Urban Survival - Urban Pathfinders
https://thehomesteadinghippy.com/
Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble.” (John 16:33) The Bible also says, “We also boast of our troubles, because we know that trouble produces endurance,” (Romans 5:3)
Preparing in advance to survive trying times is just insurance. It is better to have and not need it, than need it and not have it.
There are many websites that talk about planting gardens, storing up water, shelf-life of different foods, things you can barter with, etc. So this websites offers things that are a little different, things you probably haven't read or thought about before. It also includes things that may be a different slant on what you possibly will need, or need to do, to survive.
Why Prep in San Antonio?
1. Power Outage (https://www.offthegridnews.com/grid-threats/texas-electricity-shortage-predicted-summer/),
https://offgridworld.com/snipers-attack-california-electrical-power-station-take-out-17-transformers-in-less-than-20-minutes/)
2. Solar Flare (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0vQamAY064)
3. EMP's (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CUI27Qfu7E)
4. Shifting of polar caps (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a54ztE3Xo14)
5. Water Supply terrorism through chemical or biological warfare or infrastructural sabotage ( http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3340643/t/us-water-supply-vulnerable/#.XJWs8ihKiUk)
Should Christians prepare for hard times?
No one knows for sure what’s going to happen. All we can do is make educated guesses.
Christians tend to have two differing opinions for the answer to the above question. One camp holds to the view that Christians should simply “trust God” and it cites the command God gave the Israelite's in Exodus 14:13 to “stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.” The other camp believes Christians should prepare for trying times in the future and it cites the example of Joseph storing up quantities of grain in Egypt when Pharaoh’s dream warned there would be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. (Genesis 41:46-49, 53-57)
Surely any Christian would make sensible preparations if they lived on a coastline and knew that a strong hurricane was approaching. If Christians live in tornado country anyone would logically head for a basement or shelter if you knew a tornado was heading for your city. While we hope that our homes will be safe from all sorts of disasters, we buy homeowners or renters insurance to guard against such hazards. If you were on a coastline and heard a tsunami warning for your city, you would surely “head for high ground” as quickly as possible! If Christians take such reasonable measures to prepare for any impending natural disaster, why should they not also make reasonable preparations for any other potential crisis?
Preparing is not against God's word. Prepping is what we do every day. For example, your wife goes to the store and gets enough food for a few days worth of meals. That's prepping on a smaller scale. Now, if you came home and there was no dinner and the shelves were bare and your wife said to you that God would provide, well, that's probably not going to happen. Why? Because God still expects us to work and provide for ourselves. "The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat." (2 Thessalonians 3:10)
When it comes to prepping, the Bible specifically tells us to take action and not be lazy. Proverbs 6:6-8 tells us: "Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest." So, even the lowly ant is commended for storing food. How much more should we, who are created in God’s image, do? In contrast to the wise ant, the “sluggard” is severely scolded: "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man." (Proverbs 6:10-11).
Noah didn’t wait until it started raining to build the ark. "As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them." (Genesis 6:21)
Even Jesus told his disciples to pack a preparedness bag: "He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one." Luke 22:36
If nothing else, we want to leave our children and grandchildren prepared (Proverbs 13:22), not just with material goods, but with useful skills, trade-able commodities, and strong healthy lifestyles. "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous." Proverbs 13:22
There are plenty of other passages in the Bible that implore us to prepare for the unexpected, for without preparation how could we grant provision to our families in bad times?
“Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth.” Ecclesiastes 11:2
“A wise man thinks ahead; a fool doesn’t, and even brags about it!” Proverbs 13:16
“But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” 1 Timothy 5:8.
"The wise store up choice food and olive oil, but fools gulp theirs down." Proverbs 21:20
"The preparations of the diligent surely lead to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty surely to poverty." Proverbs 21:5
“And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.” I Thessalonians 4:11-12
"Sluggards do not plow in season; so at harvest time they look but find nothing." Proverbs 20:4
"Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer." Proverbs 30:25
Why You Need Skills More than Stuff You Hoard
Preppers have a bad reputation for hoarding gear, stocking up on a year's worth of food, and packing bug out bags that could supply a platoon. In almost all cases, these preppers would be in trouble if there were a disaster or SHTF.
Why? Gear and supplies are useless unless you still have it when you need it, and as people in the military have experienced – in emergency situations, things don’t usually go as planned. There are inherent costs associated with collecting stuff that extends past the initial purchase price. The inherent costs are researching, storing, protecting, repairing, maintaining, carrying, etc. And, if something like a regional disaster hits your area, you may be surviving with only what you have on you at that moment and all that stuff you purchased will be useless.
We're not saying you shouldn’t go out and buy stuff in advance of something happening. Starting a fire with something like a magnesium/ferro fire starter is much easier than by rubbing two sticks together, so those things are really good investments. But if you lost that thing, would you still be able to start a fire? What we are saying though is that sometimes it’s better to learn a skill than to buy more stuff.
Let’s look at an example.
During hard times, store bought alcohol gets very popular because most people don't know how to make their own. It can be used to run vehicles, sterilize wounds and supplies, give you a buzz or just used as a form of underground currency. With it you can trade for other things you need to survive. You may be thinking that you should stock up on gallons of alcohol (let's say vodka) so you’ll have it if SHTF. So you go out and buy two cases and store it. Then the economy collapses one day and you are forced for whatever reason to bug out. Can you really carry two cases of vodka with all the other stuff you’re taking? Maybe you can but it comes at the cost of other important stuff you could have carried instead.
But let's say you do have stored two cases of vodka and you weren't forced to bug out. You can drink it or trade it, but once it’s gone, it’s gone. Now how do you survive with no skills, your food and water running dangerously low, and no vodka to trade?
Instead, what if you learned how to make vodka?
What’s that? You say that sounds way too complicated for you to figure out? That’s because you haven’t learned how to do it. But, if you’d invest some time into learning how to make alcohol instead of just buying it, it won’t seem all that difficult anymore. And you’ll have a great new hobby that you can share with your friends or help you make new friends. And if you end up having to leave your home without your alcohol, or it gets taken or broken, so what? You don’t have to pack anything. It’s in your head. You just figure out how to procure or make whatever you need and then voila!
Some other things you should learn about are:
- Medicine - By medicine, we don’t just mean pills and stuff, but how to fix people. Do you know how to recognize the symptoms of internal injury? Would you know when to use the veterinary antibiotics that you stocked up on this last year? We’d suggest you start looking into (after some basic First Aid) how to make your own medicine. Just like alcohol, if you can make medicine, you won’t have to carry or stock it, and you can use that knowledge to either barter for goods you don’t have or use yourself.
- Hunting and gathering - Sure it helps if you pack a gun with ammo and your fishing pole with string and hooks, but do you know how to use all that stuff? Tracking animals takes some skill. Trapping them can take even more. And if you got yourself a deer in the woods or a squirrel in you back yard, do you know how to field dress it, skin it, butcher it and store the meat? There are things to learn about what to do once you actually manage to grab or kill something you’re gonna eat. And there are also a lot of uses for animals outside of just eating them.
- Homesteading - Do you have the ability to do such things as: make soap, raise and butcher farm animals, grow crops, store food, make food such as butter and cheese out of basic components, make clothing, get energy off the land, and a LOT more.
- Self-Defense - Having a gun is pretty useless if you don’t know how to use it. Take some time to learn how to defend yourself. Learn how to fight, how to shoot, how to take care of your weapons, how to make ammo, all that stuff. Figure out what you’d need to know that you can learn now. You may not be able to learn it in time then.
- Basic Survival - There are many ways to start a fire with wood and friction, and you may know ten methods off the top of your head but have you ever tried to do it? It’s not nearly as easy as it sounds. In basic survival, you also need to learn things like how to build a shelter, how to find and filter water, how to signal for help and how to protect yourself from the elements. There are many different ways to do these things but if you know enough of them, you can just look at what you have available around you and adapt it to your needs without having to only be able to do it like they taught you on a video.
- LDS Preparedness Manual – This book has a lot of information for people who would like to be prepared to bug in instead of bug out. It was written by several members 0f the LDS church so there are a few pages of religious information in it but the majority of the book by far is information on being prepared, and they do a good job with it. (https://thesurvivalmom.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/LDS-Preparedness-Manual.pdf)
- The Encyclopedia of Country Living, 40th Anniversary Edition: The Original Manual of Living Off the Land & Doing It Yourself – This book has a LOT of good info in it.
- The Survival Medicine Handbook: A Guide for When Help is Not on the Way – Great book that covers a lot of what you need to know if someone needs medical attention but there isn’t a doctor or hospital around.
- Medicine (Re-establishment of medicine is going to be a very big objective-and this link like some of those above, leads to many sublinks.)
- One Second After – This book is good for getting you in the mindset of what could happen if SHTF. It’s set just after an EMP hits the US and explores the changes in society and how people deal with things once normal life changes.
- How To Build An Underground Greenhouse And Have Food All Year Round
- Beginner’s Guide to Dehydrating Food at Home
- How To Plan Farmer’s Calendar All Year Round – 11/14/16
- How To Survive In A Car When It’s Freezing Cold
- Making Bread and Storing and Preserving Food (Without modern packaging such as freezing and tin cans)
- Creating Alternate Energy (Details for many methods including running an engine on wood )
- Keeping Machinery Functioning (Hundreds of pages on basic principles and simple machinery)
Solar Still
Find some nearby vegetation. Leaves, grass, branches with leaves, or any other plants. All vegetation must be green and alive at the time of obtaining. Once you have all your vegetation, which should be a fair amount, you can place it in your bucket or trash can. Then place your container or 12 oz. cup in the middle of the bucket on top of and in the center of the vegetation. Take your trash bag and put it over the bucket. Then use some small rocks and put it in the middle of the trash bag which will push the bag down a bit. Use the duct tape or string and wrap or tie it around the bag to keep it in place.
Take your bucket outside and find a sunny spot to leave it in. If it is not a sunny day, place it in a non-shady area. Leave the bucket there for at least a day, if not more. If it is a sunny day it will work faster. After time, go check your bucket. Take the bag off and see if there is any water in the cup. There should be a fair amount of water. Be sure to filter and/or boil any water collect from the wild. You may want to have set more than one solar still at a time.
How does it work? The vegetation has water within its system. Once it is plucked from the ground or a tree it dies. When you put it in the bucket and you seal it, the heat of the sun or day beats on the plastic and sides of the bucket. Inside of the bucket will get very warm, causing the water to evaporate from the plants. The water goes up unto the air and it then hits the trash bag. It then turns into drops of water. The water begins to slide down the bag. It goes down to where the small rocks are weighing down the bag at. It then drops off the bag and falls unto the cup. The cup then begins to fill up.
Finding Water in a City
Your body loses water through normal body processes (sweating, urinating, and defecating). During average daily exertion when the atmospheric temperature is 68 degrees Fahrenheit, the average adult loses and therefore requires 1/2 to 2/3 gallons of water daily. Other factors, such as heat exposure, cold exposure, intense activity, high altitude, burns, or illness, can cause your body to lose more water. You must
replace this water.
•A 5 percent loss of body fluids results in thirst, irritability, nausea, and weakness.
•A 10 percent loss results in dizziness, headache, inability to walk, and a tingling sensation in the limbs.
•A 15 percent loss results in dim vision, painful urination, swollen tongue, deafness, and a numb feeling in the skin. It may also result in death.
A daily intake of 1/8 gallon of a sugar-water mixture (8 teaspoons per gallon) will suffice to prevent severe dehydration for at least a week, provided you keep water losses to a minimum by limiting activity and heat gain or loss.
The most common signs and symptoms of dehydration are--
•Dark urine with a very strong odor.
•Low urine output.
•Dark, sunken eyes.
•Fatigue.
•Emotional instability.
•Loss of skin elasticity.
•Delayed capillary refill in fingernail beds.
•Trench line down center of tongue.
•Thirst. Last on the list because you are already 2 percent dehydrated by the time you crave fluids.
People are under the false impression that their tap water, and even bottled water and water produced by home filtration systems is "pure". It isn’t. Treated city tap water is still loaded with many types of suspended pollutants, chemicals, toxins and other contaminants. Bottled water is usually plain tap water that has been minimally filtered only to get rid of the bad odor and taste. And home filtered water, (even reverse osmosis), is not pure either. Many microscopic contaminants make it through the filtering process to end up in the water you drink. And filters become clogged and neglected and can turn into breeding grounds for bacteria.
When we drink impure water, the body acts as a filter, trapping the inorganic minerals and other impurities that are suspended in the water. The build up of harmful substances in the body can cause great harm including disease and even premature death.
But finding clean water has to be a priority for survival in an urban survival scenario where larger concentrations of people and unhygienic conditions breed disease very quickly. That's why you need to carry both a pocket sized hack-saw and a decent sized pipe cutter. These could be really useful in urban scenarios where you’ll encounter a lot of pipes. Let’s not forget that PVC pipes also have a lot of uses pre and post-disaster as long as you can cut them to the desired length.
The human body needs approximately two gallons of water per day on average for hydration, cooking, and hygiene. You could of course skip a towel bath, but you still need a steady supply of water or you will become dehydrated. Go without water too long and you die, usually in three or four days. And, irregardless of where you find water, make sure you filter it, disinfect it, and then boil it before you drink it. This will ensure you are drinking clean water without contamination or diseases.
How do you disinfect water? Add 1/8 teaspoon (8 drops) to 1/4 teaspoon (16 drops) of bleach per gallon of water (3 to 5 drops per quart). Then put this bleached water in a appropriate sized pot and bring it to a roiling boil for at least five minutes. After boiling, let it cool. Next put it in clear plastic bottles and leave them in the sunlight for a few hours. This technique kills the bacteria and microbes that cause diarrhea and other waterborne illness.
Or you can use wine to purify water. Since ancient Bible times, water was often insufficiently pure to drink untreated. By mixing 1-part red wine to 3 parts water, a limited level of purification was achieved. In modern laboratory tests, bacterium was in fact killed using this method. In these laboratory tests, red wine ranked 3 to 4 times more effective than other alcoholic beverages, probably due to the phenol compounds in the red wine.
However, these disinfecting techniques do not remove minerals, solids, or metals from the water. Only disinfecting and distillation will do this. Disinfected and distilled water is the healthiest water you can drink. When the disinfected water is heated beyond boiling temperature, it becomes sterilized steam. As the water is vaporized, it leaves behind all the waterborne contaminants such as viruses, bacteria, organic and inorganic chemicals, heavy metals, cysts and other contaminants. As the pure vapor is cooled it is transformed back into it's original liquid state, except it has left the chemicals, toxins, pollutants and other contaminants all behind. The water can then be used immediately or stored for future use until you are ready to enjoy a glass of 100% purified, refreshing and great tasting water.
Chances are you've already drank all of the water that was found in obvious places like water heaters and storage tanks on backs of toilets. And because you're in a city setting no one living around you has a swimming pool that you can get water from. So, where else can you find water?
- Snow and Ice – If you are where there is snow and ice, you can melt as much water as you need.
- Ground – You have probably heard the hiking adage that if you are lost you want to make your way downhill, then down river as all rivers flow to a town. Well, I don’t know if all rivers do lead to a town, but I do know that water flows to the lowest spot. Find places where water runoff accumulates, forms trickles, then streams, then rivers. Dig along this bed for water that could be a couple of feet or more underground.
- Leaves - You could wrap a clear plastic bag over the leaves of a bush or tree to collect condensation, but I don’t believe you would get enough water to live like this for very long. But it could be a good supplement to other water you find.
- Dew – You can also collect water from the dew in the morning by spreading plastic on the ground the night before. However, like bags over leaves, this would only supplement other water you find.
- Manufacturing Plants - Large manufacturing plants have water reservoirs on the roofs in some cases for their fire systems.
- Commercial Sprinkler Systems - Sprinkler systems in retail and manufacturing buildings are loaded with water that could be used in an emergency. The kind you can see above your head are easier than the ones buried underground.
- Other Sources - There are many other sources like water towers, fire hydrants, break room water coolers, swimming pools, hot tubs, fountains, aquarium tanks, air conditioning evaporator traps, water fire extinguishers and on and on.
- Stagnant water is not suitable to drink even if you can boil it. Toxins, like staphylococcus, are heat resistant.
- 4-way Sillcock tool will be useful in an urban area. You’ll find restricted water many places. Next time you are out, start looking on the exterior walls of businesses, Malls, large buildings and even rest stops and you’ll quickly notice the secure restricted water spigots. All it takes is one inexpensive tool to make that restricted water accessible to you all.
Self Defense Guns
It is, without a doubt, better to be judged by 12 rather than carried to the grave by 6.
It has been said by wise men that “the most powerful weapon is the mind.” Even great generals respect the power of the ability to either avoid a fight or end a fight before it has begun. The biggest reason why you will have to acquire some kind of a gun is because intruders and unfriendly visitors will most likely be carrying them.
It is better to live peacefully with folks than use force, but when all else fails, it’s nice to have a little firepower on your side. Therefore, it is important that you learn defensive rifle, shotgun, and handgun tactics. These tactics will help you get your rounds in the targeted unfriendly invader. It will also teach you the warning signs in the event that a conflict is about to ensue.
Keep Knives Sharpened
If you don't have a file or wet stone, use the bottom of a ceramic mug or pot to sharpen a knife.
Keep a dog
A big dog, not one that wears a pink ribbon and sits on your lap. A dog that will alarm you of and scare away intruders, not one who becomes the intruder's best friend. If you don't want to keep a dog, then put a large dog bowl on your back porch. Would be burglars would likely choose a better house, one that didn't have the dog bowl. Can that work on your front porch also? Maybe hanging a really large dog collar and leash along with a sign that says "My Best Friend is a Rottweiler".
The Cane as a Weapon
Nothing you own is worth more than your life or well-being. If violence is unavoidable, however, to really defend yourself, you'll want to know ahead of time how to fight back effectively—which is even possible even against someone bigger or stronger than you. Defending yourself with a cane is like fighting someone holding a baseball bat, and bone does not win when it comes to the cane. Whacking an attackers ears, elbow or wrist joints, bridge of the nose, or throat with that cane would cause pain at a threshold high enough to allow small amounts of time to mount an escape, get that pistol or can of mace out of your purse, or prepare yourself for an even more aggressive counter attack. And the cane can also offers great protection against dog attacks, which are as dangerous as they are common.
There is no fair fighting in a fight for your life or the life of one of your loved ones. But to take the appropriate defensive action unless it has to be successfully ingrained by repetition. This means you need to practice your defensive options.
Vulnerable points exist all over the body (knees, head, heart) but remember that the greatest number of vulnerable points exist from the collarbones up. Within this relatively small area of the neck and head you have:
• Two carotid arteries that feed blood to the brain.
• The windpipe, which is the airway for breathing.
• The spinal cord, which controls all motor skills for the body.
Your attacker may be three times your size, but if you take away even one of these functions, the fight is over. This is why you must concentrate the full force of your attack on the face and neck area.
Generic Security Alarm Stickers
Don’t put a sticker on your window that tells which type of alarm system you have installed because a lot of intruders know how to easily deactivate the alarm before the alarm goes off. Instead, put up a sticker that warns of the alarm but doesn’t tell say which one or which kind (plugged into to home electrical outlet, wireless, remotely activated, etc.).
Put bio-hazard signs on your doors, windows and fences
That should scare them enough not to not want bother you from fear you might have something that they could catch also.
http://www.crystalgraphics.com/powerpictures/images.photos.asp?ss=biohazard+symbol
Block Windows and Doors
Move large, heavy furniture to block your windows and doors.
Use a Siren to scare away home invaders
Many bull-horns have a "siren" feature that can be turned on. Now your bull-horn becomes a loud "police-like" siren; once turned on, this could fool home invaders into thinking they had triggered a home security system, causing the home invaders to flee. Consider using it at the first sign that a home invasion is taking place.
Trash your Front Yard
Make your house look like it’s looted by throwing clothes and furniture outside on your property. That will give a general consensus that this home has already been looted. Why do this? Because if you decide to fortify your home without making it look like someone has already stolen everything of value, most likely, you will bring unwanted attention. Gangs, criminals, and starving neighbors will simply wait it out until someone comes out and either kills or kidnaps that person.
What to do when someone breaks into your home
If you wake up to a burglar in your house, you first reaction is probably to hide under the bed as quickly as possible. That's not the best approach. Instead, barricade your bedroom door, call the police, and listen closely for the burglar. If they approach the door get out of a window and leave if possible. If flight isn't an option, grab a pistol or shotgun from room and attack if they try to enter. Don't wait for them to make the first attack. If you do, it may be too late.
Steel Interior Door
Replace the hollow wood door for your "safe room" with a steel one that is harder to break through. If you can afford it, replace all of your interior doors with steel ones just in case you get caught by surprise and can't get to your "safe room" (which is usually your bedroom because that is where you'll be asleep in when intruders normally attack).
Finding Food Around Town
Assuming the classic scenario of empty store shelves and fish ponds that have been fished out, finding food in a crisis is going to be tough. Everyone already knows about these locations and they will be looted early in a disaster. So you need some new ideas. Some good locations where the masses won’t be looking (at least initially).You want to focus on places that the masses have never thought about. Places such as distribution centers, manufacturing sites, schools, or building construction sites. And let’s not forget pigeons and doves. When you and your family are starving to death, you may not have a choice but to consider them. Pigeons and doves are abundant in cities and hunting them isn’t that hard as long as you have an alternative weapon such as a slingshot or an airsoft rifle. Of course, a bird trap will always be the most effective. And those of us who lived in the "field" in Vietnam during that war know all too well that you can eat dogs and cats too.
Churches that give food to the needy might have lots of canned food in the kitchen and closets.
Literally every city is full of free, delicious, edibles growing around town that will give you very nutritious meals in addition to your stockpile. And a lot of them are on public property; if it’s on public property, you can take it. But remember the following when collecting wild plants for food:
Plants growing near homes and occupied buildings or along roadsides may have been sprayed with pesticides. Wash them thoroughly.
Here are some plants you can pick for your next meal…..Dandelion Greens, wild spinach, ground ivy, malva, clover, burdock, chickweeds, crabapples, wild grapes, and many more. Stay away from any plant that has.....a bitter taste, thorns, beans or seeds inside pods. They may be poisonous.
Learn the Universal Edibility Test
People often believe that there is nothing growing in a city that can be eaten but this is far from true. There are lots of flowers, shrubs, trees, and other plants that offer edible food. A few examples are dandelion's and acorns from oak trees. You just have to know where to look and how to test to make sure it's edible.
You might have heard the old rule of thumb that you should follow animals around and eat what they eat, but that's not a foolproof method because some animals can eat things that are harmful to humans. In order to find if a plant is edible, you need to test it. You can follow the Universal Edibility Test, which requires you to first cook the plant and then place a small piece of plant against your lip for three minutes to see if you notice any burning, tingling, or other reaction. Then do the same thing for 15 minutes to your tongue, and finally chew it in your mouth in your whole mouth but don't swallow it. Discontinue testing if you notice any reaction at any time. Now you have to wait for eight hours before you know if the plants safe to eat and, even then, it's still remotely possible a plant can poison you. (http://www.wikihow.com/Test-if-a-Plant-Is-Edible)
To avoid potentially poisonous plants, stay away from any wild or unknown plants that have--
- Milky or discolored sap.
- Beans, bulbs, or seeds inside pods.
- Bitter or soapy taste.
- Spines, fine hairs, or thorns.
- Dill, carrot, parsnip, or parsleylike foliage.
- “Almond” scent in woody parts and leaves.
- Grain heads with pink, purplish, or black spurs.
- Three-leaved growth pattern.
If you're more of a berry fan, you can follow a simple mnemonic to remember which berries are edible: White and yellow, kill a fellow. Purple and blue, good for you. Red… could be good, could be dead. If [red berries are] growing in little clusters, they're probably not good. If they're growing in little singletons(like strawberries), they probably are good. Like the edibility test, the mnemonic isn't fool proof, but it's useful if you have no other options.
Before eating any “weed” you find, please be very, very certain that you have identified whether or not it is safe to eat. Even if that means going the extra mile to use the Universal Edibility Test, PLEASE use caution when foraging from your hometown. Many weeds are delicious. Others can be deadly.
Raise Chickens
Chickens are good sources of meat and eggs, are easy to care for, and can be kept in coops even in small back yards. Six to twelve chickens (with a rooster) will produce all the eggs (and then some) that a family would need.
The eggs are tastier and fresher than any store eggs. Egg shells, along with the chicken poop, can be tossed right into the compost pile. To buy chickens you can go to a "Tractor Supply" store or a feed store among other places. You’ll need a coop which many folks build out of two-by-fours and chicken wire, with some kind of roof covering the whole thing.. It has to hold a feeder and water containers and a nest box for every three hens. Hens will lay as long as they have 12 to 14 hours of daylight, usually through spring and summer and well into the fall. Expect to collect eggs daily, or even twice a day. All year ‘round, you’ll have to remove manure from their coop.
Chickens are sociable, so plan to keep four to six birds. They’ll need space—at least 2 square feet of coop floor per bird. The more space, the happier and healthier the chickens will be; overcrowding contributes to disease and feather picking. They will also need a place to spread their wings, so to speak: a 20x5-foot fenced-in chicken run, for example.
To feed chickens, buy a high quality feed specifically formulated for laying hens from your local feed store. Expect each laying hen to use about ¼ lb (half a cup) of commercial chickens food a day.
Keeps Eggs Fresh for Months
If you want to make sure you are never without fresh eggs, don’t worry, you can preserve eggs with mineral oil!
- Warm 1/8 cup oil in the microwave for about 10 seconds. (this much will be able to do about 2 dozen eggs)
- Make sure to have eggs in a shell that are dry.
- Put your gloves on!
- Rub a little oil in your hands and then grab an egg.
- Coat entire egg with oil doesn’t matter how thick or thin.
- Make sure not to leave any exposed areas, cover completely with the oil!
- Once the egg is all lathered in oil, make sure to place it in the dry egg carton small end down!
- Short-Term Storage (up to 3 months): Store at regular temperature.
- Long-Term Storage (about 6-9 months): Store them in a cool, dark area – Ideally between 65-68 degrees & 75% humidity
- Extra-Long Storage (9-12 months): Store in Fridge
How do you know if the eggs go bad? Play the Sink or Float game!
- Sink = egg is still GOOD
- Float = egg is bad BAD, do not use it
- Control pests in your garden. Scatter crushed shells around your plants and flowers to help deter plant-eating slugs, snails, and cutworms without using pesticides. Plus, deer hate the smell of eggs, so the shells also help keep Bambi away from your begonias.
- Start Seedlings. Fill eggshell halves with potting soil to prep seedlings for the garden. Try starting a dozen tomato seedlings in carton on your windowsill before transplanting them to the garden in the spring.
Store wheat berries instead of flour.
Wheat berries have a shelf life of 20 years, while flour only lasts for a few months. Wheat berries are the whole grain form of wheat - the whole, complete grain before it has undergone any processing. Note: the more finely ground it is, the more easily you can substitute one-for-one instead of all-purpose flour you buy in grocery stores. The flavor will be fresh and almost nutty, and the texture will be totally different than bread made with commercial flour.
Don’t attract hungry people.
If there is a food shortage where people are actually going hungry or even starving, avoid eating things that have to be cooked and opt for foods that can be eaten right out of the can or box. If you do cook, don’t cook with spices because of the strong smells they put out. And do all your cooking late at night when most people are asleep. You don’t want the smell of your food attracting dangerously desperate people.
Grow high calorie foods
When people start their own gardens, they usually like to grow easy foods like squash, tomatoes, cabbage, and other common vegetables. The problem is that most of these don’t provide many calories. When gardening, try growing high calorie foods like nuts, beans, corn and potatoes. These are vegetables that will fill your belly and keep you from feeling hungry for a longer period of time.
Getting Home when Disaster Strikes
This is a big problem for most urban survivalists. How on earth are you going to go home if you’re stuck on the other side of the city and all the main roads are flooded? Well, you have to do your due diligence beforehand and know a way to get home from just about any other point in the city. You do that by actually walking or driving through those roads so you familiarize yourself with them.
The roads could be blocked due to any number of reasons. The trick is to know all the secondary routes that could get you out of there and try them. Or use railroad tracks to get home. Most of them are probably not going to be that crowded anyway. You should have detailed maps of showing you where each of them leads to. Do family drills to make sure that even your kids know how to get safely home too.
The More Tactical You Are … The More Of A Target You Will Be
Normal people who may turn into home intruders in order to survive will look at how you present yourself (how you dress, survival gear in clear view, listen to you talk about what you have stockpiled, etc.) and make their determination on whether or not to break into your home while you are gone. And, if mass disarmament starts to take place, guess whose doorstep the authorities will be visiting first? If your preparations stand out, it’s you. To protect yourself, take the following procedures: conceal all weapons and survival gear on you, remove all military logos to your clothing, gear and vehicles, keep your bug-out bag out of public view, avoid eye contact with other individuals, and wear normal looking clothes.
Don’t Put All Of Your Eggs Into One Basket
In addition to having an emergency fund, you will also want to have gold, silver and other hard assets. It is also a very good idea to keep a limited amount of cash at home in case you can’t access an ATM during a major emergency of some sort. Keep all these assets hidden around your home in places where they'll be hard to find by invaders.
Start begging
What? Start begging for food and water even though you have enough of it? Yes, if you don’t want to let people know that you’re doing well, you’re gonna have to start acting like them. Besides, you may actually end up getting it.
Don’t burn your trash
Trash will be a problem, particularly if you live in the suburbs or cities. Burning it in your back yard might not be a good idea since the smoke and smell will attract people who will want to know what’s going on. Having trash is a sign of food.
There are lots of ways to deal with this: you can bury it, you can re-purpose some of the items (cans of food can still be used to store things etc.) and you can even use food scraps as compost for your garden. If you feel you really need to burn your trash do it really late at night (like 3am) Since most people are sleeping, you stand a smaller chance of getting noticed at night than in the daytime.
Natural Raccoon Repellents
- Ammonia is a powerful deterrent to raccoons as they do not like the smell whatsoever. Pour a small amount directly into your garbage cans or near areas where they have been known to travel around your property.
- Another great way to protect your garden is to mix together a cayenne pepper solution that you can spray around your vegetables. This has a double benefit of helping to repel certain insects and other vermin as well. Combine about ¼ cup of cayenne pepper with an equal amount of hot sauce and mix with a gallon of water. Shake vigorously and pour the mixture into a spray bottle.
There May Be Environmental Hazards
Compared to a rural environment, there will probably be significantly more environmental hazards in an urban crisis environment. There will be things such as burning debris, toxic smoke and leaked chemicals that could all pose dangers to your safety. Consider investing in sturdy shoes, long-sleeve shirts and jackets, eye protection, hearing protection, surgical gloves, and good respiratory protection. Always carry on your person enough alcohol wipes for you and your children.
Unusual Ways to Start a Fire
- Gum Wrapper and Battery - A foil gum wrapper and a battery can make a small flame that you can use to get a fire going. You can use any size cylindrical battery, but most people use AA batteries. Just cut the foil wrapper so that the middle is about 1/4 as thick as the ends. Touch the foil side to the bottom of the battery, then touch the other end to the top of the battery, and the narrow part in the middle will catch fire. Make sure to do this really close to your tender so it catches fire also. Watch the video to see it done. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LAunryCu9c)
- Steel Wool and Battery - This is similar to the gum wrapper method. Just stretch the steel wool so it reaches the positive and negative terminals, and it will create enough energy to set the wool on fire. The easiest way is to use a 9V battery (like in the video below) because you can easily touch both terminals to the steel wool at the same time.
- Chocolate and a Soda Can - Simply rub some chocolate on the bottom of an aluminum can, then polish it with a paper towel or cloth until it’s nice and shiny. After that, you can use it as a reflective tool to aim a beam of sunlight at your tinder. Before long, the tinder will catch fire. Then add wood to build a fire. If you don’t have any chocolate, use some toothpaste instead. Watch the video to see how this works. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTdY-dOYvSA)
- Flashlight - Remove the top lens and pull out the reflective cone that the light bulb sits in. Place a bit of dried grass or dry moss where the bulb would normally sit, and place the cone in direct sunlight. The reflection of the sunlight will heat the tinder and cause it to start burning.
- Eyeglasses are essentially a pair of magnifying lenses. They can be used to collect and focus sunlight into a concentrated beam of light that can easily ignite tinder to start a fire.
- Make your own tinder by covering cotton (cotton balls, dryer lint, maxi pads, etc.) in paraffin wax or petroleum jelly. A Ziploc bag full holds plenty for even an extended outing and weighs next to nothing.
- Doritos and most other snack chips are highly flammable and make great tinder.
Keep warm
No need to freak out about freezing to death.
- Buy a small magnifying glass. It doesn't have to be an expensive one so long as you'll be able to focus the beam of sunlight onto something to get it to ignite and burn.
- A small pocket knife or an ordinary manual pencil sharpener and some twigs can provide you with instant tinder should you find yourself in need.
- Cities provide you with lots of things you can burn or otherwise use to keep warm. You can find plenty of newspapers, cardboard, junk mail and wood chips to burn and keep yourself warm. Wrap the paper up into a role and soak the roll in water to compress it. Let it dry out in the sun. This technique will make it burn longer, keeping you warm for a longer time.
- You can also burn asphalt to keep warm and even cook on it!
- An old hobo trick is to stuff your clothes with crumpled newspaper. They would also use newspaper underneath their blankets at night.
- Wool or fleece blankets are probably the best ones to keep you warm. Avoid cotton if possible because, although it is cheap and better than nothing at all, it is horrible at insulating.
- If you have to sleep on the floor of your house or even on the ground outside you can lay Mylar emergency blankets down under you (you absorb much more cold through the ground than the air) and also on top of you, making a sandwich of thermal blankets around you before putting another type of blanket over you too. One of the problems with mylar is it can trap condensation from your body’s sweat, and that is a bad thing to happen in cold weather. Layering them between blankets prevents this.
Places to Scavenge
Just like hunting, the resource run should be scouted first. You should find your location and scout it thoroughly. Spend a few hours there under the cover of camouflage to ensure safe passage. Once you are satisfied you can, either enter the location or head back home to grab your complete resource run tools.
1) Abandoned business parts and small offices - loads of tools and gear, often overlooked
2) Distribution and trucking centers - possibly food, tools, supplies
3) Junkyards - not the first place that comes to mind when people are in survival mood
4) Used car lots - try the smaller, off the beaten path locations
5) Abandoned homes - options to try, however the home may look abandoned but still have inhabitants, proceed with caution
6) Cell towers - minimal tools or gear, but possibly a great vantage point to establish for future use
7) Self-storage Facilities - If you have time to pry open all of them, it might be worth it. You probably won’t find any food or perishable items, but there’s a chance you’ll find some clothes or useful gear and equipment.
Cheap Solar heating
Have an old satellite dish? Coat it with mylar or aluminum foil to reflect and focus sunlight and practice cooking, boiling water, making char cloth, and starting fires with it. This will get HOT…hot enough to burn you, so be careful. Don’t have a satellite dish? Look for them in dumpsters and on the curb on big trash pickup days. This will also work with old full sized satellite dishes or parabolic dishes as small as a Coke can. The bigger the dish, the hotter they’ll get.
How to Siphon Gas During an Emergency
Siphoning gas is illegal, and this is not intended to condone or promote this type of activity. However, there may be a time when you are faced with a life threatening situation, and you need to tap into fuel in order to safety.
The sucking method is the easiest but also the most risky, because it’s very easy to end up getting a mouthful of fuel. The trick to using this approach is to use clear tubing that is long enough to create a loop near the end where the fuel will drain into the container. The loop will serve as a safeguard that will get the flow of fuel started without the need to force the fuel too close to your mouth. Once the fuel has entered the loop, all you need to do is unwind the tubing and angle the end downward so it is at a point below the vehicle tank. If you can't find any clear tubing to use then a length of garden hose will do also, but be prepared to get a mouthful of gas with this type of tube.
Use superglue to close wounds
Although you’re probably better off using something like Dermabond, superglue can also be used in emergency. Depending on the severity of the gash, it could take several bottles. Be warned: it might sting a little and some people could have an allergic reaction.
Ways to Disinfect Wounds and Prevent Infections
- Garlic is one of the most common and potent natural antibiotics available. In an emergency, peel and crush a garlic clove and rub it directly onto the open wound to disinfect it and help prevent infection.
- The high citric-acid content in lemons, limes, and grapefruits can help to disinfect wounds.
- Mouthwashes are designed to kill this bacteria and can work as a topical anti-bacterial agent in an emergency.
Store your batteries longer
If you have batteries in something like a radio or flashlight that you won’t use for a while, there’s a good chance the batteries will be dead by the time you need them. Wrap the batteries in plastic wrap before putting them in the device. This way they’ll keep their charge longer.
Ways to Disinfect Wounds and Prevent Infection
How to Keep Your Gadgets Charged when you not at home
If you’re out for most of the day—especially if you’re using maps and GPS a lot—your phone is probably going to die. When you have a car, you can charge your gadgets as you drive. If you're walking, you might have to get creative.
The easiest option is to get an external battery pack. With one of these in your pocket, you can top off your phone whenever you need it. The major downside with a battery pack is that it’s an extra thing you need to charge at night if you want to use it consistently.
Use a portable generator with caution
Never use a generator inside a home, basement, shed or garage even if doors and windows are open. Keep generators outside and away from windows, doors and vents. Read both the label on your generator and the owner’s manual and follow the instructions. Any electrical cables you use with the generator should be free of damage and suitable for outdoor use. If you can afford it buy a solar powered generator; you won't have to worry about it running out of gas or diesel.
Paper clips
There are dozens of uses for paper clips, from lock picking to using them as a worm hook, zipper pulls or even to make a small chain.
Go old school
Start thinking about how people used to get along before all these modern conveniences. Next time you visit the flea market or a yard sale, keep an eye out for hand push lawnmowers, hand crank mixers, manual can-openers, clothes lines, solar powered generators and tools, and so forth.
Children's Education
Regardless of the type of crisis or disaster that may strike, your children still need to be educated. The local schools might close down or it might become dangerous to take your children there. This means that you may have to start homeschooling them yourself. The ability to teach your own children can make a huge difference in their future. Start now, before it's too late, to find ways you can give your children a good education if the power grid goes down and you don't have internet access.
Cash is King
Now is a great time to put aside some emergency cash in your home. You won’t be earning interest on it but it will be accessible in a true emergency. Ideally you’d like to keep it in a fireproof safe. In terms of how much, consider at least 1 month worth of living expenses (more if you have the means). Remember, in a world without electronics (EMP, Cyber attack), debit and credit cards become worthless plastic.
When people store cash they get $20s and $100s and sock them away. Remember, when a crisis happens, making change may not be as easy as it is now. Have small bills and more importantly, coins on hand to be able to pay the exact amount. And remember, the dollar bill may become very risky as it could be worth less over time with rising inflation. Have some gold/silver to purchase your staples if necessary.
Controlling Diabetes when no Medication is Available
Apple Cider Vinegar - According to Professor Carol Johnston PhD, working on the subject of vinegar and diabetes with her research team from the department of nutrition at Arizona state university, apple cider vinegar slows the rise of blood sugar levels after you have eaten a meal and when taken at bed time, vinegar lowers morning blood sugar levels. (http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/27/1/281.full) Apple cider vinegar is considered safe, so if you have diabetes, it may be worth trying. Dilute apple cider vinegar in water to prevent stomach irritation. Steer clear if you have ulcers or kidney problems.
Cinnamon - Researchers are finding that cinnamon reduces blood sugar levels naturally when taken daily. If you absolutely love cinnamon you can sprinkle the recommended 1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon on your food throughout the day to achieve the desired effect. You could also mix cinnamon into your apple cider vinegar to add flavoring to it. If you are not that big a fan of cinnamon there is another alternative…cinnamon capsules. This gives you the recommended cinnamon dose all in one tidy capsule. (http://www.jabfm.org/content/22/5/507.long)
Green Tea - Green tea contains polyphenols, which are antioxidants.
The main antioxidant in green tea is known as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). Laboratory studies have suggested that EGCG may have numerous health benefits including:
- lower cardiovascular disease risk
- prevention of type 2 diabetes
- improved glucose control
- better insulin activity
Stinging nettle may lower blood sugar, so it could strengthen the effects of drugs for diabetes, raising the risk of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). It is also used for urinary tract infections, hay fever (allergic rhinitis), or in compresses or creams for treating joint pain, sprains and strains, tendonitis, and insect bites. (http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/stinging-nettle) You can brew stinging nettle leaves in boiling water. Let it boil for about five minutes, and then simmer for two more. Drink daily. Just be sure to check with your doctor since nettle can interfere with certain pharmaceuticals.
Vitamin E is the body’s premier fat-soluble antioxidant. It improves glucose control and protects blood vessels and nerves from free radical damage, which is accelerated by the diabetes. Studies have shown that high doses of supplemental vitamin E may even reverse damage to nerves caused by diabetes and protect against diabetic cataracts and atherosclerosis. When taking vitamin E, take only the natural form of it. You can tell it’s natural if it’s listed as d-alpha-tocopherol or d-alpha-tocopheryl. Synthetic vitamin E is listed as dl-alpha-tocopherol or dl-alpha tocopheryl (note the “l” in dl).
Remain in your home as long as you can because it’s the easiest place to survive – but you must also know when it’s time to execute “Plan B” and get the hell out of Dodge.
Lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina
Gangs of looters, drug dealers, and criminals were running rampant. The silence each night was broken intermittently all night by the punctuation of small arms fire going off randomly all around the area. Criminals and looters were preying on residents who had remained and survived. They were also preying upon one another. The police and the army had incidents throughout the nighttime hours.
Whole families were forced to live on rooftops of houses. Interstate Highway 10 was used as a “collection point” for people evacuated from the city. They were in the blazing sun during the day and the tepid, humid, summer night after dark. There was very little water and virtually no food. Deaths occurred at these locations often, and the survivors were usually packed so closely together they were forced to sit and lie within their own excrement.
At night, one could see fires all over town. UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters were patrolling, and they passed overhead frequently. Survivors killing the animals for food, this was happening all across the city. The Army and the Coast Guard brought in MRE’s and water, but it wasn’t enough and the situation was deteriorating rapidly.
- Pack essentials first, then luxuries. Many of these folks had packed mattresses off beds, comforters, cushions, bathrobes, etc. As a result, their vehicles were grossly overloaded but often lacked real essentials like candles, non-perishable foods, water, etc.
- Don’t plan on fuel being available en route. A large number of people had real problems finding gas to fill up on the road. With thousands of vehicles jammed nose-to-tail on highways, an awful lot of vehicles will need gas.
- Traffic will move very slowly, the roads will be clogged, you’ll be exposed out in the open, and you’ll be practically stuck for hours if not days. Bridges, tunnels, highways — everything could be closed off by law enforcement and military personnel.
- Have enough money with you for at least one month. Many of those who tried to get away from the hurricane had very little in cash, relying on check-books and credit cards to fund their purchases. Guess what? Their small banks were all off-line, and their balances, credit authorizations, etc. could not be checked - so many shops refused to accept their checks, and insisted on electronic verification before accepting their credit cards.
- Don’t rely on government-run shelters if at all possible. Your weapons WILL be confiscated (including pocket-knives, kitchen knives, and Leatherman-type tools); you will be crowded into close proximity with anyone and everyone (including some nice folks, but also including drug addicts, released convicts, gang types, and so on); you will be under the authority of the people running the shelter who WILL call on law enforcement and military personnel to keep order (including stopping you from leaving if you want to); and so on. Much, much better to have a place to go to, a plan to get there, and the supplies you need to do so on your own.
- There will be large numbers of evacuees and nearly all of them are now unemployed, and won’t have any income at all for possibly the next six to twelve months. Once they start getting government emergency aid it won't be enough to feed their families, pay their rent and pay all their bills. How many of them will rely on obtaining from others the things they need? How many of them will feel “entitled” to obtain necessities any way they have to, up to and including looting, murder and mayhem?
- Have account numbers, contact addresses and telephone numbers for all important persons and institutions. You may end up having to notify others of your change of address... doctors, insurance companies (for medical, personal, vehicle and property insurances), bank(s), credit card issuer(s), utility supplier(s), telephone supplier(s), etc.
- Have portable weapons and ammo ready to keep you secure. Firearms for personal defense come first, then firearms for life support through hunting (and don’t forget the skinning knife!). A fishing outfit might not be a bad idea either.
- One of the first infrastructure items to be repaired will be the cell towers and having a charged cell phone will be a lifeline like no other. But because you might be without electricity for a month or more, your batteries will be exhausted and any rechargeable appliances will be dead as door-nails. However, nowadays, there are great alternatives to keep cell phones powered off the grid through a mini solar panel. These are a good and relativity inexpensive investment to make before disaster strikes you and your family.
- Electricity will be restored first to hospitals and vital government facilities like police and fire stations. Then it will be restored to important lines of commerce like grocery stores and gas stations. After all that has been restored it will then be restored to subdivisions and individual houses. Before you can get your power turned back on to your home, you may have to wait for the power company to come out and inspect you electrical hook-ups because they may have been damaged by the event. This, theoretically, could take weeks. And good-luck if you have to get an electrician to do any work before the power company will turn your electricity back on. Electricians will be so busy that it may also take weeks before they can come to your home to do the repairs. Remember, once the power trucks have left your area, it is going to be much more difficult to get them back again.
- Be ready to make temporary repairs to missing shingles on the roof, damaged windows, etc. Have some plywood, a few 2x4s, some plastic tarps, batting boards, duct tape, nails, and so forth around. Make sure you have some traditional non-power tools...a handsaw, hammer, ax, pliers, phillip's head and flathead screwdrivers, and an old eggbeater style hand drill.
- Debris creates flat tires for quite some time after many events. Have a tire plug kit and a 12 volt DC compressor in each vehicle you may use.
Survival Tips for Outdoor Living
- Carry some aluminum foil in your "get home" bag. If can't get home and the ground is damp or wet and you can’t get a fire going lay out the foil and you will have an instant dry platform to build your fire.
- Large rocks placed around a camp fire will absorb heat and, even when the fire dies down, they will still radiate enough heat to keep you warm. Also the small hot rocks can be placed in a cup of water and the heat from the rocks will begin to boil and purify the water.
- A foil blanket duct taped to the inside of a outdoor shelter (tent, tarp, etc.) can massively increase the heat potential of your shelter.
- A disposable rain coat or poncho can be manipulated as a make shift shelter. It can also be made to create a solar still to gather and purify water, and it can collect rain water for drinking.
- If you feel you are getting a blister take a big piece of duct tape and place directly over the area, the tape will eliminate the friction and stop blisters from forming. If you do get a blister thread a needle and thread through the blister to drain it and the thread will keep the holes made open and soak up any left over moisture. With this method your blisters will heal faster.
- Raising both arms up into the Y position and back down erratically is the internationally recognized distress signal.
- Just because you see an animal drinking from a water source, that does not mean the water is safe for you to drink. Most animals have the ability to eat and drink things that are harmful to humans. So make sure you still purify any water before you drink it.
- If you lose your knife or machete you can make a sharp edge by smashing 2 rocks together.
- A gorge hook is one of the simplest fishing hooks known to man, and has been used since the beginning of recorded history. Simply whittle a short piece of wood to a point at each end (like a toothpick) and a groove in the center. Then tie string or fishing line tightly around the groove and embed the hook into your bait. When a fish swallows it and tension is applied, the hook will turn sideways, lodging in its gut, making it easy to pull your next meal in.
- Use a safety pin to create a instant fish hook.
- Use safety pins to connect blankets, bags or clothes to create shelter.
- When you split a match you get two chances to light a fire or a candle. This is a way to conserve your resources in case they are needed later..
- Knowing how to tie good camping knots is an invaluable skill for survival anywhere. (http://www.wildernesscollege.com/camping-knots.html)
- Most people don’t have an air compressor in their vehicle so how can they repair a flat tire if they are out in the country? A short-term solution is to cut small holes into the sidewall and stuff the tire with grass until the tire is relatively firm. Drive a lot slower than you normally would until you get back to safety, then you will have to replace your tire with another one—there is no repairing this—but the key is that it will enable you to get home.
Native American Lessons
Native Americans crafted their own survival tools, built their own fires, made their own clothes, foraged for their food and hunted their prey all by hand and were able to survive and thrive based on necessity alone. Would someone like you or me be able to do the same if we were put into such a hostile environment, say from a natural disaster, a EMP attack, or whatever? Developing these skills and techniques can transform our abilities to survive if we're forced to live off-grid, both in a city or in the countryside.
- Never take from nature more than you have need for.
- Predicting weather based upon the clouds. High, vague or wispy clouds are a indicator of clear weather. Puffy clouds with flat bottoms that are higher than their width are a good indicator that a thunderstorm is coming. A ring around the moon is also a indicator of a thunderstorm.
- Little things like standing downwind so that animals would not smell them, hiding in trees or flat against rocks would give them an advantage when hunting. They would also blend into the terrain near where prey would be present and wait for the perfect opportunity to strike.
- Learn the footprints of different animals (https://www.manataka.org/page245.html)
- If you cannot create a fire because you might be detected by bad people, you can also make jerky with the meat that you have gotten by exposing it to sunlight and wind. Salt wasn’t used as a preservative like it is now. Fat will make the meat go rancid, so lean cuts are used.
- Native Americans also used a variation of beef jerky known as “pemmican”. It combined the nutritious fat and protein of the animal with things like dried fruit and herbs. If made right, pemmican will last a lot longer than beef jerky.
- For sunburns they would apply cabbage juice to the sunburn area.
- A fish spear is a long, straight stick that has sharp points and barbs on one end. Eight to ten feet is a good spear length to allow you to reach out into a pond or creek. It can be created by smoothing down a branch and carving points and barbs onto one end. A small wedge tied in place with string or plant fiber cordage keeps the points spread apart. The sharp points and barbs can then be fire hardened for increased durability.
Now don’t get squeamish, guts are used for a lot of stuff – Europeans used sheep guts for instrument strings, catgut was used for sutures and sausages were stuffed in, yep, you guessed it. Bones were used for tools or were broken apart to get at the fat rich marrow. Antlers were used to make stone arrowheads. Animal teeth were used for decoration on person and clothing. Those double rowed chestplates you see on Native warriors was actually made from bird bones. Beads were made from clam or mussel shells.
On red meat is the tough white coverings called sinew. Modern butchers call this ‘silver skin’ and it’s removed by the butcher. Natives would dip stone arrowheads into the glue made from animal hooves, attach it to the spear/arrow and wrap sinew in the glue to give it strength. Bowstrings were made from the sinew along the backbone of large animals.
Skills and Topics to teach:
http://www.modernsurvivalonline.com/Files/books/FM_21-76-US-army-survival-manual.pdf
http://www.equipped.com/fm21-76.htm
http://www.survivalebooks.com/usmilitarymanuals.html
~ Survival Psychology: lessons learned from actual survivors.
~ Survival kits and specialized gear for desert & mountain environments.
~ Wilderness medicine overview: common back-country ailments/injuries and personal med kits.
~ Primitive & modern fire-making methods.
~ Concealment shelters. ~ Heat & cold related injuries and prevention methods.
~ Finding water in the desert & purification methods.
~ Signaling for rescue.
~ Wilderness Hazards: rattlesnakes, scorpions, flash floods, etc...
~ Traps, snares, and edible/medicinal plants.
~ Mountain Survival & High altitude concerns
Size up the situation
Use all your senses
Remember where you are
Vanquish fear & panic
Improvise
Value your life
Act like the natives
Learn basic skills
Do you know how a burglar thinks?
Ever wonder what goes through the mind of a burglar?
Here's what I'm looking for to make your house my next target:
- Before picking a house, I have to scope the whole neighborhood. To do this, I'm not going to be walking in the traditional cat burglar uniform. I'm going to be walking around with a rake or dressed up as the cable, electric, or phone repairman. In some cases, I even post a flier on your door for a closer look. Usually my work hours are from 8AM-11AM. I want to avoid any kind of confrontation.
- I like high privacy fences. This way, your pesky neighbors can't sneak up on me or call the police. I also look for any sort of high vegetation, like trees or shrubbery, covering your windows. This way, they can't see me break your window. I prefer lots of cover.
- Toys or playground equipment in your yard are signs that kids live there, which to me equals a mother lives there and "cha-ching" that means jewelry.
- I'll post a flyer on your door to get a closer look of your home. I'm also checking to see if you have a burglar alarm.
- I'll knock on your door to see if anyone is home. If someone answers the door, I'll just come up with some bogus story.
- I'm going to check if the front or back door is unlocked. Sometimes people usually hide a key somewhere easy to access.
- If I can't find a key, I will check the windows. If worse comes to worse, I'll just smash a window.
- I can also get into a home through your doors using my trusty crowbar.
- If I can't make it into your house in one minute, I just move onto the next one.
- I always use the same search pattern. I go straight to the master bedroom. I look for cash, jewelry, or anything that might be valuable. People often make the mistake of leaving money or jewelry in the most common areas. I'll even look under the bed and in your closets.
- I'm always listening for outside noises. It's a sixth sense.
- I check your bathroom medicine cabinets for any narcotic prescriptions. Pills are easy money.
- I'm going to check your kitchen and living room for electronics, credit cards, car keys, and personal information.
- After I have gathered everything I need, I call my backup driver to meet me so we can load up all the goods in the car or van.
- Once I have loaded all the goods, my associate and I drive away to the next target. It's a never-ending cycle.
And that's it folks. It usually takes me about eight to twelve minutes to get in and out of your home. It's as easy as that!
Survival Info On-line
http://bushcraftusa.com/forum/
U.S. Army Survival Manual http://www.modernsurvivalonline.com/Files/books/FM_21-76-US-army-survival-manual.pdf
U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy First Aid Course http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/fm4_25x11.pdf
U.S. Air Force survival course http://www.hulu.com/survival-school
Survival Skills Reference Videos http://www.primitiveskills.com/resources/survival-skills-how/
A-Z of Bushcraft & Survival skills http://blip.tv/bushcraft
https://wildernessawareness.org/resources/articles
Survival Fishing http://www.m4040.com/Survival/Skills/Hunting%20and%20Snaring/Fishing.htm
10 cent Survival Knife & Saw http://www.m4040.com/Survival/10_Cent_Survival_Knife/10_Cent_Survival_Knife.htm
Wilderness Survival Quiz
http://www.m4040.com/Survival/SurvivalQuiz.htm
http://www.wilderness-survival-skills.com/wilderness-survival-quiz.html
Video's
Survival Life Hacks Compilation #1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybyHcWynSx4
#2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUtdE2G6_ww
Plastic Bottle Survival Hacks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUi2_AwDnqE
Survival / Prepping Studies
Unfortunately, most Americans simply are not prepared for much of anything.
For example, a large percentage of Americans do not even have enough savings to get them through a single financial emergency. According to one recent report, approximately 44 percent of all households in the United States are just one unexpected event away from financial disaster.
Most American families do not have much food stored up either. One recent survey discovered that 55 percent of all Americans have less than three days supply of food in their homes.
Could that possibly be accurate? Do people really keep that little food in their homes?
Another survey asked Americans how long they think they could survive if the entire electrical grid went down and there was no more power for an extended period of time. Incredibly, 21 percent of those who responded said that they would survive for less than a week, and an additional 28 percent of those who responded said that they would survive for less than two weeks. Close to 75 percent of those who responded said that they would be dead before the two month mark.
Defense Production Act of 1950
This affects personal hoarding of "Scarce Materials". In other words, this is how the government can legally confiscape your gold and silver.
“Sec. 102. HOARDING OF DESIGNATED SCARCE MATERIALS [50 U.S.C. App. § 2072]
In order to prevent hoarding , no person shall accumulate (1) in excess of the reasonable demands of business, personal, or home consumption, or (2) for the purpose of resale at prices in excess of prevailing market prices, materials which have been designated by the President as scarce materials or materials the supply of which would be threatened by such accumulation.”
The wording implies that the government can take action against those that start to hoard once something gets scarce in a crises, but notice that there is no provision for acknowledging or exempting stockpiles that were accumulated before something was declared scare. That’s what is dangerous about this wording. And there are severe penalties for getting caught “hoarding,” regardless of when your supplies were purchased:
“Sec. 103. PENALTIES [50 U.S.C. App. § 2073] Any person who willfully performs any act prohibited, or willfully fails to perform any act required, by the provisions of this title or any rule, regulation, or order thereunder, shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.”
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