Merry Christmas

Christmas is a time to reflect on family, friends and yourself. To be thankful for all we have and all we have been given. As you enjoy your time with Family and friends, look around and see where you are. Take the time to ask yourself if everything is how you want i to be. Can you do something better in the coming year than you did it is the previous one? Have you learned the skills necessary for the future?

Taking the time to examine our place in time is just a normal thing you should do everyday, and will pay off in the future exponentially.

Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy Healthy New Year from the Garden State.

Information Overload

Sometimes Information overload is a bad thing. However if you look at a library as information overload then maybe this link isn't for you. I got this link from board I read and all I could say was ....Whoa that's a ton of info so I share it with you for what it's worth:

LINKS FOR EVERYTHING

Cold Weather Survival

This past weekend was a trial for some trying to move north or south through a storm band that hit the East Coast. Remember that this is prime winter time around these parts and you'll want to be prepared for emergencies that could keep you trapped for a couple days while the responsible governmental parties get their collective heads out of the sand.

A few things that NEED to be in your car this time of year:
Water
Blankets
Road Side Emergency Kit
Jumper Cables
Snow removal tools, folding shovel, window scraper
Flashlight(s)
A Method to charge your cell phone.

Together with some simple winter preps, you will have no issues should an emergency occur while you are in your car. And remember, your car is a safe place to be when the temperatures drop.

Read more on the Basic Principles of Cold Weather Survival.

Climate change fraud exposed

They "the hackers" obtained some vital information from the University of East Anglia, here are the links to the data its 69 mb.
Leaked Data File 1
Leaked Data File 2
Leaked Data File 3
Leaked Data File 4
Leaked Data File 5
Leaked Data File 6
Leaked Data File 7
Leaked Data File 8
Leaked Data File 9
Leaked Data File 10

If anyone has been following this then you will know how this data will expose the global warming tax fraud. Next month in Copenhagen the USA along with other countries might enter into a treaty that will literally destroy our nations sovereignty. If you want more info on how this would be bad just click on this link and watch the video. It takes place at the Minnesota free market institute.

Lord Christopher Monckton Speaking in St. Paul

Emergency Water Storage

Emergency Water Storage is not difficult and with a few tips and tricks, you'll be all set for any short term emergency that crops up. Remember, Preparedness is an everyday event.

Containers that can be used for Water Storage:

Food-grade plastic or glass containers are suitable for storing water. One-, three- and five-gallon water containers can be purchased from most outdoor or hardware stores. Any plastic or glass container that previously held food or beverages such as 2-liter soda bottles or water, juice, punch or milk jugs, also may be used. Stainless steel can be used to store water which has not been or will not be treated with chlorine; chlorine is corrosive to most metals.

55 gal drums, designed specifically for water storage can be difficult to transport, if the need arises, but are of a tremendous value in an emergency .When looking for additional food grade containers, the bottom will be stamped with HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) and coded with the recycle symbol and a “2″ inside. HDPE containers are FDA-approved for food. Containers without these designations aren’t OK because of possible chemical interactions between the water and the plastic.

Clean used containers and lids with hot soapy water. Once the containers have been thoroughly cleaned, rinse them with water and sanitize the containers and lids by rinsing them with a solution of 1 tablespoon chlorine bleach per gallon of water. Leave the containers wet for two minutes, then rinse them again with water. Remember to remove the paper or plastic lid liners before washing the lids. It is very difficult to effectively remove all residue from many containers, so carefully clean hard-to-reach places like the handles of milk jugs. To sanitize stainless steel containers, place the container in boiling water for 10 minutes. Never use containers that previously held chemicals.

Continental Congress

Hello everyone,
I haven't been here in a while, but i think everyone here would be interested in whats happening in Illinois right now. There is a continental congress in session til the 21st. I wont bore you with my opinion except for that i am very much in favor of this. The federal Government has trampled on the constitution long enough!!! If you agree with this statement and value your liberty then by all means please go here http://givemeliberty.org/
The broadcast will be live starting at 8 in the morning everyday until the 21st. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.
Thanks to everyone,
Bob

Proper Documentation for your Bug-out

I have to admit I had not thought about documentation until I listened to one of the Kentucky Prepper Podcasts. Sure I had my drivers license and NJ State Firearms ID card secured and ready for transport, but I never thought about Home or vehicle ownership proof. Of course once you start thinking about that then a flood of other information comes to mind. How about a household inventory in the case of a major casatrophe?

Being a prepper means more than surviving an SHTF scenario, it means being ready for all kinds of personal tragedy and events.

A couple years ago my brother in law lost his house to a fire. The resulting arguments with the insurance company lasted years. His advice to me was to capture the entire house on video and lock it away somewhere. So that is waht I will do. A simple afternoon of wandering through the house taping the walls and belongings then storing that tape along with the mortgage documents, deed and property survey ina fireproof, weather proof, and tamper proof safe off site should do the trick.

Next step will be to make sure I have notarized copies of all birth certificates, loan papers, and other proof of ownership in my bug-out bag. I can't believe I had not covered this in the past.

Thank You matthiasj

Personal Survival Kit

Ever go out in the woods alone? Do you have a Bug Out Bag? What would happen if you were away when SHTF? Well here's an idea I picked up on while trying to make sure that all of my camping and hiking gear was good to go for the coming season. A small easy to carry personal survival kit.

I started to talk with others about what should be in such a kit and of course the usual suspects showed up, a knife, a flashlight, a mirror, first aid of some sort and well, you know lots of stuff that made the kit to big. So what to do? Hit the internet of course and what I found was a small kit that will fit into a U.S. Army Ammo Pouch and contains all the materials you will need for a personal emergency, be it lost in the woods, stuck in your car, or trying to trek home after the SHTF and the country has gone in a hand basket.

I can't take credit for inventing this kit, it's just that it impresses me so much I wanted to share it with everyone. The creator of the kit, and the author of it's website bring up a great point when it comes to building your own kit, and that is that it makes you think about each piece and why it's there. This leads to awareness and instead of getting in trouble and saying, "lets see what's in the survival kit that I can use" you say "Hey, I have just the thing to use in my survival kit". The kits contains 29 items and all fits into a tough as nails US Mil spec magazine pouch that can be had on ebay or at surplus stores for 8-14 bucks.

The Contents:
ITEM 1 - Contents, Survival Tips & Guidelines (Printed on Waterproof Paper).
ITEM 2 - Pencil & 3 Blank Sheets Waterproof Paper (notes for self & others).
ITEM 3 - Small Swiss Army Knife.
ITEM 4 - 550 lb.test Para Cord (20 ft.)
ITEM 5 - LOUD whistle!
ITEM 6 - Small Lighter
ITEM 7 - Magnesium / Flintbar Firestarter
ITEM 8 - Mini LED Flashlight
ITEMS 9 and 10 - 30ft Fishing Line and 6 Fish Hooks (15 lb test line)
ITEM 11 - 50ft Fishing Line (Hvy 80 lb test) (snares, shelter making, etc)
ITEM 12 - Mirror (Signaling, grooming)
ITEM 13 - Compass
ITEM 14 - Needles(3) and Heavy Upholstry Thread (10 ft)
ITEM 15 - Safety Pins (3)
ITEM 16 - Survival Blanket
ITEM 17 - Painter's Tarp 9'x7'
ITEM 18 - Water purifying straw
ITEM 19 - Water Purification Tablets (20)
ITEM 20 - 5 feet of duct tape, wrapped around ball point pen
ITEM 21 - Surgical Suture, Sterile
ITEM 22 - anti-diarrhea pills (4), Motrin (6) in a watertight capsule
ITEM 23 - Ziploc Freezer Bags (2)
ITEM 24 - Slingshot kit
ITEM 25 - Small Rectangular Cooking Tin
ITEM 26 - Fresnel Lens
ITEM 27 - Scalpel Blades
ITEM 28 - Fifty Dollar Bill
ITEM 29 - MilSpec Snare Wire (10 ft)

It would be wrong of me to detail the whole kit here since it's not my Idea so please head over to M40's web site and review the contents and the extrordinary details that the author has compiled to help you understand the value of making this kit.

HOME MADE SURVIVAL KIT

All Text, Graphics, Animations, Video, and Commentary on the M40 website was created by, and is the intellectual property of m4040@m4040.com

As for purchasing a lot of the content for that Kit, I went to County Comm to get most of it, then Ebay for the Ammo Pouch. I also looked around for other things and have listed the locations below. Have fun and enjoy building your own kit !

Duct Tape
Water Purification Straw
Water Purification Tablets

Fall/Winter Garden Preparation

The end of August brings your garden efforts to your table. By now your garden has finished, or is at it's end of producing fresh vegetables for your table. So now what do you do? The answer can be one of two things, or a combination of both. A fall planting of vegetables and the clean up of the garden and planting of the winter cover crop. A fall planting takes planning and there may be some time left here in NJ to get some things in the ground, but you will have to start them by seed as most garden centers around me at least, will not have vegetables started for a fall planting.
The Tennessee Preppers Network has a fantastic post regarding fall planting if your up to the task, so go ahead over and read up to get some ideas and specific types of veggies to grow. Keep in mind the first frost date of your area, below are average dates for NJ Cities:

City	Spring	Fall
Atlantic City	5/15	9/28
Hammonton	4/25	10/3
Jersey City	4/18	10/19
Millville	4/29	10/10
Newark	4/15	10/26
Newton	5/24	9/19
Shiloh	4/29	10/12
Trenton	4/15	10/23

Source: "Climatography of the U.S. No. 20, Supplement No. 1", 1988, National Climatic Data Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, and http://www.victoryseeds.com.

As for this post, I'll limit myself to Winter Cover Crops because that is what I will be starting on this weekend. First some definitions.

Winter Cover Crop

A winter cover crop is planted in late summer or fall to provide soil cover during the winter. Often a legume is chosen for the added benefit of nitrogen fixation. In northern states, the plant selected needs to possess enough cold tolerance to survive hard winters. Hairy vetch and rye are among the few selections that meet this need.

Summer Green Manure Crop

A summer green manure occupies the land for a portion of the summer growing season. These warm-season cover crops can be used to fill a niche in crop rotations, to improve the conditions of poor soils, or to prepare land for a perennial crop. Legumes such as cowpeas, soybeans, annual sweetclover, sesbania, guar, crotalaria, or velvet beans may be grown as summer green manure crops to add nitrogen along with organic matter. Non-legumes such as sorghum-sudangrass, millet, forage sorghum, or buckwheat are grown to provide biomass, smother weeds, and improve soil tilth.

Catch Crop

A catch crop is a cover crop established after harvesting the main crop and is used primarily to reduce nutrient leaching from the soil profile. For example, planting cereal rye following corn harvest helps to scavenge residual nitrogen, thus reducing the possibility of groundwater contamination. In this instance, the rye catch crop also functions as a winter cover crop. Short-term cover crops that fill a niche within a crop rotation are also commonly known as catch crops.

For my use this winter I will be planting first the new crop of Garlic, that will go in the ground mid-September. I have the peas in the ground already as I actually remembered to purchase extra seeds this past spring. But the rest of the garden will get tilled, limed and split between clover and Buckwheat. I alternate which end gets planted with which just to keep in line with rotations.

A cover crop can be seeded as soon as the vegetable crop has reached maturity and has been harvested. In fact, cover crops should be sown while the weather is still warm enough for the seeds to germinate. After that time the seed is apt to just sit dormant and not germinate until the next spring, at a time when you really don't want these cover crops growing in your garden.

There's no special soil preparation for seeding a cover crop. Simply, spade or till the soil after harvest, and sow the cover crop seed. If you have late crops in a part of the garden, then simply sow the cover crop in the space between the rows.

Source: 'Ed Hume, Ed Hume Seeds, Inc. - www.humeseeds.com

So this weekend, I will be planting clover in one half of the garden and buckwheat in the other as well as adding some green compost to the soil. Pay attention to the crops you till in this year since the Tomato blight and other fungus or pest issues that may have arisien over the summer can stay dormant in your soil and show up again next year. Better to just pull the old stuff out and burn it than to have a continuous problem. If you have farm animals, or the stuff they leave behind, winter is a great time to get that mixed in as well. My grandfather was always good about spreading Manure in the fall and I'd swear his garden never had any problem producing more food than the family needed.

Can Storage

Canned food is a good staple to keep on your shelves. Long shelf life, pest resistant, and all kinds of things come in cans. I have Bread, cheese, and bacon and you can even get whole Chickens in cans for the shelf. At the end of this post I'll put some links that people can use to purchase canned goods, but for this post my purpose is to share a few types of storage methods that I have found work real well.

First lets take a look at what most folks do in the pantry with regards to canned goods:
Now this is basically a good idea and if you have the room you can group a tremendous amount of stuff together and you'll have some basic organization. However, how do you control what is expired and what is not? Do you fish around through all those cans to get the expiration dates? Probably not and that can be really time consuming. This was my problem (although that's not a picture of my storage by a long shot) so I decided to research some ways to help me not loose inventory to expiration, and also to help me get a better picture of what it was that I needed and to stop overstocking of some items and falling short on others.

Looking at Can storage I found some very clever adaptations to the normal pantry shelf. One was a vertical storage method that fit between the joists in your wall. The good people over at Pharoah's Storehouse provide methods and instructions for clever use of the voids in your walls.

The idea here is a simple one, first In First Out, or drop them in at the top and always pick them from teh bottom. This way your stock is constant rotated and it's very clear what you are in need of or when you have too much. there are some good solutions available from this website, but as always they come at a price.
Another way to store cans with the same FIFO philosophy is a horizontal method. This is more oriented towards shelves and the racks can be stacked or even built to hold large amounts of cans. Horizontal racks look like this:These are great for shallow shelves and can be lined up side by side to store vast quantities of cans. the trouble as I see it is that the pre-made ones are expensive. they are sturdy and work well so you may be inclined to purchase these or other models that are available on Amazon and elsewhere. A solution I have decided to try is to make my own from plans I found at CanRacks.com. I have purchased the plans I need for three different shelf depths and a few different can sizes. All told I spent about 30 bucks on the plans and when they arrive I'll whip up a materials list to see what those will cost and I'll report back here to let you know. I'd like to keep you abreast of the construction as I do it with some pictures before and after so you can decide if this method is to your liking.

Either way, keeping your shelves organized will benefit you and your family by being efficient, clean, safe and will save you money in terms of correct inventory. With the fall coming up it's a great time to stock up on canned goods and you'll need the new space.

As promised here are some links for long term food:
Long Life Food Depot
MRE Depot - Tremendous selection of canned goods here
MREfoods

Of course you can just go the normal route and buy an extra 5 or 10 dollars worth of canned goods everytime you go food shopping and in just a short period of time you'll have a good supply on hand. Here's a link for the extreme length you can go: Costco

S1774

Usually I try to stay away from Gun talk because there are others that are far more knowledgeable than I. But NJ passed a law about a month ago that, depending on your interpretation, will either severely limit handgun ownership or destroy it altogether. NJ S1774 is a bill that will arbitrarily ration the sale of handguns to one per month. It passed by a disappointing vote of 21 to 15. Now, this kind of backdoor assaults on our second amendment rights is just the type of thing that makes people wary of government.

I bring this up because it coincides with the deployment of bulletin boards all over NJ that advise citizens to "Be Prepared". These advertisements are worth the money spent on them and educate folks to the value of being prepared in case of emergency, even if it's only a 3 day preparedness, it's a good start. However I look at these and see them as an acknowledgment that the government will not be there when you need them, at least not quickly and we all learned from Katrina that the government when they do show up, they will be looking to confiscate your firearms. So am I being paranoid when I see a state sponsored alert notice to "be prepared" in concert with legislation that seeks to eliminate your constitutional right to own a firearm?

Government today worries me a great deal since I think they look at citizens as useful producers instead of a collection of free minded individuals. Think about contacting your state representatives today to find out whats on their minds BEFORE they pass unconstitutional legislation.


The following text was copied from the National Rifle Association of America, Institute for Legislative Action

Please contact the following State Senators, who supported S1774 and let them know how disappointed you are in them for supporting this bill.

*

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State Senator James Beach (D-6)

State Senator Barbara Buono (D-18)

State Senator Richard Codey (D-27)

State Senator Sandra Cunningham (D-31)

State Senator Nia Gill (D-34)

State Senator John Girgeniti (D-35)

State Senator Robert Gordon (D-38)

State Senator Raymond Lesniak (D-20)

State Senator Fred Madden (D-4)

State Senator Dana Redd (D-5)

State Senator Ronald Rice (D-28)

State Senator Teresa Ruiz (D-29)

State Senator Nicholas Sacco (D-32)

State Senator Paul Sarlo (D-36)

State Senator Nicholas Scutari (D-32)

State Senator Bob Smith (D-17)

State Senator Brian Stack (D-33)

State Senator Shirley Turner (D-15)

State Senator Joseph Vitale (D-19)

State Senator Loretta Weinberg (D-37)

State Senator Jim Whelan (D-2)
*

*

Also, please take a moment to thank the following State Senators, who opposed this attack on our Second Amendment rights.

*

*

State Senator Diane Allen (R-7)

State Senator Bill Baroni (R-14)

State Senator Christopher Bateman (R-16)

State Senator Anthony Bucco (R-25)

State Senator Gerald Cardinale (R-396)

State Senator Christopher Connors (R-9)

State Senator Marcia Karrow (R-23)

State Senator Thomas Kean (R-21)

State Senator Joseph Kyrillos (R-13)

State Senator Kevin O’Toole (R-40)

State Senator Steven Oroho (R-24)

State Senator Joseph Pennacchio (R-26)

State Senator Robert Singer (R-30)

State Senator Stephen Sweeney (D-3)

State Senator Jeff Van Drew (D-1)

Vacation Preps

High Folks, just got back from vacation. A very exciting 2 weeks in Florida sailing, snorkeling, fishing and other great adventures. But while I was out on the water I got to thinking about what I would do if SHTF while I was on vacation. And frankly I was unprepared for that event should it occur. I would have been trapped in Florida with nothing more than my luggage and my wallet.

I admit to never giving any thought what so ever to preparedness while on vacation. I have some serious thinking to do about that. What about you?

Prep in a bucket

I saw this post over on Hotel 23 and thought it was pretty clever.

Survival Bucket as the author notes, is not a new idea, but he was helping a friend and provided some photos to help. Another commenter posted a link for a Costco Bucket , now I won't pass judgment on the contents of the Costco bucket but I will raise some caution about the quality of the goods since you can't get your hands on them to actually see them. I like the original authors idea of building your own.

Either way, preps are preps.

CQ CQ CQ NJ CQ CQ W4DMH CALLING CQ QRZ

OK now I have done it in true DX fashion for all you HAM'S out there.
I know others that read this will be real confused now but I would really like to hear from you HAM'S out there so I figured I would write in a language you would understand. We need to get HAM'S involved here so we can try to get a net going to help with off the grid communication among the prepper networks. I know there are many Ham's already involved in the prepper network and many more that read so please come forward and help us with getting this going. Now that all the people that read this (that are not HAM'S) are confused let me add one more slang that only the HAM'S will understand.

73 de W4DMH

PS Please email wvsantaclaus@aol.com so we can get to work on this.
_________________
God Bless all from the Wild and Wonderful West Virginia
Santa

Survival Seed Vault

I received my first survival seed vault today. I have plans to buy 3 more over the next year, all to be stored in my root cellar for, you know, whenever.

Needless to say I have a few co-workers that think I'm nuts. But as I told them, "When you get tired of the looting and the riots, when you grow hungry waiting for your precious government to bring you food and water, I'll be all alone listening to the birds chirp while I tend to my garden. And NO, you can't get my address..........but you CAN start reading survival blogs if you want to survive.

Organization 101 : A database

Ok, after some looking around and asking other prepper types what they do in order to keep supplies straight I found one topic I can address right away. And that's a database. Now, if you aren't familiar with building a database, this could be a problem. But if you have a general knowledge of using one, then you are in luck because you can start by using a pre-built template. MicroSoft offers a Home Inventory template that you can start with.

I used it to make a single entry, without editing any of the fields:


Noting that any of these fields are easily modified to what ever you want, you can see the utility of using a database for inventory control. this template is for office 2007, for templates on earlier versions, Use this Access 2000 Template.

I will get busy entering my data and try to keep a log of the progress for later posts. In the mean time I have noticed that others have done databases as well and would like to hear from them about how it works, mainly on the maintenance and addition of items. Now the question: Is one database enough? Or will I need one for food as well as one for inventory?

I'm finding out that acquiring preps, storing preps, and using preps are all very different issues.

Organization = Success

In trying to come up with things to talk about that are new, or fresh and not just another re-hash of how to build a BOB, I came up with organization. I got this because I was cleaning up the garage and I found a small box that contained small prep items. A couple pocket reflecting mirrors, emergency water filtration devices, 3 space blankets and two army ammo pouches among the items. I remembered these were an attempt to gather specific items to make small emergency survival kits that could easily be carried and contain a wealth of survival items. Well, I made those kits, but these were items that were initially bought, lost/misplaced in the garage, and re-bought.

I figured this is a common issue with most of us as we collect and gather our prep materials. Do you keep a check list? How about a database? A card file? or do you just rely on your memory? I find it amazing that the fastest way to find something is to buy a replacement for it.

Check lists are pretty good for starting your prepping, but I am not so sure about them as a way to catalog and maintain your supplies. A database would be slick, but in the PAW you are not likely to have a consistent power source so using your computer may be sketchy after the collapse, but before PAW it looks like a sound Idea.

A card file would be a nice manual method but would take some more than ordinary filing skills to maintain. But thinking about it may make some sense for me, I will just need to figure out a system that isn't overly complicated.

I hope to make a few more posts towards this end as I research it more thoroughly.

What do you use?

Memorial Day

This weekend we celebrate Memorial day. We do that by having barbecues, open our pools, watch parades, and go shopping for great deals. Does anyone remember why a day in May has been designated as a memorial? I think there are plenty of people who do, but to me at least, it seems that our society has moved farther and farther away from remembering those who give the most in the name of Liberty, whether it's for us, or for the oppressed across the world.

So on Monday the 25th, at 3 pm EST, stop what you are doing and take a moment to remember that hundreds of thousands of men and women, who in the name of Life, Liberty and Freedom for all, gave their only true gift so that others might walk free and sleep soundly in the security they granted us.



Learn more about Memorial Day.

News and goings on...

Watching the news lately has pretty much verified my belief that our society as we know it over the last 200 years or so is unraveling. Who knows if that will be good or bad, only time will tell. But for sure, the Western Civilization, free market, individual centered, freedom loving society we all know and have prospered under is on a downward trend.

All the more reason to start relying on yourself for things, because the government won't be able to help you unless you fit one of their "categories". and god help you if you actually produce something, you're pretty much doomed to some sort of confiscatory policy. As so much intrusive government policy is taking hold, how long before we have shortages of all kinds of things that we take for granted? Food, via government policy, is already being used for fuel and while that creates a windfall for farmers, it causes shortages and price increases at the grocery store and hurts the poorest of the poor more often than anyone else.

Every time the government tinkers with the free market, there is an equal and opposite reaction somewhere else. The government then tries to fix that as well thereby throwing everything into a hopeless spiral that can't be corrected. What are the chances that the government will just back away and let our system correct itself? None, that's what I thought you'd say.

In the blogs and Forums today:

Events, Connections, and Get togethers is a thread on Survivalistboards.com that tries to pull like minded folks together.

Snake Boots are a nice addition to your supplies. Stealth Survival has a nice little article about the necessity of them.

Rawles is ringing the bell loud and clear over at Survivalblog.com with respect to the global economy. If he's right, his book looks clarevoyant.

There are a bunch of nice discussions on Tactical P.A.W. Gear over on Hotel23.

Have a great day, and remember: What did you do to prepare today? Even if it's reading and learning, it's a good thing to prepare.

MRE Sale

Just a fly-by note to let everyone know that MREDepot.com is having a pretty good sale if you buy 2 cases, you get free shipping. Works out to about $80 a case.

Nothing says "Prepared" like a couple of cases of MRE's on the shelf.

Wow, May 11th already

Wow, into the second week of May already. Times moving whether I like it or not.

How is your garden doing? By now in NJ you should be harvesting your Asparagus and beets, have your beans, and a variety of other stuff planted. This is you prime opportunity to grow your own food stuffs and learn to set them up for winter. You can't trust corporate farms to be there for you forever.

Speaking of putting up food.....

Farmers markets will start appearing in my neck of the woods around the first week of June. There are a great way to support local farming and the bio-diversity needed to wean our way off of corporate engineered crops. They are also a very cheap way of getting fresh veggies to can. Consider them as a good source of wholesome food. If you can't garden enough, or can't garden at all, farmers markets are your alternative.

On the food front, I just picked up another case of MRE's for a reasonable $55. That makes 6 cases on the shelf. I'll probably back off for awhile and concentrate on more dry goods for now. Plus I want to get that Root cellar built and that may consume a whole load of my time.

On the Supply Front:

I have taught my son the proper way to build a First aid kit, posted earlier HERE, and he has taken to making a few more using cheap tackle boxes he gets at the Evil BigBox-mart. I'll let him continue for a little while, but those supplies are expensive. He's a good kid, try's hard. Look for Supplies for your first Aid needs HERE, they ship incredibly fast and they have literally everything you can think of.

Ammo Drought:

Man, is it me or is ammunition hard to come by these days? If any of you know of a good source in Jersey, please share it. Looks like the well is going dry for sure.

What have you done to Prep today?

Swine Flu update: 4/28

Being prepard for a flu outbreak is pretty easy. Follow some basic rules about your hygene, stay away from crowds and you should be all right. Of course staying away from crowds assumes that you have all the necessary means to live alone in your house for a couple weeks. Funny, theres that 2 weeks window we talk about when we say "Short Term" preparedness.

Regarding the Flu outbreak, NY has had a school close down after 10 students decided to go to Mexico for a Senior trip instead of going the normal route with everyone else. Oh well, that's the unlucky lottery in my opinion. On the good side of this is that we are in the greatest country in the world and our standard of living and well being far surpasses places like Mexico.

Things seem to be progressing as they should health wise, people taking care, our pharmaceutical industry gearing up and so on. Now my biggest fear is the media and the hysteria they seem to thrive on. This is a time for calculated moves and level heads, not whipped up lunacy by the non-stop talking heads on the network news.

Anyway, use the links provided to keep updated, and stay cool, calm, and collected.

Get this Widget

Being Prepared - Swine Flu update 4/26/09

Currently at the CDC: Human Swine Influenza Investigation , this doesn't include the NY Tests , hoping those come out negative.

Here's a link for our friends over at Tennessee Preppers:
Biosurveillance, an excellent tracking tool.

Touching Base

A Swine Flu outbreak in Mexico has folks concerned and there was a strange sickness out break in NY this past week. Read more HERE. Make sure you have standard prep items on hand, water, food for 7-14 days, some basic masks and gloves. And be prepared to stay home for awhile in case an outbreak is serious. We live in a densely populated area, germs travel fast.

Our Illustrious leaders in Washington want to be able to control what you see on the Internet, This smells bad. Not sure how you prepare for a government take over of the information systems. HAM Radio anyone?

Speaking of which, I could use some good links for HAM radio operation and education. This is a great thread over at Hotel 23.

Why are YOU prepping?

Hello. My name is njprepper and I fell priveleged to contribute to this blog. I hope to add value to this blog with the benefit of some of my experiences. I also hope to learn from other contributors on this forum and others about prepping and self-sufficiency. Together we may make the world a little better, if only if a single person gets an idea or motivation to get started with prepping.

I currently live in a moderately sized town in northern New Jersey. For most of my career I lived in South Texas, had some land in the Hill Country, gardened and tried to be as self sufficient as possible. Never heard of survivalism or prepping, although I DO own every issue of The Mother Earth News back to No.1. Then in rapid succession I had neck surgery that forced me to change careers, I moved to New Jersey, Y2K came and went as did 9/11. Now we have to hear about anthrax attacks, suitcase nukes, SARS, bird-flu and we may be in the worst economic downturn in the history of the United States. So I now am shifting into high gear, dusting off some of my old supplies and wish to pose this question to the group: What exactly are YOU prepping FOR? Is there any scenario that you specifically fear, and if so, how are you tailoring your preparations?

Are you preparing for when the SHTF? If you have a retreat or bug-out property, how do you have it supplied? Will you transfer your current supplies to the remote location? If so, how and when? Do you expect the roads to be open and accessible? Do you have a job that requires you to be in the city or do you live there full time?

Do you anticipate basic social amenities to continue (water, electric) albeit sporadically, and remaining comfortable due to your preparations while others may suffer? Or do you expect a SERIOUS breakdown in such services, where lack of service may be the norm (similar to a third world or war-torn country) where your neighbors may be in serious trouble? What about short term breakdowns such as hurricanes or serious weather issues?

Or, do you just not want to be dependent on just-in-time stocking and deliveries, so that you will always know you can make it on your own in comfort? Do you prepare for the contingency that you may suffer a work setback such as a layoff or plant shutdown?

I make judgements against no one for their beliefs or expectations. I follow several "survivalist" blogs, and while I find some of their ideas and writings extreme, especially regarding civil unrest and such, I respect their beliefs wholeheartedly and will defend their right to express them.

So, what are YOU prepping for and why?

_________________________________________________
"Do ... or do not. There is no try." - Yoda, Star Wars VII
(sometimes these campy aphorisms actually make sense.)

Knives and You, it's all bout the edge....

Hey folks, how are your knives? Sharp I hope but if not pay attention, I have some information to share. Knives are an essential part of our preparation for a future in which your regular Henkel Kitchen knife might not be sufficient. For this discussion I'll be breaking knives into 3 categories: Camping, hunting and Survival. I choose this break out because after looking at all the scenarios I could think of I was able to generally group them that way. Kind of boiling it down to essentials if you will. Grab a cup of coffee while I pontificate......

Camping Knives: These knives should be of the multi-purpose variety. A camping/backpacking knife will be used for general cutting and maybe some whittling of an emergency tent stake or cutting some branches so a straight edge blade is necessary. If you are fishing and you have a need to clean your fish then you may feel a requirement for a serrated blade for cutting and or filleting the fish. Now you could pack separate knives but in a scenario of backpacking or camping space and weight are a concern, so a multi bladed knife serves the situation very well. A favorite for this class of knives if a Leatherman like tool that provides you with other blades, scissors, or pliers. Good choices for these types of knives are the previously mentioned Leatherman, The Zillatool, an Everyday Buck Knife, or one of the new Ignitor series. These are just some examples to get you started.

Hunting Knives: This is a special purpose knife that really depends on the user. I can point to some very specific purposes and how they affect the use and utility of this type of knife, but the acquiring of one is a exercise in comfort and competence. Generally speaking a Hunting knife will be a straight edge knife with a strong blade that is fixed and made of full-tang premium 440A stainless steel. Stainless Steel will not rust but it will corrode if you don't take care of it. These knives are used for skinning and field dressing animals, possibly even to cut through bone, so a sturdy blade and handle are of utmost importance. You won't need a serrated blade here as they aren't meant to be used on the type of action that occurs during the dressing of an animal. Small points have a way of breaking of when you use a twisting action so, once again, a stout straight edged blade will suit you well. Make sure the Blade is fixed, folding knives have to many nooks and crannies that can hide blood, fur and bacteria that will only mess you up later on. You'll want to have a small guard as well to make sure your hand won't slip while your elbow deep in blood. And finally the handle should be comfortable and easy to grip. Some new materials that are now available for the grips are Micarta, hardwoods, or stacked leather. Good examples of Hunting knives are CRKT's Russ Krommer Series, Gerber Freeman, and the Buck Vanguard Series.


Survival Knives: This class, to me anyway, is the biggest grouping of knives simply because the term "Survival" can me pretty much anything to anyone. So consequently you can throw any knife into this pile. Basically, survival knives are an evolution of military issued knives that were meant to help downed Airmen and sailors survive a hostile environment until they could be rescued. Today we benefit from many years of these types of knives being developed by both the military and survival experts. Survival knives take into consideration all of the features of a Camping or Hunting knife, yet may not be uniquely suited for either of those purposes. But, we can address the general needs of a survival knife and possibly define the features that you will need to include when you go shopping for that elusive companion to your post apocalyptic days. These knives can be of multiple varieties, Fixed Blade, Folding Blade, Multi-purpose, Multi-tool, and machete-variations. The blade should, in this case, be a High Carbon Steel blade as they are easier to sharpen and hold an edge longer. Try to avoid Stainless steel in this category as they can be difficult to sharpen well and the features of Stainless are not as well suited for survival as they are for Hunting. It all comes down to your local and your preference an location.
For New Jersey it's hard to define a location specific survival knife as we are so diverse. Those folks that live in areas such a Newark, Camden, Trenton, will all need multi-tool type knives, or at least a multi-tool as a companion to the survival knife. A survival or escape scenario from an urban setting could require tools. Examples of of these are mentioned above. If you feel that a multi-tool isn't much of a knife (I agree with you), then you can always carry a companion blade that is more useful for cutting, remembering that it is more weight to carry of course. Those of us in the reaches of Morris, Hunterdon and Sussex Counties will all want a Multi purpose type knife as our area would require more field or woodsman type scenarios. some good examples of Survival knives are Ka-Bar Becker Companion, Bark River Bravo-1 (a little pricey), Gerber LMF-II, Leatherman Wave, CRKT Zillatool, and a Becker Knife & Tool CM-BK7



All in all this topic is so unique to the user it's hard to go in depth unless your a major knife expert. So please take some time to shop and get educated before you purchase and plan. And always remember, safety first, there's no 911 to call after the zombies arrive.

Useful links and Videos: Pack & Carry Video, Emergency Sharpening, How to Choose a survival knife

Slow down darn it......

To Quote Brooks Hatlen "The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry." and THAT my friends is a shame. Last night as we enjoyed my Daughters 18th Birthday dinner we spoke about a new cell phone plan for the family. I stated right off that all I "needed" was a phone, all that other junk was just that, junk and I didn't need it. Of course I was met with jeers and general taunts that I was "old" and out of touch. Well, I am neither, I just don't want to be buzzed all day with the goings on of every little thing. Since when does anything I do absolutely need to be addressed immediately? In fact I would hazard to guess that if everyone just sat still for 15 minutes they would realize that unless someone is bleeding, nothing needs to be addressed NOW.

Preparation for the future takes time, and patience. It requires us to survey our surroundings and our situation, to evaluate threats and environment, and to make decisions based on fact. Do it to fast and you make mistakes, do it to slow and life hangs in the balance.

Take a few minutes each day to sit at your kitchen table and think in silence about where you are and where you are going. Everyone connected to you will benefit.

Enjoy your Monday.

New Jersey Survival

Quick, how much wilderness does New Jersey have? Ha, you said none didn't you? Well, despite more than three centuries of development almost half of New Jersey is still wooded. The chief tree of the northern forests is the oak. A large part of the southern section is in pine. There is plenty of room to hide and survive off the land. In my part on NJ there is ample farm land, about 1000 acres right behind the house.

As I watch the wildlife in my back yard, which include ample Fox, turkey, deer and bear, I think that I could use more wildlife skills. more than just being able to "exist" outside, I want to be able to survive and live happily.

I'll be following up on that some more in the coming posts. Maybe a tracking class, yeah, that may be the next thing to do........

Mice and your food storage

When the winter comes in my area of NJ, the mice decide that my house is a vacation haven. Now, I'm all for live and let live when it comes to animals I can't eat. But there comes a time when you have to say enough already. I employ two cats, and our relationship is a simple one. Keep the house free of vermin and I'll feed you, keep you healthy and even scratch your ears every now and again. But I have to call foul here, these cats, while catching an occasional rodent and leaving it on the steps for me to step on is good, they aren't working hard enough.

This weekend while clearing the shelves for stock rotation and culling out expired stuff I found the following: One (1) bag of Ramen, half gone, One (1) bag of pecans UNDER the shelves, empty with a small hole in the bag, and finally, One (1) box of Rice-A-Roni, once again UNDER the shelves, empty with a hole chewed into the side. ENOUGH I SAY.

Eh, righteous indignation, I love it. I've been moving to cans for some time now and these little annoyances are slowly going away but it can be therapeutic to rant about them. But the reality of having mice running around in the dark around my food stores is still upsetting to me. So I thought I would talk a little about rodent control and your food supply.

This little tidbit comes from Do it yourself Pest Control : A mouse will eat almost anything, but prefer cereal grains, seeds, or sweet material. They require very little water, obtaining most of their water needs from their food. Mice can consume large quantities of stored seed and grains from farmers and granaries. A truer statement has never been spoken, trust me. and the main point of my discussion here today will be about eliminating the reason the mice come visit: FOOD. During rotations I am restocking almost all of my stored food in cans and or Jars. I have also found that plastic containers such as food grade 5 gallon buckets are a good way to store large amounts of items and keep out unwanted pests. There are also elaborate Canned food rotation racks that you can purchase, they are however very expensive.

When considering Can storage you need to consider space. So FIFO Can storage racks are pretty cool. Availability is pretty good and the price is about $27-$30 for a mini rack that can store 25 cans. Take a look HERE and HERE for some ideas. Of course there's always the super solution and that's pretty cool from a can storage point of view.

As I go through my food storage and move away from foods that need no refrigeration, preparation or cooking I find that I get a more hands on knowledge of what my prep exactly contains. It sort of keeps me in touch and more comfortable in the knowledge. The folks over at Pharoh's Storehouse have a pretty good short section on the 7 Reasons Why Food Storage is Important. We can all come up with 7 reasons now can't we?

Now, back to my fight the the furry little buggers, lets see if they can chew through a can.

A Bug out Bag for your kid

My daughter is heading off to college in Tennessee this summer and it is a little over a 14 drive from my house to her new school. So that got me thinking of what kind of emergency bag she will need to have in her car being so far from home and all. Now, a firearm is out of the question simply because she will be on a college campus as well as traversing many different states going back and forth. As much as I would like her to have one, I don't think it's practical at the moment. So going forward I will be putting together a list of equipment and the bag it will be going in, and share it with all of you here. I'll include the links for purchasing the gear, how much I paid for it, and some pictures of the whole kit and kaboodle as we go along.

So lets start with the bag, or back-pack. In discussing this with some other prepper type folks, the question came up "Well, what's this bag for?". My answer was simple emergencies, being stuck on the road, or having to get home in the event that the whole country comes unglued and she feels the need to head back to NJ. (Although truth be told, I'd tell her to stay in Tennessee, we'll come to her.) So that leads to the question of having to carry the bag for a long period of time. I still lean towards a bag with a shoulder strap, but my pals are trying to convince me that a back pack would be more suitable, and the little lady thinks so as well.

So, I chose a Maxpedition MERLIN™ Folding Backpack for the bug out bag that will go with my daughter to Tennessee. Mainly because it can be carried easily and this particular bag has lots of functionality. Although I would say shop around to see what kind of deals you can get.

Next came the list of "ingredients".

• Flashlight
• spare batteries. Check out this spare battery holder I found from County Comm.
• A prepared First Aid Kit, available on line or from your local camping store. Choose the size you feel appropriate.
• Space Blanket
• 2 Rolls of Quarters
• 1 Roll of dollar Coins
• 50 Feet of Para cord
• 1 Liter of bottled water
• Matches / Fire Starter
• Compass
• 12v trouble light w/cig. lighter plug
• Knife
• Pad and Pencil
• Whistle
• Emergency mirror

That's about it. Although I find that when I build a kit like this, laying it all out on the table in front of me usually leads to modifications in the ingredients of the kit.

Why don't you think about building some kits for your car, office, and around the house. Large or small they can make a difference when stuff collides with the fan. Check out lists over at The Big List.

Your Library

Just a quick post to share some links. Your library will be your biggest source of info outside your HAM radio when a disaster hits. Particularly if it's a long term one. I'll share some links with you for manuals and such......

Random Manuals and How To's

The Disease.net - there is a lot of data here from firearms manuals to Army TM's and FM's. Some data is old, but there is plenty to chose from.

Survival & Self Reliance - A nice source to keep handy, good rading and plenty of How-To Info.

Librum Reading Room - A Library on line. Books include many building, gardening, and Farming/Homesteading materials.

As you can guess, this list can go on for as long as the Internet is wide. I'd appreciate suggestions to add to the list.

What have you done today to prepare?

Ammo, the new currency and how to store it.

There are plenty of folks who say that Ammunition will become the best barter currency around in a Post Apocalyptic World. This may be true and in that case, you'd better have a lot of it lying around. With that in mind I asked a few friends how they store their ammo and I got pretty much the same response from them all. Ammo boxes. They are cheap, readily available from surplus stores, and can hold large amounts with out breaking. You should also think about magazine storage. A friend of mine was quick to point out that storing your ammo in loaded magazines is a good idea, just buy lots and lots of them, load them up and put them on the shelf. the wear and tear on a spring in the magazine comes from constant loading and unloading of the spring, not from being in a compressed state fro long periods of time. So consider that with your bulk storage options as well.

A few things to remember when preparing for storage:

• LOW Humidity: If you are storing open ammo then there is little problem. But if you are storing it in it's cardboard box inside a metal ammo box, then you need to have the cardboard box sit next to a dehumidifier for awhile.
• Temperature: This shouldn't be a problem unless you are planning to keep it in the oven, most ammo will survive a wide range of temperatures from -65 F to 122F. That's not to say that Ammo doesn't have an optimal temp range, but for storage most anywhere dry will be ok.
• Rotation: Date the boxes when you put them in storage and rotate them so you are always using the oldest first. Dating the box will also help remind you of how often you need to purchase to keep your stock levels at a comfortable point.
• Inspection: Check your stock every 12-24 months, just a spot check will do. Random boxes checked for the proper humidity levels and look for any type of corrosion or rust.
• Clean: Make sure the ammo is clean and wiped off if you touch it before you close up the box.
  

I found a nice little project for you that is incredibly easy to make and cheap too! The guys over at Front Toward Enemy (where I got the idea for this post) provide nice instructions and pictures for a Single Lock Locker Box using a 40MM Ammo Can. The lock is a necessary touch, and they also reccomend a Humidity cards or discs placed inside together with a desiccant pack. The Humidity card or disc will give you a real quick way to see if you are at the 30% level, this makes your inspections fast and easy.

One final point I'd like to bring up about Ammunition storage. Keep it locked up and safe from the kids or other unfavorables who would like to relieve you of having to keep it. As always with your firearms, safety is point number one.

Links:
Front Towards Enemy, We the Armed: Ammo thread

How about a Root cellar?

I got plans to build a root cellar this summer, I mentioned the little book in a previous post, so feel free to check it out. I had the idea of a root cellar because I need a place to store vegetables over the winter without having to bring them indoors where, I swear, all the field mice in NJ come to eat. Anyway, in looking at the multiple ways to store food outdoors I was amazed at the variety of ways to do it. This included leaving some specific crops in the ground and mulching heavily over them, which would work in NJ for sure, but is probably not advisable for northern climates.

I got onto this idea after watching an episode of the Discovery TV Series The Alaska Experiment In which one of the couples were trying to find ways to store food, and honestly they had good ideas but poor execution. Their Idea was to bury a can in the ground and take advantage of the earths natural ability to provide a steady temperature. Good idea right? I thought so too so I found a nice diagram of the proper way to do this, and it's available over at thefoodguys.com. I also found a neat "pallet root cellar" HERE, very clever, easy, and larger than a buried garbage can.

The most important thing when storing your food underground is to keep it from getting wet, wetness equals rot and rot equals no food. So a few things to remember when deciding what kind of crop to place in your new underground storage unit are as follows:

Root crops including carrots, beets, turnips and parsnips all adapt to storage well and do best at near freezing and a relatively high humidity. Onions will need less humidity to discourage neck rot.

Leafy crops like celery and cabbage will store as well, but they have to be separate from root crops as they give off a gas that is harmful to other crops.

When selecting vegetables for storage throw away (or eat) any that is remotely close to turning or unsound. If they are allowed to be close to other crops they will affect them.

Do plenty of research on curing the different types of crops for storage. This is a science that is easily learned and there is plenty of online help available. The more I research, the more I learn and the more excited I am to give it a try. I am sure I'll make mistakes, but remember: Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want.

A few good food storage links:

Washington State University : Storing Fruits and Vegetables at Home

Cornell Cooperative extension: Storing guidelines for Fruits and Vegetables

Mother Earth News: Build a basement Root Cellar

Hobby Farms: Produce bound underground

Within 36 hours of a natural or man made disaster the food shelves at the local stores will be bare, if there are serious disruptions to the delivery system, they will stay that way for long periods of time. Prices will skyrocket and chaos will be the order of the day. With a little effort we can all make sure we have at least a 2 week supply stored for our families and with a little diligence, maybe more.

Water Storage

I'd like to talk about water storage today because I think many of us don't think about it at all. I have mentioned previously that you would need a gallon a day per person to be comfortable, but you would only need a quart a day to survive. Very different numbers and two very different ways of looking at your storage amounts.

So lets do some math: Family of four(4), one (1) gallon per person per day, fourteen (14) days minimum for your average emergency and bam you need to store 56 gallons of water, potable water no less. Now, how do you store that much water? A great way is to use food grade barrels available at plenty of on line retailers, just search for Closed Head Polyethyene Drums. A drum like this will store your water for a year before you have to empty and clean it.

When we talk about water most of us just seem to take for granted that clean water is everywhere, but as most disasters show us, clean water can be pretty darn hard to find when you need it most and boiling it will only kill bacteria not remove poisons or heavy metals. So the next thing to address is filtration. Filtration can happen at the lowest level while you are backpacking with a device such as THIS , or you can have an elaborate setup such as THESE. But whatever you choose you have to address the need for more filters, mobility, and the amount of water you want to store, a couple canteens, or 2 weeks worth.

Water is essential to life and in our gloomy future wars will be fought over it. But god always seems to drop some on us every once and awhile, might as well catch some for future use, know what I mean?

Hello everyone, i want to commend jay on the articles he has been posting. I wanted to give everyone a little help on obtaining some of the information jay has been posting. What made me think of this was the post titled Preparedness in Print. Jay listed some books and manuals that would be good to add to your arsenal, Basically to get to the point you can find just about any document, book, movie, etc... for free and completely legal. I like to use two different methods, the first is a file sharing program http://utorrent.com/ . once you download this program you can use any file sharing site that you prefer. I did a quick search on http://www.mininova.org/ and found two out of four instantly. Now all i have to do is download them and then that's it, they'll be on my computer anytime i wish to view them. You can also type in the search for ex. "survival" or "plants" after that it's pretty much take your pick on what you want to download. Now to get on with this, The second site i like is http://www.scribd.com/ - this site is loaded with just about any document or book you can think of. If you want to download you have to register, but registration is free as are the above sites completely free. I dont know how computer savy everyone is so If anyone has any questions please dont hesitate to contact me I'd be glad to help. Keep up the good work jay, talk to everyone later

Organic Gardening

This year I have set as one of my goals, to learn the art of canning. when I was a kid my mother and grandmother always "put up" fruit and vegetables for the winter, and I distinctly remember my Aunts basement lined with Jars of everything from Tomatoes to apples. So instead of growing a garden and giving away all the extra stuff, I want to make every effort possible to save it for the winter, or what ever befalls us in the next year.

I have to admit that I was led to this task by reading a book by an author that I share absolutely no political beliefs with, but this book isn't about politics, it's about living free from corporations and the government intervention of our food supply. The book is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver and the purpose of the book was to show how to break your cycle on corporate farms and the constant screwing around that the government does with our food supply. The author tracks her family's quest to become totally self sufficient on producing their own food for 1 full year. This is, to me at least, a survivalist's dream and the books actually provides a wealth of information on how to move in that direction. Planning, canning, storage of all sorts, plus a ton of knowledge on things like bio-diversity in crops and livestock. There is a reason Monsanto wants to control all of your grain foods you know.

Anyhow, I though I would pass on a few items for the readers that will help them get moving towards a life of a "Locavore" (A person who eats only what they can grow or purchase locally). Ms. Kingsolvers book is a good start, but you also need to know where you can get heirloom seeds and ways to get your garden moving without the use of over processed fertilizers or non-organic stuff beign absorbed in your food supply. Take a look at the links below, I have used them all over the past few years so I feel they have some value.

Get those Tomato Seeds started!!!

Heirloom Tomato Seeds - Over 700 varietes of Heriloom Tomato and Vegetable Seeds

Garden State Heirloom Seed Society - Great source of information for people wishing to grow organic heirloom vegetables

Organic Gardening - Grow your food without poisons injected by corporate over the counter junk.

New Jersey Eat wild - your source for safe, healthy, natural and nutritious grass-fed beef, lamb, goats, bison, poultry, pork, dairy and other wild edibles.

Know how to Can - And of course, know how to store all those great vegetables.

Plus you can just type "Food Storage" into Youtube and a whole day of viewing pops up.

What have you done to prepare today?

James Wesley, Rawles Fans

For you fans of the book Patriots: Surviving the coming collapse, did you know the Author has a blog? Yep, you can check it out HERE and while you are there make sure you check up on his list of things like Trades, Tools, and your Firearms battery.

Speaking of Firearms and related topics. I am not an expert on anything more than using my weapons safely. BUT if you are into guns, ammo, the various laws governing them and all that "Gun Porn" then I suggest you visit We The Armed. Their mission on that message board is to become the preeminent source on all things related to personal defense.

Another note for you New Jersey Gun owners, or wannabe gun owners. This website NJGuns is an awesome resource for people trying to navigate the guns laws in our over-regulated state. There is even a list of Attorneys that will help with Gun related issues. Check it out.

Preparedness in Print

Heres a couple of books I have acquired in the last 2 months. Keep in mind that the books you choose should have far reaching purpose, by that I mean they will provide you with information in the Post Apocalyptic environment, not just in preparation for it.

Build Your Own Underground Root Cellar
Author: Phyllis Hobson
This is a small 32 page book that gives some pretty good detailed instructions on a root cellar.

Handy Farm Devices: And how to make them
Author: Rolf Cobleigh
A handy book but the instructions are small and not to detailed. It's more of an idea book from way back in the day. When there are no more hardware stores, this book will be handy.

FM 21-76 US Army Survival Manual
Ok, so I've had this for awhile, since 79 to be exact when they issued it to me. The stuff in there will NEVER get old. You can get this at Barnes & Nobles now, saw it there on display in front of the store and thought that was kind of ominous. There are plenty of knock off's with names that come close, so be wary.

Water Storage: Tanks, Cisterns, Aquifers, and Ponds for Domestic Supply, Fire and Emergency Use--Includes How to Make Ferrocement Water Tanks
Author: Art Ludwig
This is an awesome book. I was looking for ways to store large amounts of rainwater for my garden and this did it. The projects range from small to crazy large, but you need to learn to store large amounts of water if you are to survive. 1 gallon per day per person is the recommended amount just to stay alive, cook, and be healthy. What about your food source? The garden needs water too.

I try to buy my books used on Amazon, or at local used book stores. You can also try the couple of on line book trading sites as another source.

The Survivalist

M.D. Creekmore over at The Survivalist Blog has put together a nice list of Barter Items you should think about having around should the Collapse of our markets occur.

Read more Here. I like his point about bartering Ammunition.

Get Trained

CPR, Basic First Aid, Food Storage, Water Collection, Growing Food, all of these points are critical to long term survival. How much training do you need? How much can you get? How much does it cost?

Back in 2002 when then President Bush was looking for ways to organize volunteers, he created the Citizen Corps Program and from that rose the Community Emergency Response Teams here in Jersey. Now, I have my reservations because CERT is a government program, so of course right away I think red tape and wasted money. BUT by joining a local CERT organization, you can get some really good training:

From the CERT website:

If you join a CERT, you will receive basic-level training in the following areas:

• Basic First Aid
• Family Disaster Preparedness
• Disaster Fire Suppression
• Medical Operations
• CERT Operations
• Disaster Mental Health
• Basic Emergency Management
• Disaster Simulation -- Skills Review

Total training is usually about 18 hours, scheduled in 2-4 hour modules, over a period of weeks or months, in order to address the scheduling needs of team members. It's held in the community where you live.

Training courses, student materials and equipment are provided free of charge.

Of course, taking the training you have an obligation to the program, and truth be know, there is strength in numbers and being in a community of people that are trained and prepared will always be a good thing. The longer you can survive without depending on the government, the better off you will be.

What have you done to prepare today?

Something as simple as...

A Home First Aid Kit.
I was helping my son with his First Aid merit badge last night and I thought about just how many people have prepared for the small problems, forget the large ones. So lets start small. And build yourself a First Aid Kit for your home or car.

The Red Cross recommends that you carry a kit or "Know when and where to find one." Right, in the event of a emergency or disaster, you and the other 400 people in your vicinity can all fight over the first aid kit. Better to have your own squirreled away for you and your family. Below I listed the essentials of a Home or Car First Aid kit along with some links that will help you in getting prepared. This kit is suitable for a family of four.

• 2 absorbent compress dressings (5 x 9 inches)
• 25 adhesive bandages (assorted sizes)
• 1 adhesive cloth tape (10 yards x 1 inch)
• 5 antibiotic ointment packets (approximately 1 gram)
• 5 antiseptic wipe packets
• 2 packets of aspirin (81 mg each)
• 1 blanket (space blanket)
• 1 breathing barrier (with one-way valve)
• 1 instant cold compress
• 2 pair of non-latex gloves (size: large)
• 2 hydro cortisone ointment packets (approximately 1 gram each)
• Scissors
• 1 roller bandage (3 inches wide)
• 1 roller bandage (4 inches wide)
• 5 sterile gauze pads (3 x 3 inches)
• 5 sterile gauze pads (4 x 4 inches)
• Oral thermometer (non-mercury/nonglass)
• 2 triangular bandages
• Tweezers
• First aid instruction booklet

Customize this kit to your needs by adding things like personal medications, phone numbers, and a flashlight with extra batteries. Check the kit twice a year for expiration dates and fresh batteries, do this around the time that your clocks change so you get used to doing it in the spring and in the fall.

Why prepare?

Why prepare? I hear that question all the time from friends and family, heck I've even asked it myself back when I was younger. But ask yourself this: Have you ever lost power and were frustrated for days because you got no answer from authorities regarding repairs? Have you ever been stuck somewhere in the snow and wondered if you were going to be safe? Or how did you feel watching all those people in New Orleans after Katrina hit on '05?

When you consider preparation for long term disaster, or short term trouble, remember this: It's up to YOU to survive, don't make the mistake of thinking the government is going to help you first. They'll get to you sooner or later, but be sure, it's going to be later so YOU need to be ready, YOU need to be prepared.

Ask your self this question every day : What Have I done to prepare today?