the seatbelt.  To break the car window you just push one side of it into the window and a spring loaded pin will shatter the glass.

Old Rescue tool

ResQMe Car Escape Tool

Final Thoughts

Things could have been so much worse.  I know God was watching over the entire scene.  I am glad we had the opportunity to learn these lessons now, to have the chance to make changes that could make a big difference in the future.

 

A quick update on the Preparedness Club; I had a software meltdown, leading to uninstallation and the purchase another product. Which led to me being locked out of the blog for almost 24 hours. There is a good chance I’ll be ready to launch on Monday but it might be later next week.

Have a great weekend,

Chris
 
 
The First Things To Disappear

 

 

I did a post last year called ”The First 100 Things to Disappear. It’s a list someone else came up with. I just added my $.02. Camping Survival recently came up with a list called The Top 50 Things to Disappear from Store Shelves during an Emergency”. For theirs, they asked their facebook fans what they thought were the emergency supplies that stores were most likely to run out of when people start to panic. They then compiled and shared them.”

I think both lists are useful for finding things you hadn’t thought of. Take a look and see if you have any holes in your preps.
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Today’s article is a repost of an article written by Rob Richardson of Off Grid Survival called 7 Very Real Reasons to Start Prepping.

 

 7 Very Real Reasons to Start Prepping

We often get comments and emails from readers asking how they can convince their friends and family to start prepping.

From friends and family members that truly believe the government will save them during a time of crisis, to those that have been brainwashed into believing that preppers are all  tinfoil hat wearing nutjobs, prepping can often be a touchy or even taboo subject to talk about.

Here are 7 reasons that might help convince your friends and family that it’s time to become a prepper.

1. Unemployment

According to the most recent numbers, the actual unemployment rate in this country is close to 22%. The average time it takes to find employment is at a record high of 39.2 weeks. Even those that see little value in prepping for a SHTF situation should understand the need to prep for the possibility of being hit by unemployment.

Prepping isn’t always about preparing for an end of the world scenario. It’s also about being prepared for those small scale events in life that can feel cataclysmic if we’re not prepared

2. Economic Problems

You don’t have to buy into the possibility of a total economic collapse, but you should at least realize that our country is in big financial trouble. With over 16 trillion dollars in debt, and unfunded obligations that make the actual debt number about $120 trillion, it doesn’t take an economist to see that we are in for some major trouble in the months and years ahead.

3. Natural Disasters

A number of people woke up real quick after seeing what happened during Hurricane Katrina. In under 24 hours, the city of New Orleans became a prime example of how quickly civilization could break down. Before our eyes we got a glimpse of what would happen during a full scale collapse; as people took to the streets to loot, riot, rape and even murder their fellow citizens.

4. It’s just like buying Insurance

Some people find the subject of prepping to be a little bit out there. When I come across these people, I often ask them if they have health or vehicle insurance. In my opinion, having a dedicated section in your budget for prepping is no different than buying vehicle insurance or a health insurance policy.

5. Shooters, Lunatics and the Extreme Fringe of Society

While active shooter situations and terrorist attacks are still pretty rare, it’s a phenomenon that does seem to be increasing in regularity. From the recent mass shootings to the growing number of terrorist attacks around the globe, these events do happen and they are something that we need to be prepared for.

6. The Cyber Threat

Our society is becoming increasingly dependent on cyber technologies; but according to Cyber Security expert Eugene Kaspersky, co-founder of the Kaspersky Lab, that dependence has left us extremely vulnerable. In fact, he is warning that emerging cyber threats could spell “the end of the world as we know it”. The threat is real, and the threat has the ability to set the world back 200 years in a matter of days.

7. The Pandemic Threat

According to Jason Tetro, a microbiologist and coordinator for two research centers at the University of Ottawa, the Emerging Pathogens Research Centre (EPRC) and the Centre for Research on Environmental Microbiology (CREM), “the world is becoming increasingly more likely to see a major (pandemic) event.”

When that happens, it will affect our infrastructure severely. By not having the human resources to work, protect and maintain our antiquated infrastructure, things will begin to rapidly deteriorate and leave us even more vulnerable to attack.

 

Do you live in a state that is too liberal and/or oppressive?  Have you given any thought to moving to a state that is more in line with your values? More and more people are doing just that; voting with their feet.  In this article I’ll cover some of my own struggles and list some resources that might help anyone else who might want to move to another state.  I also ask any of you who might have input to please add it, so that those of us considering voting with our feet and moving to a new state might have an easier time of it.

As some of you might be aware Trudee and I started looking for a new home last fall.  The goals were a lower house payment and, hopefully, ten acres or more.  We haven’t had much luck, mostly due to the fact that I work from home and need a low latency high speed Internet connection.  Since we’re looking in more rural areas because we want 5+ acres, satellite is often the only option and satellite just won’t work for my job.

We started looking for houses on ten or more acres and dropped it down to five when we weren’t finding anything.  We started to find some properties, but as soon as we would tell our Realtor to book a showing, she would tell us they accepted an offer.  We have now gotten to the point where there isn’t a single house on the MLS in our price range, with any acreage, that doesn’t require extensive fixing up.

I’ve grumbled about not liking Minnesota for years.  It’s just too liberal for me.  Last week Trudee made a comment along the lines of “maybe this is God’s way of telling us we should move out of state.”  I’ll not get into the reasons why I want to move out of Minnesota, as that isn’t what this article is about.  If you’re truly interested, send me an email or post in the comments.

We had a couple serious conversations about it.  We did a bit of research to find which states are more conservative and found this poll from Gallup ranking the top ten most conservative and liberal states.  Last week, Jack Spirko from The Survival Podcast talked about this subject in a listener question episode 1078.  He also mentioned he was starting a new forum called Walking to Freedom, a place that will list ten of the most oppressive states and ten of the most liberty loving states.  This forum will be a place to speak to others in states you’re looking to move to and from.

Jack posted an article titled “You Don’t Have To Live Like This” the next day.  In it the author is telling his readers that many people are leaving states that are not business friendly for states that are.  He lives in Florida and is making a case for people to move there.

Looking for a house in Minnesota is hard enough!  We look on the MLS, take a look at the property on Google Maps to make sure it’s something that meets our requirements and then I check to see if high speed Internet is available.  If it is, we ask the realtor to book a showing.  We’re often told that the seller, often a bank, has accepted an offer.   I have a hunch that people are making offers without seeing the house in person because Trudee keeps a close eye on the MLS.  The houses that we do go see are often not a place we would live for various reasons.

 

How Do You Vote With Your Feet?

In Minnesota, I know the parts of the state that are more rural, the parts that are a little too rural and have a general area of where we would like to live.  Researching another state would be a must, and this is where a forum like Walking to Freedom will come in very handy.

Let’s say you find an area you would like to live and even find a house for sale.  How do you go through this process when you can’t go see the house in person?  Once you find the house, Google Maps is a huge time saver.  We have used it to rule out several homes.

We went to see seven or so houses, and after seeing them in person we ruled five out.  One was ruled out due to lack of internet and one we were out bid on.  My point is that the realtors put the best pictures of a house on the MLS.  We had to set foot in five to rule them out.  How would you go about ruling out houses?  Trudee mentioned possibly finding a realtor willing to walk through the house with a smart phone running Skype or a similar program that would let us see the house and interact with the realtor.  Can you think of any other options?

If you work from home and need an Internet connection with less latency than Satellite, finding a viable ISP may be problematic as well.  It took me a week or two of searching to get familiar with the Internet Service Providers that service different parts of the state I live in.  Just doing a Google search often only yields the big names like Comcast or Century Link, and might not list a perfectly viable but smaller ISP.  I have found a newer technology called WIMAX, which is a wireless connection, sent much like a cellular signal.  Since these WIMAX antennae are often located on water towers or other things of similar height, the signal doesn’t have to travel to a satellite and you can see speeds of 5+ Mbps with low latency.

Because of our situation, we may end up staying in Minnesota.  Heck, we may end up staying where we live now!  What about those of you who live in states that don’t hold the same values you do?  Would you consider voting with your feet?

 

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Today we have a guest article written by Marie Ortiz.

 

Mothers make for the best preppers, plain and simple: we are always prepared for daily emergencies. We prep every day for ourselves, our children, and husbands. We make sure that every member of our family is aptly prepared for whatever the day might bring.

Part of the reason why mothers are so great at organization and planning is because we have experienced the horrors of what happens when we are unprepared. Our family relies on us for stability, and we have the means and know-how to take it to the next level: survivalism.

Listed below are some basic instructions for mothers who are interested in prepping. Note: this is only a simple outline, prepping is a lifestyle and requires intensive daily work and preparation.

 

Make a Plan

The first step to being a survivalist is to make a plan. As mothers, we are natural planners and preppers, so this part should be a piece of cake. It’s crucial to make a family plan in case of emergency and familiarize everyone with it. The most critical part of a disaster is how you respond to it in the first few minutes.

Make a list and create two sections: things you must buy and things you must do. For example, having clean water is essential for survival, so plan for a water softener installation at your home. Buy a fire extinguisher. In the “do” section, plan to replace your batteries in your smoke detector and teach your family members about emergency procedures.

 

Make an EDC

EDC stands for “Every Day Carry” and it’s what most of us moms have on our person anyway: it’s what we refer to as a “diaper bag”. While you can buy a survival kit at a store, it is much more rewarding to be able to customize your own.

A good entry-level EDC consists of things like your phone, a knife, spare cash, and a watch. To be even better prepared, include a flashlight and a multi tool. If you would like your EDC kit to be more comprehensive, include medicine, alcohol wipes, and other medical tools.

 

Start Couponing

You’ve seen television shows about extreme couponers. If it’s really as easy as they say it is, give it a try. It can help you stock up and get organized.

Granted, in a “bug out” situation where you must leave your home, you’ll leave most of your stash pile behind. But that doesn’t mean you can’t help your neighbor who might not be as prepared as you. In the event that you must hunker down, you’ll have enough food and supplies to last at least a year.

 

Prepare Your Car

If you are a mom of two or more, your minivan is probably already stocked with your everyday needs. But here’s another idea: when your car gets to ½ a tank, fill it up. You never know when an emergency situation will happen. You’ll want to have a full tank of gas.

 

Get in Shape

As mothers, we always hear that “it’s never too late to get in shape.” If you’ve been procrastinating on starting a workout regimen, now’s the time to get serious.

If you can’t fit in a workout routine to your schedule, implement a healthier diet for you and your family. The Paleo Diet is a good idea for survivalists. It’s also referred to as the Caveman Diet, and consists of fish, grass-fed meats, eggs, vegetables, fruits and nuts.

 

Start a Garden

This is a great way to learn about being self-sustention; it’s also a good way to learn the seasons for growing plants.

The more knowledge you possess about planting and growing, the better you’ll fare when you’re out in the wilderness on your own.

 

About Marie

Marie Ortiz is a prepared mother. She is a social media coordinator by day and blogger by night. She is a mother to two girls and is always working on new ways for them to develop and learn. She likes to share all of her discoveries along the way. When she is not perusing the Internet for inspiration, you can find her at the local farmers’ market. You can check her out at www.DIYMother.org

 

 

“…have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

 

Since man walked out of the Garden of Eden, we have kept all kinds of animals as pets.  I believe owning a pet, having dominion of it, gives you the responsibility to feed and care for it come rain or shine.  In our preparedness walk Trudee found this link covering Disaster Preparedness for your pets.  If you have pets I strongly suggest you read it, as I’ll only touch on a few points, and add some info I think is lacking.  I want to make one special note, you can get free window decals from the ASPCA that you can use to list the number and type of pets in your home.  This is a good idea just in case of fire when you’re not there.

 

Pet Food

We store two 35 pound bags of dog food in a 30 gallon metal garbage can. We have a plastic bin that we keep the food we’re feeding them with near the kitchen.  When that runs out, I take the top bag and dump it in the plastic bin.  When we get a new bag of food that goes to the bottom of the metal can.  If you have big dogs you may think of keeping two metal cans.

 

Bugging out

I have said it before, staying home is the best option for the vast majority of events.  But if you’re forced to bug out, please have a plan for your pets.  When we went through CERT training, the emergency manager stated that they would allow pets in, however if they were not chipped, they would be on the spot.  Keep in mind that not all shelters will allow pets, so finding a shelter, relative or a hotel that will allow animals is a good idea to do now, before it is needed.

We have a small BOB for each of the dogs attached to our BOB.  It contains an extra collar and leash, collapsible bowl, some vacuum sealed food and toys.

We also have one of the larger metal cages that, in an emergency, we would stick in the back of our SUV, safely containing the dogs.  Keeping them safe and out of the way would let us keep the doors open without worrying that one or all of them would take off, avoiding an even bigger problem.

 

Pet First Aid

If your pet is on medication, you should try to have a few extra weeks set aside, and be rotating it.  There are several first aid classes available, just search for one in your area.  I was also able to find this page online that covers some general steps in pet first aid..  There is also a smart phone app for $4.99.  I have not used it but there is a seven minute long video that explains the app in more detail.

 

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