Survivalist Anthologies Volume 1

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Survivalist Anthologies Volume 1 Page 40

by George Shepherd


  Some good advice is to always plant what you like to eat, but considering that there may be an ice age lasting for possibly hundreds or thousands of years, set back plants that are nutrient dense. Potatoes, pumpkins, yams and peanuts are all rich in nutrients. Potatoes and pumpkins can be grown in less space while yielding a fairly large crop. You may also grow potatoes indoors in buckets year around for continual harvests. Just provide light, water and warmth. Other crops like wheat, oats and corn that are also nutrient dense can be grown under more intense method which will allow for greater yields in less space. This might allow you to grow these crops during an ice age, inside some larger greenhouses or warehouses. Think ahead and be ready to be innovative.

  Water may become scarce. Streams, lakes and even some rivers could become choked with ash and pumice. Debris dams could choke off portions of rivers or burst and wash away anything downstream. Deepwater wells and artesian wells are great sources of water, but because a super eruption could disrupt geological features, some such wells may be disturbed or destroyed in the disaster. Have a means to catch rain, dredge ash out of streams and filter water. Due to volcanic gasses dissolving in water in the atmosphere, you may experience acid rain. This may also be true of ground water. Charcoal filtering will render water drinkable, but be ready to replace filters frequently as they will get clogged quickly and acid may also break down your charcoal filter at a faster rate. Build a still and distill your water a couple of times under heavy saturation, then filter.

  Long range plans will include clean-up and reclaiming lands for agricultural use. Simply plow the ash into the ground with fertilizer, like chicken and horse manure. Keep in mind that ash is very destructive to motors. Change air filters often when plowing and scraping ash out of your way. If you have a water source, spray down the work area with water to keep ash out of your engine. Also spray down your engine and underneath your vehicle. Good maintenance and keeping the engine compartment clean will help keep your vehicle working. Also, do not drive on days when a lot of ash is blowing in the wind.

  Though a super eruption would be an incredible disaster, Americans can survive and rebuild afterward. Common sense and a willingness make preparations and work together will see survivors rebuild and begin again to thrive.

  10 Myths About Food Storage & Freeze Dried Foods

  by Hugh Vail

  #1 Freeze-Dried is Better than Dehydration

  The truth is that there are many methods of food storage that are equally nutritious and valuable to your pantry. The concept to understand is that there are methods of preservation, which include home-dried, home-canned, commercially dehydrated, commercially canned, or commercially freeze dried. What really matters is food value. All methods are nutritious, and nutrition is the most important aspect of eating. Food value is determined by the food, not the method. For example, a pea that is canned, frozen, dehydrated or freeze-dried is going to have the nutrition of a pea.

  #2 One Size Fits All

  There are myriads of distributors pushing pre-built and pre-determined food supplies. The truth is that 100 families getting prepared really means 100 various niche needs, allergens, likes and dislikes. Remember that your needs are unique and tremendously important; only you can determine what is “enough” for your family’s food supply.

  #3 Rotation: Freeze-Dried and Dehydrated Foods

  There are plenty of shelving systems that denote the need to rotate through your #10 cans of freeze dried and dehydrated foods. Rotation in this case is manipulated as a sales tool, to sell more shelves and more cans. The more you rotate long-term foods, the more you have to buy...again. Save your money, and invest once or twice with freeze dried foods, after-all it comes with a 25-year shelf life

  #4 25-Year Shelf Life Makes Prepping Easy

  Sort of. Yes, two and a half decades of shelf stability is impressive and easy, but it is not everything. The real value in freeze dried items is found within the ability to know why you have the product on your shelf, and how to use it in recipes during an unexpected emergency or a Sunday dinner. Freeze-Dried and Dehydrated foods are designed to be stored for decades, under proper conditions. Once freeze dried products are opened they will reconstitute from the humidity in the atmosphere. Shelf life is only valued on the shelf, not while it is being used. The acquisition of product knowledge will enable you to save money and potential heartache when it comes to long term foods

  #5 I Only Need 2,000 Calories A Day

  The 2,000 calorie a day recommendation is a general figure arrived at by the FDA to make it easier to calculate dietary needs. It is an average of what men and women “typically” require, but it was never intended to be the end-all say-all for American eating habits. What is 2,000 calories...?

  “This is the amount of total calories per day that a moderately active adult female (weighing approximately 132 pounds) would need to maintain her weight. However, if you do not fit this description, your caloric needs will vary. It is important, therefore, that you adapt the new food label to make the best choices for your own diet.” -caloriecontrol.org

  So what about 2,000 calories in a natural or man-made disaster scenario? The question is best answered when you personally ask yourself “will this be enough for me? For my family? What will be ENOUGH?” I can provide you with a few examples...

  When the 7.0 earthquake rumbled through Haiti, I received a call to put 160 volunteers on a 747 jet to provide relief efforts for a few weeks. Upon return our volunteers were horribly ill from the lack of nutrition during insertion. The biggest contributor to the illness was that the Task Force had planned the meals based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

  The average volunteer there spent time in the make-shift hospital recovering, and lost an average of .05-1 lbs a day, typically burning 3,500-4,000 calories/day. Couple this with 100+ degree heat, 90+% humidity, and heavy labor of setting up camp, rebuilding hospitals, churches, shelters and lives. Of course the Task Force’s camp was a mile away from the various relief efforts that were being constructed and organized, which meant a daily walk of a few miles.

  Consider foods that contain fats, oils, sugars, carbs, sodium and anything else you can provide proper fuel to your body and to your family. The best example of this type of eating comes by way of ultramarathon runner; Dean Karnanze. How did Dean run such long distances? Eating everything in sight! Dean’s average caloric intake while running long distances is listed in his New York Times best-selling book: “Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an all-night runner” at 27,934 calories PER DAY!

  #6 “Store and Ignore”

  In 2008, I traveled to both the Utah State University and Brigham Young University to discuss with their heads of food science and food storage departments. Interestingly I learned two catch phrases from them. USU told me that freeze dried foods were a “don’t eat it until you need it” program of home storage and BYU’s department head said that freeze dried foods were a “store and ignore” home program. I suppose that when you are as indoctrinated with the various food forms and methodologies as they are, eventually creative one-liners emerge.

  These two University’s combined create the most scientific and educated approach to food storage in America; so what’s wrong with the one-line antics? Well, just that its a one-liner, that the marketing departments of all the food storage distributors use to over-simplify food storage preparedness, especially freeze dried foods. Are these Universities to blame? No not at all, they in fact were correct. But it is the food storage companies that are creating the problems in the pantry.

  3 Things You Need To Know About YOUR Freeze Dried Foods:

  What is in the can?

  How to cook/create meals, desserts with the food

  Do you have enough?

  Food storage distributors are doing what they do best, selling products. What you really need to know, is what you are going to do with the products, and what all you can do with the products. Its not enough to simply store and ignore. While, we would all like to ig
nore food storage it is your education and skill set surrounding your pantry that will make all the difference in a disaster.

  #7 Traditional is Better. No, Freeze drying is Better

  The traditional methods of storing foods, grinding wheat, soaking beans, milking cows and shucking corn husks from decades past, work for the average American’s lifestyle... or do they? There is a polarized argument that tends to exist between homesteaders and modern home-dwellers. During the first handful of decades of the 20th century, through the Great Depression, and into the hippy 60’s, the average American was a farmer, yet today farming comprises less than 1% of American occupation, in fact today you have to check the tax form box that states “other” if you are a farmer stating your occupation.

  I was raised in two very different geographical locations. From the white mountains of Arizona in an unincorporated town on the borders of an Apache reservation, and then in the bustling cities of Southern California. In Arizona, I remember gardening and canning with my grandmother, and hunting squirrels, rabbits and ridding the land of skunks with grandpa and our rifles. It was a slower way of life, but it was time-consuming and equally as difficult in it’s own rights - grinding wheat, planting seeds, cooking everything from scratch, and it seemed like grandma was in the kitchen 24/7.

  Compare that to all the fast food restaurants in southern California, the endless track homes, and the busy-ness of corporate business, swim meets, baseball games, water-polo matches, and millions of friends presented our family with two varying lifestyles.

  So what is the answer? The best answer is to support every way of preparedness. The polarizing arguments of the pioneer’s life is sure to turn the “city folk” off to the idea, while the hustle bustle of downtown Los Angeles is sure to run the country bumpkins back to the hills. I lived this way in my youth and still see the traces of the arguments of it our family today.

  I believe that the integration of both is essential, but that the percentage of both is dependent on preference coupled with the relevant skills and knowledge to cook and create with what you have.

  #8 I Can Do This On My Own

  Let’s digress for a quick metaphor, which will help you better understand how the best way to achieve food storage freedom. Think about the last time you went to the gym. If you saw what I saw, then you noticed the rippling abs and bulging bi-ceps of the trainers. The reality is that if we want those abs, then we need that trainer. Why? Trainers have a tremendous amount of knowledge about human physiology, and how to work with each individual to achieve optimum results for maximum health and fitness.

  Similarly to health and fitness, we need to be willing to turn to the preparedness “trainers”, if you will. Take Barbara Salsbury, for example. she is a leading consumer advocate in the preparedness industry. She has written best-selling books, (her first book: “Just Add Water” - released in 1972 selling over 600,000 copies) as well as emergency plans for cities. Her experience stems from the profession of emergency preparedness advocacy for consumers, and her personal life; the Salsbury’s lived through tough economic times as well as horrible natural disasters, and have seen myriads of food storage companies come and go. Barbara is truly your advocate for preparedness.

  The point? The point is that there are emergency preparedness trainers, that will teach you, and customize food storage methods to meet your families dietary needs, help you save money, and most importantly give you the education and skills to know what to do with your storage items.

  #9 Just Worry About Yourself

  Yes, you do need to make sure you are taken care of first. I remember learning a valuable principle of service about 11 years ago, it actually came from the Bible. The principle is this “You must first lift yourself to higher grounds before you can lift others”. The great misconception of preparedness is that preparedness is selfishness; it is not. Self reliance at its very core is selflessness.

  So what is the balance between lifting ourselves and lifting others? Start slow, be methodical, and most importantly, be thoughtful towards others. Set a good example, as well as planting an extra tomato or two, or storing an extra can of freeze dried food. No, it’s not up to you to prepare entirely for others, but it is up to you to get to higher grounds first. The question is how high do you want to climb?

  #10 Food Storage is Secretive

  Food storage is sacred. That means your storage items, and all preparedness items for that matter should be “regarded with great respect and reverence by a particular group or individual”. Be sure to consecrate your food by not blabbing about how awesome you are because you just dedicated $10,000 of food to your basement or bunker. The vast majority of Americans are not thinking like you are, and they are not willing to prioritize their pantry before the purchase of the newest iPhone or the latest hairstyle. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and you don’t need any unnecessary chaos, fighting or even positioning yourself into making difficult decisions that you may not be fully ready to make.

  In the end, it should be understood that food storage and all of its many forms and methods should be sought after by speaking with preparedness trainers who can read through the marketing messages, and gimmicks that are presented with professional salesmanship. It is up to you, you are responsible for you, and you are accountable for your family’s safety and for the liberty’s and rights of the greatest nation on earth, such a task cannot be purchased by the click of a mouse online.

  Hugh Vail is a family preparedness expert with years of practical experience, including leading relief efforts after disasters, such as the devastating earthquake in Haiti. He is also the Founder & CEO of Tomorrow’s Harvest (www.tomorrowsharvest.com)- a family preparedness company that helps families from to start to end through education, skills & products.

  The Top Eight Skills that Matter in a Grid Down Scenario

  by Phil Burns

  There are few skills that are actually useful in a long term survival scenario. The irony of today’s (or any advanced) society is that very few of the professions available to us require any amount of knowledge, skills or experience that are useful in a collapsed society. The majority of professions which offer a high paying salary render that person completely useless when crisis strikes.

  What use will there be for lawyers, accountants, athletes, secretaries, office clerks, customer service professionals, salesmen, bureaucrats, etc.? With only the skills of their profession, they will be utterly hopeless in a survival situation.

  When society collapses, for whatever reason, survivors will band together in enclaves and work together to survive. Those groups will have little room, food or supplies for people who have little to nothing to offer in the way of skill contribution. Those allowed to enter with no skills will become laborers who are working in the field or doing janitorial type work in order to earn their keep.

  Strategically speaking; the wisest thing to do now, while society is still functioning, is to organize a group of like-minded people who are able to get along and who are willing to put time, talents, resources and energy into preparing for what may come. If that is not possible, selecting an area for yourself and becoming proficient in it will help make you useful in the future.

  Whether starting a group or going solo, it is important to carefully consider just what skills will matter in a grid-down scenario – and then figuring out which ones you have talents in. While it’s impossible to know exactly what scenario we may be facing in the future, this top ten list can help you determine where your pursuits might be most useful in the future.

  Construction

  In a long term collapse scenario it is inevitable that new buildings will need to be built, especially if people end up evacuating an area and heading to a new, potentially undeveloped area. Even if there is no relocation, buildings will need maintenance and upgrades to handle the new reality. Construction skills will be heavily relied upon to accomplish these tasks.

  Construction has several sub-skills involved with it. M
astering any one of these skills will make you useful, but the overall knowledge and ability to build something from scratch is what will truly make you valuable after a societal crash.

  If you currently have no knowledge of construction, but are good with your hands and tinkering, this may be an area for you to explore. A few of the sub-trades in this category include but are not limited to: framing, roofing, plumbing, electrician, mason, finish carpenter and so on. I would advise that you diversify away from some of the sub-trades such as carpet laying, painting, dry walling, etc. Not that these are not valuable skills, but they are too specialized to give you the general ability to help build a house (you would only be useful for a limited portion of it).

  You can seek out knowledge in construction by attending classes at a community college or trade school, apprenticing part time (if you can find someone that will train you) or at the very least, study on your own via the internet (videos, blogs, wiki, etc) and then get the tools and resources you need and practice building things on your own. This probably won’t make you an expert, but it will let you start honing your skills.

 

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