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Author: Gaye Levy

I grew up and attended school in the Greater Seattle area. After spending many years as an executive in the software industry, I started a specialized accounting practice offering contract CFO work to emerging high tech and service industries. Awhile back I abandoned city life and moved to a serenely beautiful rural area on on San Juan Island in NW Washington State.

These days I call Arizona home and am actively pursuing the purchase of a mountain retreat along the Mogollon Rim.

As you may have noticed, I am a bit of a glamourista but hope you do not hold that against. me. My bug out bag includes makeup and other items to make me look and feel good if SHTF.
Wake Up to Our Bill of Rights

Wake Up to Our Bill of Rights

Today is Bill of Rights Day and yet the most basic of civil liberties are being denied or taken away. Wake up to our Bill of Rights before they are gone.

Are you mentally prepared for a world where the SHTF?

Are you mentally prepared for a world where the SHTF?

The survival mindset is key to being mentally prepared for SHTF. Today the Survival Woman shares her thoughts on coping in a world gone mad.

Preparing for An Emergency with Limited Space and a Limited Budget

Preparing for An Emergency with Limited Space and a Limited Budget

The Survival Woman reviews How to Prepare for Most Emergencies on a $50 a Month Budget .

5 Things You May Not Have Thought of When Planning for an Emergency

5 Things You May Not Have Thought of When Planning for an Emergency

Today I share a list of things you may not have thought if when planning for an emergency, a short term disaster or a SHTF situation where you will be on your own totally off grid. 5 Things That Will Be Useful if the SHTF.

Bug Out Bag Basics: Cooking Outdoors Using a Solo Stove

Bug Out Bag Basics: Cooking Outdoors Using a Solo Stove

Today I am going to share with you the results of testing the amazing little Solo Stove and offer up some suggestions for including such a stove and some related gear in your bug out bag.

Book Festival: An Interview with Glen Tate

Book Festival: An Interview with Glen Tate

Today I share the 4th author interview in the Backdoor Survival Book Festival. Glen Tate, the author of the 299 Days series of survival fictionbooks, shares his answers to my questions and is also providing one of my readers with a free copy of his book, “299 Days: The Preparation”.

The Value Proposition: Bulk Foods vs. Freeze Dried Meals

The Value Proposition: Bulk Foods vs. Freeze Dried Meals

One of the dilemmas every prepper faces is how to derive the most value out of their food storage budget. None of us want waste and none of us wants stuff that tastes bad. Of course the easiest and most economical thing to do is to stock up on the proverbial beans and rice, adding supplementation with oatmeal, powdered milk and a variety of condiments. With these few items, delicious meals can be prepared simply and there will be adequate nutrition to sustain oneself especially if garden fresh fruit and vegetables are also available.

So what about pre-packaged meals? What is the value propositon?

1 Year of Prepping: A Month-by-Month Breakdown

1 Year of Prepping: A Month-by-Month Breakdown

Ease into preparedness with 12 Months of Prepping, One Month at a Time. Here is an overview with links to each month. Jump on in at any time.

How to Score Free Homesteading, Self-Reliance and Survival eBooks on Amazon

How to Score Free Homesteading, Self-Reliance and Survival eBooks on Amazon

If you are a Facebook user, you know that I frequently post links to free Kindle e-books on Amazon. Many of these books are short, 100 pages or less, guides with advice on homesteading, making stuff, self-reliance and basic survival. Granted, some are better than others but heck, free is free.

Tips for finding free eBooks on Amazon and how to read them if you do not own a Kindle.

Six Tips for Dealing With the New Prepper

Six Tips for Dealing With the New Prepper

Over the last few days we have seen one the biggest storms in the history of the US slam into the east coast of our country. And then, a week ago, a huge 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the northwest coast of British Columbia. In the case if the former, there are – as of this writing – 62 casualties with more expected. There are still six million homes and businesses without power and the cleanup efforts will cost billions.

On the other hand, we lucked out with Canadian earthquake. Luckily, it was located a bit off shore on a sparsely populated rural island. There was a tsunami warning but the tsunami did not materialize. But can you imagine the devastation if the earthquake had occurred in nearby Vancouver or Seattle?

Why Preppers Should Be Concerned About GMO Crops

Why Preppers Should Be Concerned About GMO Crops

With all of the publicity given to the California ballot initiative on GMO labeling, I have seen little if nothing mentioned about an initiative in my little community that would ban GMO crops on our island county. And the truth is, while there are few places in the world that could remain effectively GMO-free, the San Juan Islands in Washington State is one of them.

If passed in November, an initiative measure in our county will prohibit the cultivation of crops, livestock and other organisms that have had genes intentionally modified in a way that did not occur by mating or natural recombination. We would essentially become a safe zone for non-GMO crops which in term will preserve our ability to grow and control our food supply for years to come.

So why is this important and why is this being shared on a website that promotes prepping?

Building a DIY Rocket Stove

Building a DIY Rocket Stove

Rocket Stoves are pretty neat. Common among campers and backpacking enthusiasts, rocket stoves are relatively new to urban dwellers of those that do not spend a lot of time outdoors. But wait – here come the preppers who seek fuel efficient ways to cook outdoors when the grid goes down. Not to make light of the situation, five years ago I had no idea what a rocket stove was and idea how they worked.

Ten Simple Steps Toward Self-Sufficiency

Ten Simple Steps Toward Self-Sufficiency

In a utopian world, we would be 100% self-sufficient. We would have enough food, enough water, enough power, and enough fuel, and perhaps most important, enough money to live a well-rounded, healthy and comfortable life. We would have to work hard, yes, but at the end of the day we would have the satisfaction of being able to take care of ourselves without selling out to greedsters or taking a handout from the government

The Coming Collapse of the Internet

The Coming Collapse of the Internet

A few months back when my pal George told me he wanted to write a book on the collapse of the internet I was skeptical. Yeah, I knew about the potential for an EMP but if that happened, there would be far more to worry about than the internet. And then there was the possibility of government censorship and the pulling of the proverbial “kill switch”.

A review of the new e-Book, “Broken Web: the Coming Collapse of the Internet”.

11 Steps to Living a Strategic Life

11 Steps to Living a Strategic Life

Today I am thrilled to announce that the e-book I have co-authored with my long time friend, George Ure, has been released today. The title, “11 Steps to Living a Strategic Life: A Guide to 2012 and Beyond” pretty much describes what it is about. We wrote the eBook during George’s visit in July and have been putting in the final touches ever since. And here you thought we were just goofing off!

Seriously though, our book is available starting today on our websites and also at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Education After the Collapse – A Journey Back to Little House on the Prairie

Education After the Collapse – A Journey Back to Little House on the Prairie

The year is 2018. Looking back, everything in the good old days of 2011 and 2012 seem like a distant memory. And yeah, at the time those good old days did not seem so good. But now they do. Why? The world and society as we knew it are long gone and we are left with a new world, a world without conveniences, without power and without a consistent and reliable food supply.

What I have described above, in my own words, is the scenario described in a new eBook written by Todd Sepulveda, the chief guru at the Prepper Website. In his book, titled “Education After the Collapse”, Todd describes a fictional community surviving in the aftermath of an economic collapse. It is not a pretty picture and most certainly will make you want to sit back and think (as well as ratchet up the preps more than a little bit.)

But his intent is not to scare and not to create panic. Rather, with this brief introduction, the intent is to set you on a track for thinking about an aspect of prepping you rarely hear about: the education of our children and the leaders of our next generation.