Over the years we have canned a lot of meat. Finding canned meat at a reasonable cost at the grocery store can be challenging. In the past, our freezer space…
As a preparedness-minded person, it’s easy to get tunnel vision on bug-out bags, stored food, solar panels, and all the other supplies we stock to help us feel like we’re…
A good emergency radio that can be run on a variety of power sources is something you should consider adding to your preps, so you can stay informed and entertained….
A lot of things change once you get pregnant and prepping should be one of those things. You’ll need to be prepared if there’s a possibility you or your wife…
An important rule of prepping is to identify disruptive events that could happen to you. These events are likely to be highly individualized and based on location, domestic situation, age, income, health, and a number of other factors. There are, however, twelve disruptive events that are universal. These are the dire situations we should all prepare for in one way or another. Here is a list of those events along with a plan to learn about them.
As someone who has been prepping for six years, I have learned a lot along the way. During these six years, my survival skills, food and water storage, and general knowledge have grown exponentially to the point where I have grown comfortable, if not complacent, with my preps. What was done right? And what not so good? Here are some of the lessons learned as well as a challenge to take stock of your own preparedness hits and misses.
There is always a blackout somewhere. It might be local and affect just your city. Or it could be big, manmade, caused by war, and impact your whole country. Or it could be humongous, a natural EMP event that shuts down the whole continent. For life. It is because of the potential for a blackout that I have tried to learn as much as I can about emergency lighting. In this latest Prepper Book Festival, learn about alcohol mantle lamps and enter the giveaway to win one of two complete sets of Ron Brown’s Non-Electrit Lighting Series.
Navigating through the many articles on Backdoor Survival is not always easy and for that, I apologize. One good place to start is our best of page. That being said,…
Most of us are too young to remember the Great Depression but thankfully, many of our elders have passed on personal memoirs of the era and how they survived hard times. With today’s uncertainties, it is good to recall some of the frugal lessons from the great depression. Here are twelve.
Every once in awhile, I come across something that is perfect just the way it is. It could be a list, a concept, or simply an essay on a topic…
A primer on propane for prepping with tips for integrating propone into your prepping strategy as well as suggestions for acquiring spare tanks for cheap.
Every single one of us has been in a situation where the weather forecasters and civil authorities have warned of an oncoming crisis. It might be a winter storm, a…
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.
Earlier this year, I ran across an blog post on the Directive 21 site that asked the question: What if Nothing Happens? The context was that of prepping. You know what I mean: the time, the expense, the worry, the whole shebang. Is it worth it and more to the point, will all of this effort be wasted?
Now I happen to know that a lot of naysayers out there will point to the year 2K brouhaha as an example of why prepping if folly. Myself, I like to think that I bring a very unique perspective to that particular time since, as an old COBOL programmer, I knew how the computer code of old would blow up with the turn of the millennium. I also know many people who were frantically involved in code conversions and even I provided a bit of consulting to the telecommunications industry in that regard.
So why was Y2K a non-event? I would say that the diligent preparation on the part of governments and businesses played a really huge role in insuring that our utility companies continued to work, the ATM machines continued to function and that daily life continued without a hiccup. (That is not to say that I did not have $5,000 in small bills hidden under my mattress, however.)
Coming back in to the present, we have six more months for the Doomsday 2012 events yet to unfold. And now that the end of the Mayan calendar has pretty much been dispelled, what is left?
127 Hours is a movie about real-life mountain climber Aron Ralston who slides into a canyon crevasse while climbing in Utah. His arm is pinned under an bolder and he has very little food and water. After being trapped for 127 hours, he literally cuts himself loose from danger but amputating his arm and lives to tell about it.
During his 127 hours stuck in the crevasse, Ralston must resort to his basest survival instincts. So what are the lessons learned from this true story?
1. First and foremost: Use your head! To quote Joel at Survival Cache: “Your number one survival tool is the grey matter that keeps your ears apart.”
In the movie, Aron took off on his climb in a remote location without letting anyone know where he was headed. That was not using his head! He also took very little water and food with him with no plan for contingencies. On the other hand, he figured out that the only way out was to disengage from the bolder so with much bravery, he cut off his arm.
The months seem to be flying by. And as each month passes, I feel a sense of relief that that except for a short burst of extreme winter weather, my household has not had to dig into our emergency supplies for sustenance. On the other hand, some unexpected personal emergencies have come up and with them, a renewed focus on being prepared not only for the big events in life but also the smaller events that can turn your world upside down. More about that on the Sunday Potpourri.
What are we doing in month five of 12 Months of Prepping, One Month at a Time? In Getting Prepared Month 5 we are focusing on cleaning and personal sanitizing supplies and on taking steps to establish a neighborhood community of like-minded folks that are interesting in learning about preparedness.
This is going to be an easy month so let’s get started.