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Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF

 
Vic-chick13

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08/09/2013 10:31 AM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
Thanks DBA! hf
old guard

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08/09/2013 10:40 AM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
Great thread
goodnews
Don'tBeAfraid
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08/10/2013 08:02 AM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
Because I'm drinking my morning coffee and because of the praise, I thought I'd address a very old and tiresome topic being discussed here:
Thread: Real Preppers know It Will Come To CANABALISM

Rather than insert my opinions in that nonsense, I'd rather talk to some devoted folks who actually are preparing.

In history, communities knew all too well about the difficulties of food storage in Winter. Hunter-gatherer societies evolved into agrarian ones. It was all but impossible for them to hunt enough, forage enough, trap enough to last through the Winter. Children and the very old routinely starved into that harsh time. It was commonplace.

So societies changed to store up food by directly raising animals and plants. While the old arts of foraging were not lost, less time was invested in performing those roles. Why? Because it was easier for humanity to control a bit of land and grow/raise the food upon it. Diversity of plants was important because some plants produced valuable phytochemicals like tannins. Other plants contained alkaloids, flavanoids, liminoids, phenols, etc that could serve as herbal medicines. Eating certain wild plants saved simple agrarian society from vitamin and mineral deficiencies, but they didn't know why. Other plants made people stronger or helped them recover from illnesses.

No one knew why eating meat staved off hunger and benefited the body, but clearly the taste sensation was pleasurable and created satiety. It also resulted in less weight loss during a time when there was no food to spare.

Try as they might, while many foods could be preserved, the harder aspect was not eating their stored food while it was abundant early in the Winter. You can imagine the farmer and his wife as they thought, "Better plant more beans and maize next year. They store well and in a small space."

That meant increasing the amount of land for planting, watering, weeding, harvesting, etc. It paid off but created a lot of extra work. Of course the ones who did survived and others noticed and followed suit themselves.

Cannibalism happens in history because of LACK of preparedness. Most people have not suffered through famine, drought, war, economic collapse, etc. As such, since their current situation is balanced and normal, then they think, "I can always acquire more food from the store." Should things get bad and they know any history, they assume that they can acquire food by foraging. The fact that very early humans figured out that wouldn't work, will not make sense to nonpreppers, for they've never suffered any deprivation before.

In a severe collapse situation like this:
[link to en.wikipedia.org]
young, totally unprepared folks, victims of their circumstances, have been forced into cannibalism.

That happened to the Donner Party:
[link to en.wikipedia.org]

That happened during the Siege in Leningrad:
[link to en.wikipedia.org]

Folks, please prepare with inexpensive food items such that you at a minimum have three months of dried foods like beans and rice. Learn to eat that routinely and rotate it. There are lots of spices to dress it up and by making it a common side dish, you not only improve the protein for your family, but you also live frugally. Do that enough, and you might have a little extra money to do a family activity.

Fail to do it, and the effects could be horrific. Desperate people will do desperate things. At some point they do horrific dehumanizing things.
Anonymous Coward
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08/11/2013 04:32 AM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
Share your food with the hungry...then your light will break forth like the dawn...

6“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
Isaiah 58: 6-9

The words had no meaning. Carolyn yawned and watched the flickering flame of her candle. She knew she was being wasteful burning the candle so late at night and using up a match. It was read a little or toss and turn and wake her children resting in the living room.
...
Her children were hungry and that was briefly assuaged by their rest. Carolyn was hungrier. She'd carefully given larger portions of their dwindling food to the little ones. She was weak, dizzy from low blood sugar, and exhausted.

It was hard to sleep as time went on, mostly from worry and nightmares. The darkness seemed enhanced and magnified by the collapse. An occasional cry was still heard in the night and being the only adult and responsible person, it meant never truly sleeping but standing watch.

Only by luck had she found an old terribly stale box of crackers that had gotten pushed to the back. They tasted awful but were still edible. Yesterday she'd found some vermin in some of the crackers and had considered eating them for the protein. She shuddered at the recollection.

It was hot since it was August. The air was still and she sure didn't feel like opening the windows of their single floor rental home. It was too risky even though the early morning air was cooler. A bead of sweat traveled the length of her frail frame.

Tomorrow they would run out of their meager food. What would she feed her children?


How many people will be like this single mother when the collapse comes? She will seek out some words from Scripture to comfort, guide, even feed her, even though it's been years since cracking open the Book.

In a matter or days or weeks, as their refrigerator has lost power and precious food has spoiled, their canned goods used up, and only the vestiges of scraps are finally eaten, then and only then will people consider what they could possibly forage outside...

It could be you someday. It's entirely possible and it need not take a collapse for it to happen. A serious illness, a divorce, a complete mismanagement of finances, a major power outage, a disaster, lots of things could cause this scenario to happen.

What can you think of that might sustain your family while nibbling on an old cracker?

[link to www.youtube.com (secure)]

Grass. Sure, why not. We cannot eat grass for we are not ruminants with many digestive pouches to digest it. There's too much cellulose and too little nutrition. However in August when the sun is hot and the grass is not being mowed, then it will be going to seed, won't it?
[link to en.wikipedia.org]

Grass seed was an important food crop internationally. Not only was it a standard fare for the Native Americans, but Europeans ate grass seed as well. Why do you think there's so much crabgrass in America? It was intentionally brought by immigrants like the Germans and Poles who had grown crabgrass for fodder for their animals as well as providing an important abundant grass seed that was nutritious and could be ground into a survival flour.
[link to www.eattheweeds.com]

[link to georgialawn.com]

You need not gather, winnow, collect the seed, and pound it. That's a lot of work and if you're short of calories, why waste energy? The easiest way is to nibble it after gathering it, but you're going to get lots of fiber in the process. Not a bad thing, for that too is filling and helpful for maintain good health.

An alternative is to add boiling water to the grass seed which will of course make a good hot meal, even if not especially tasty, but it will give you excellent nutrition.

Because there are so many kinds of grass seed, it would be impossible to list the nutritional components. It's going to vary, but I can assure you that you're going to get very valuable amino acids and carbohydrates. It will sustain you as long as you get enough of it.

Not without issues of course. Your stomach is not used to eating it. You'll be gassy and bloated, but while others are starving, you'll be harvesting food that's likely in your backyard. It doesn't provide all the essential amino acids, and so will help but not be complete. You'll have to eat other things too.

The main issue is ergot. It's a black mold that will also grow on some of the seed heads. If they are black, then it's simple: don't eat it. Otherwise, you're trying to harvest the grass seeds prior to them being expelled from the seed heads. That means picking them when slightly green and not completely yellow brown.

I've included pictures and video to help you. The original video was in German but now has an English track placed on top of it. It's slightly distracting but understandable. There's nothing complex about identifying, gathering, harvesting, eating it. That makes it an excellent foraging food for beginners who fail to prepare or for the expert taking advantage of the find.

My words are meant to share the Good News, feed the hungry...however that manifests. I hope that this post fed you today.
MzTreeChick

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08/11/2013 04:53 AM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
bump



hf rockon
* Eat recycled food, it's good for the environment and O.K for you. (Judge Dredd)
Anonymous Coward
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08/11/2013 07:25 AM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
Thread: Best Vehicle for the Apocalypse Under $40,000

Rather than waste my time by posting in the thread above, some of you may be wondering about a good answer to that question.

I believe in practical solutions, not endless speculation about expensive gear than 99% of folks cannot afford. On any given day some survivalist nutjob with a bugout mentality will tout the latest knife as if all of us had an endless amount of money to spend on gear when a gold ole knife will do.

$40,000!!! Seriously!!!

OK, here's an article from Mother Earth News from 1981. That's right. Some of us have been prepping/back-to-the-land permaculture types since back then and BEYOND.
[link to www.motherearthnews.com]

Read it. They made it for peanuts($125 American in 1981 dollars). They gathered fuel and could scavenge fuel as they went along. That would be very helpful because where are you getting liquid fuel of any sort when a collapse occurs.

Note that I mentioned in one of my posts how to make a little biodiesel on the fly with some ingenuity and access to a grease waste container outside most fast food restaurants. Look back for that. It will ruin the vehicle eventually, but sometimes getting out of Dodge is more important than a vehicle.

Don't assume your bugout vehicle will be a car/truck. In fact, the best vehicle might be a canoe if located along a waterway. See an old post on that topic too. If everyone is trying to leave by the highway, then while they are stuck in traffic and getting in fistfights, you in your canoe might be well away from the worst of it.
old guard

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08/11/2013 09:09 AM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
bump
we all learn better by repetition
Anonymous Coward
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08/12/2013 10:47 AM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
Making that coffee last: cold brew coffee


Here's a link to making cold brew coffee. Unless you're a iced coffee aficionado then it's unlikely that you've even heard of cold brew coffee.
[link to www.wikihow.com]

Cold brewing results in very long steep times in a french press for at least 12 but likely 24 hours. Why is this important? It results in very low acid coffee with much higher caffeine. It's prepared in a cold way, which is important for reasons you're probably not expecting.

As a prepper surviving during a collapse, much of what you will be doing is finding ways to minimize your cooking times because it's one more fire to build and add food aromas to the air. Those fires and aromas attract others who are hungry. It's unwanted attention.

You'll also need to reduce the amount of work from hauling wood and it WILL be in short supply. Everyone will be gathering what today seems like an unlimited resource. If you've ever spent any time camping during the busiest part of the season when everyone else is foraging for firewood, you KNOW precisely what I mean.

Not only this, but coffee like other materials like salt and flour, will be in short supply. You'll be thinning down all of those by using other things. That's why I have mentioned things like chicory in previous postings. Haven't I over and over mentioned cutting down flour with acorns, grass seeds, pine cambium, white clover, etc?

By cold brewing, you ensure your people on watch always have a strong cup of coffee, but don't have to to brew it and be distracted. It merely steeps and then is constantly added to. Cutting it with chicory ensures that it isn't bitter and lasts. Cold pressing coffee automatically results in fewer acids anyway and the chicory adds a pleasant finish as anyone who's ever had Cafe du Monde coffee knows quite well (common for anyone in the South especially Louisiana).

Note: remember to have caffeine tablets in your medical stash. They are inexpensive and extremely valuable when coffee is not available and you're exhausted.
Anonymous Coward
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08/12/2013 10:47 AM
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Don'tBeAfraid
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08/12/2013 12:10 PM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
Stretching that oatmeal by eating it raw

If you think about it, you eat uncooked cereal all the time. Why do we not eat raw oatmeal? Habit mostly. Most of us prefer to cook our oatmeal to get a hot meal as that's more satisfying. In addition, cooking results in it being digested easier in our mouths...and so it tastes sweeter.

Is there a reason for eating it raw in a survival situation? Sure. No cooking means no food odors to attract unwanted strangers. That means not having to gather and start a fire too, and likely outside. It merely means soaking to soften it.

While you might see nutritional information on raw oatmeal versus cooked oatmeal, it is often misleading. Because cooked oatmeal swells with water, that results in more volume. As such, a similar volume of cooked oatmeal has far less nutrients. Few nutritionists ever consider the need under a survival situation, so they are not taking into account all of the variables.
[link to www.md-health.com]
[link to www.greenthickies.com]

However, there is always some loss of vitamins in cooking. In addition, by an unknown mechanism, it appears that raw oatmeal increases metabolism. This is actually a positive as your food consumption will be less in a collapse. The increase in metabolism results in stoking fat burning which gives the body more calories faster. Since you aren't eating as much food, then this fat burning gives you a modest amount of energy to help you cope. I can tell you, it's an old secret used in Hollywood to burn fat and contour the body.

Do you want to lose fat faster in a collapse? Yes and no. Losing it means your body is liberating calories that you are not putting in your mouth. It means more energy. Faster weight loss means not surviving as long, but if that's the case one could lie down in hibernation and not burn any calories or eat food. In reality you're doing work, more work than normal, and that means YOU NEED ENERGY. A little more energy boost in a collapse might mean walking farther, hunting longer, having the endurance to run a little faster, etc.

There really is only one caveat: if you're anemic, raw oatmeal contains certain phytochemicals which increase your difficulties. However as a smart prepper, you're intentionally gathering leafy green meadow herbs to get that iron.

All in all, eating that oatmeal by soaking it in cold water for a few hours is far better to feed your family under a survival scenario. Oatmeal is a cheap food, even now. Why not begin introducing it into your families diet now so that it's considered absolutely normal?Some folks who make smoothies on a regular basis, which is a fast breakfast to prep, puree their raw soaked oatmeal into the smoothie.

It stores well but rotate it to ensure freshness. Remember that air is always the enemy of any grain based product.

Note: if you have a diabetic in your family and are concerned about issues in a collapse, eating raw oats helps the body cope with rising blood sugar levels. As such, it's very helpful and probably should be a part of their regimen regardless.

Naturally oats help lower the unhealthy kinds of cholesterol (think animal fat which you'll likely be eating) something that anyone who hasn't been living in a cave already knows.
Don'tBeAfraid
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08/13/2013 06:25 AM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
Why bugging out with tents will be problematic

Since 90% of the inhabitants of Western civilization live in urban regions, I'm not sure what those folks are going to do in the event of a collapse. At some point when their lack of prepping with supplies, skills, and spirituality catches up to them, then how will they cope?

Because most folks cannot plan on becoming agrarian again or hunter-gatherers, and since a lot of companies wish to make money, then a philosophy of bugging out has become the centering focus for urban folks. They own no land, live in densely populated zones, have no real experience in hunting, trapping, fishing, foraging, etc. At most maybe they've grow a basil plant on their window sill or back porch. It won't do much to save them.

While I'm glad for anyone to come to the realization that urban life is doomed in the 21st Century without major paradigm shifts, and glad to attempt to wake people up, the sad truth is a lot of folks will die. They think if they carefully spend $200-300 on a bugout bag, that this will get them far enough down the road that they can find safety. Of course since they live in an urban area and surrounded by other urban areas, then at best they will get themselves into the neighboring urban area and be strangers trying to make it versus trying to make it in known territory.

Lacking skills and supplies, they will be weak, unorganized, have no real plan or idea how to extricate themselves, but will extend their lives for a week or two.

Ordinarily I write to wake people up out of their somnambulism and try to convince them that living in an urban region now is a rotten idea. I preach to the preppers who have been carefully marshaling their forces, supplies, family and friends, etc.

This post is unusual for it's about the bugging out folks. It's about a practical and inexpensive way to camouflage your shelter while you're trying to get to safety. It's also written for preppers who will by necessity be trapping and fishing beyond their normal boundaries and needed a portable shelter.
….
If you have a family or are a single person, then it's likely that you have a tent in your storage building or basement. You discovered long ago the benefits of camping in order to get some fresh air and renew yourself. Maybe you did this as a young person, and it invoked such a sense of joy, that you decided to raise your family in the same manner.

You likely purchased a tent large enough to comfortably house all of your tribe as well as storing equipment. Likely, that tent is heavy because it is so large, has tent stakes, poles, and requires some time to erect. You no doubt invested some money into it. It would be difficult to haul around that tent though on your back. In fact, many of you don't have a real backpack, for instead you place your tent and gear in a vehicle, drive to where lots of other people are staying temporarily, and then pitch your tent for a week at a time.

Backpackers are a completely different kind of camper. Many of them intentionally pick remote places to get away. They enjoy the freedom of escaping into the wild, but in order to do that, they need to invest a lot of money on gear. Since walking down an uneven path in the wild can require much more effort, then every ounce saved is significant. Why, to ensure the equipment is carefully constructed out of durable but very light materials. It's not a sport for poor folks, that is unless they carefully prioritize what's important to them.

One very popular replacement for tents has been the hammock/tents with a rainfly. These “tents” are really modified hammocks and were first used successfully during the Vietnam War. Soldiers slept in them because they were rugged and held up and could be erected in a short amount of time off the ground.

Unless you have an extra $200-300 for each person in your tribe, it's not a cost-effective solution. They are too expensive and yet looking at them, one can see that they are ideal for backpacking AND for bugging out. While everyone else will intentionally look for a flat meadow on the edge of a forest as a camping site when bugging out, if you had a hammock/tent, then you could set up camp way off of the trail and hidden.

Ordinarily in camping there is safety in numbers. People routinely place their things in a tent and go off for the day without anything being stolen. Usually there are few issues at a campsite due to the number of people and park rangers routinely making rounds. Of course, in a collapse, people will camp where they can, mostly due to the effects of weariness and limits of walking/hiking per day. They will pick sites based upon the availability of water and firewood. This means some folks will fall into that pattern of camping together in the midst of a collapse for they will feel that is safe.

Actually the very opposite will be true. There won't be park rangers doing security (such as it is for most wouldn't be armed anyway). One sociopathic group could easily steal from all of the assembled campers. They also could attack in the middle of the night and do horrific things. No, I wouldn't spend one night amongst them.

Note: All ready there are homeless living in tent campsites across America.


But if my family were bugging out, and I had made my own hammock/tents for my whole family for $200-300, then I wouldn't have to camp amidst them, would I?
[link to www.ehow.com]
[link to www.instructables.com]
[link to www.tothewoods.net]



Here are some links explaining how to inexpensively produce hammock/tents. I can tell you from experience that a cheap nylon hammock , tarp, and a rope can be purchased for under $25. It won't hold up to abuse, but for a whole season I pitched a nylon hammock outside that held up to the elements and with numerous folks taking turns in it. It's easy to erect and in minutes one can rig up a rainfly from the tarp on a rope. It will work. You could place it anywhere, and if the tarp was dark green or brown, it would be quite hidden. If would be light and fit in any bugout bag or backpack. It is entirely better than a tent.

That won't hold up very long, but it would be a reasonable solution if bugging out for a month. In fact, I would bet that you would sleep quite well versus sleeping on the ground. Even if the weather were winterly, one could insulate that hammock/tent and though cold could probably be just as secure and warm as being in a tent. In fact, you'd likely have LESS of a vapor problem in winter since water from your breath, body, and melting snow would escape versus being trapped in a tent.

Good luck to you. A hammock/tent makes for an excellent way to cope with limited funds, limited skills, is light in weight, and a pragmatic solution for almost anyone. Because it can be set up so quickly and securely, then it would help anyone who needs to go into the field on a regular basis, and then stay there 1-2 nights and then return.
Vic-chick13

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08/13/2013 07:57 AM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
That tarp is great. Thanks :)

Last Edited by Vic-chick13 on 08/13/2013 07:58 AM
Abi ~

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08/13/2013 08:22 AM

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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
[link to www.hennessyhammock.com]

these are sweet and can be put up in places that tents cannot :)
You accept the love you think you deserve~~~

Love cannot live where there is no trust~~~

Truth has no temperature~~~

Love like it's never gonna hurt~~~

Have no regrets~~~
Don'tBeAfraid
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08/14/2013 07:48 AM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
We are not the same as our grandparents who lived through the Great Depression

People are waking up. I cannot tell you how many people are coming to the realization that times are tough because they've personally experienced hardship, loss, and unemployment. Many people have lost assets either in home value or in investments. Business is bad and there doesn't seem to be any promise of it improving.

In the aftermath of those modest difficulties, they're realizing that they are not alone. They need only talk to families and friends, and then their gnawing fears are exacerbated. It's bad, those around them know it and they know it.

Sometimes they jest and say, “Well it's about time. We've had years of ease and plenty. Now it'll be like the Great Depression that our families suffered through. They made it, despite all those bad odds, and so will we...”. They say it, but they don't sound too convinced.

I know that that idea is a lie, a delusion. They say it to assure themselves that they have the mettle to withstand it by strength of character.

The problem is they don't have that strength of character.

If we look back to the late nineteen twenties and early thirties, those folks were mostly rural, well skilled compared to us, knew how to live frugally, were tougher mentally, spiritually, and physically. They could do things. Their friends could do things. Their family members could do things. Synergistically they could help each other though that terrible world Depression.

Looking at the entertainment of that time period, it was simple but wholesome. You knew who were the bad guys and you knew who were the good guys. Things were fairly cut and dried in that respect.

Look at our entertainment today. It would be considered shocking to our ancestors, wouldn't it? Some of the most popular shows have antiheroes who are completely amoral. Our children and we ourselves have grown up on a diet of sex, violence, theft, and excess. How many murders have they seen that were justified within the programming? How many people were sexually abused for our titillation? How many people were robbed and within those shows what happened was considered perfectly normal?

When all of the masses no longer have not only the luxuries they now enjoy, but when they lose basic necessities, what do you think all of those folks will do to cope?

They will steal, take, harm, hurt, or kill you to get them.

Why not? They've seen folks do it over and over on television and film. That's the answer that solves the problem in the shortest time. They will do precisely what their mythological characters would do. They will emulate them regardless of the morality of it.

The only way to cope in a collapse is to be the opposite of the response of the MOB. Can you do that? Are you prepared? Have you stored up food and supplies? Can you defend yourself and your family and home? Do you have the skills that will help you, or do you only know how to push buttons?

Do you have any talents that actually are useful?
old guard

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08/14/2013 09:11 AM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
When I was growing up in the 60's, my mother expected all of us girls to learn the basics, including cooking from scratch, mending, sewing, canning and preserving, etc. We thought it dumb and useless at the time. I have been thanking her for that most of my adult life.
Vic-chick13

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08/14/2013 12:15 PM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
When I was growing up in the 60's, my mother expected all of us girls to learn the basics, including cooking from scratch, mending, sewing, canning and preserving, etc. We thought it dumb and useless at the time. I have been thanking her for that most of my adult life.
 Quoting: old guard


You were very fortunate! I was born in 1970, never learned any of that stuff from my mum. I'm not the best cook, but no one has starved yet. Taught myself to knit and crochet, learned how to can and preserve. Can mend well enough, though it's not always pretty. tounge
Anonymous Coward
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08/14/2013 12:45 PM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
When I was growing up in the 60's, my mother expected all of us girls to learn the basics, including cooking from scratch, mending, sewing, canning and preserving, etc. We thought it dumb and useless at the time. I have been thanking her for that most of my adult life.
 Quoting: old guard


Yep and home economics. I was a girl scout, did 4-h and then served in the army. I am ready and feel I could survive almost anything.

Oh and I grew up on a farm.
Don'tBeAfraid
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08/15/2013 03:23 AM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
Why our perceptions on survival are falsely bolstered

The average person doesn't have any survival abilities. I'm sorry to tell you this. You may think you can manage because you're an adult who does just fine when surrounded by lots of material things and utilities. That's not survival, that's being a coddled consumer in a capitalist world.

Don't get me wrong. I'm an absolute believer in capitalism. People will work harder and longer if there is a point to that process and having increasingly better necessities and luxury items.

Skills and upbringing and mental toughness will certainly help you. If you have a great foundation, had a superior childhood in which you were mentored, had opportunities to thrive, learned skills (to hone them and not just manage on your own), have excellent team and individual skills, can cope in the face of adversity, etc... that will all make survival easier.

Having core beliefs in something greater than YOU will also help. Why? Because if you only think of YOU then you are no different than a mob. This almost always means relying upon and gathering strength from a spirituality.

Some of you no doubt learned practical skills at fabricating, making do with this or that, growing, gathering, raising, and preserving food. All of those skills are essential.

BUT, in a survival situation with no tools and supplies, can you gather water, forage for food, hunt/trap/fish, and defend yourself?

I think the answer for most people is a resounding NO. This is the basis for community. We are stronger with other like minded individuals and their families who then have better skills in one area than another. It's the natural way in which agrarian societies formed. Almost always there was distance between them, for each family needed a certain amount of land in order to produce enough food, create a surplus with gathered items and created ones, and then traded those items with others with different skill sets.

Your homework assignment this week is to watch three survival episodes that take place over several weeks (at least three). During that time period, despite abundant game animals, foragable food items, fresh water, clay, wood, stone, etc the men participating will lose at least 35-40 lbs and the women will lose at least 25 lbs over a 3-4 week period. How long could you sustain those kind of losses and still be strong enough to go on and forage?

Why? In the wild, there is not enough food to gather because we are not swift enough to catch them. We are not skilled enough to hunt them. We are not trained enough to gather them. Even in relative abundance, as human beings our ignorance will result in a state of being food and water deprived for several days, get ill, get weak, and so instead of being able to maintain our well fed state with high energy, instead we weaken day by day. Only by being surrounded by a community who are starving at lower rates than ourselves will the weaker members survive. Those stronger folks have larger frames and often they can endure longer and keep hunting for food while weaker members become listless.

This is why in almost every situation that the men will lose more weight in a survival situation for they are stronger and will gather more wood, create shelters, create fire, gather the heavy water, create traps, hunt, defend the others, etc.

This isn't a misogynistic post. This is a reality wake up post about male and female dynamics in the Wild.

I can tell you that the folks with the best coping skills will often be women in terms of caring for the Tribe. That heightened strength and dexterity is not enough by any means. That often the inner glow of women will make men do almost anything to protect them. That simply being around women can be enough to calm and focus men.

That can either make you discount my words as horribly sexist, or might make you realize that we all need each other through community. Rather than making a snap judgment, I urge you to do the homework and watch human dynamics.

Some women will possess better hunting/trapping/fishing skills. If you're a parent and you're not teaching BOTH sons and daughters these critical survival skills, then you need to rethink and reexamine your priorities. Give them practical skills now such that they will be able to survive in the Wild.

What's the equalizer? Mental toughness. Some folks, male or female, are naturally cheery, hope-filled, and optimistic, and if they also possess group conflict management skills, can motivate either the struggling weaker members or the strong members. Believe it or not, that can be a woman very often. The whining complainer can be the strongest guy or the weakest female. But some folks are natural cheerleaders and somehow that wonderfully affects and infects the group. When things get tough, they dig down deep, and either because they've faced adversity before or have some spiritual core or what's more likely BOTH.

Their optimism pushes up into a positive mood because while we think we cannot do it, they KNOW we can. If you allow your lack of self-confidence to overwhelm you, not only will you fail, but you could infect the whole group with your lack of morale.

The reason a community works is you may not believe in your abilities, but you believe in theirs. If everyone synergistically lends strength to the other and finds a modicum of strength within, then the group can make it.

Team skills are the edge that allows a less skilled group to cope. In a group with superior skills, supplies, and team skills...that group can make it and thrive..

...
One such show that you can watch to demonstrate this is Naked and Afraid:
[link to dsc.discovery.com]
Don't worry, it's censored such that no nudity is seen.

Surviving in the Wild under an enormous amount of work minus minimal calories is not at all like dieting. Don't think you've lost 30 lbs before and so you could handle it. You lost that weight under ideal conditions. In fact, such rapid weight loss (cachexia) can easily result in heart valve damage. If that decline continues over successive weeks then expect worse manifestations and even even organ failure.

One debilitating injury that prevents you from getting water in three days...and that's it.


Because of this, if you are not prepared, skilled, have supplies, have mental and spiritual resolve, then I think you're doomed. If you think you can bug out where the grass is greener and safer then you're accepting that fallacy.

The only way is to bug in and use the resources around you to survive. Since those are limited, you also need a community.

If you live in a heavily urban environment, I have no idea what you can do to cope.

I applaud those of you who have learned practical skills. Please keep learning them and continuing to prepare. Those of you with out them, take whatever number of supplies and food is recommended and double that. When they run out, your time is up.
Don'tBeAfraid
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
Winching out a car or moving a heavy object: the Kochanski Flip Flop Winch

While today we can use a power winch to extricate a stuck vehicle, that was not an option in the old days. They'd hook up a tractor or a team of horses to pull out one in all likelihood, and that could mean a lot of cooperation from their neighbors. What comes around goes around, so spreading a little help when you see a neighbor struggling meant getting some help when one of your kin was sick.

But what if you were stuck during a collapse? How could you rig up something to get your vehicle out of a ditch. It still would take some strength, but by applying some basic physics, it's doable but a little time consuming.


Here are several videos and a printout explaining the Kochanski flip flop winch. Only rarely do I find some video that's absolute gold, and this is one of those times. I'm posting the Dave Canterbury video first for it's far more clear and instructive,


but to recognize the achievement of first communicating the idea, I'm posting Kochanski's video as well.


In addition, I've included a video explaining what might go wrong. The levering technique is similar to rolling a log using a peavey lumberjacking tool. The longer the lever (within reason) the easier it is to do the work. The tree must be sturdy with strong roots, otherwise it's going to uprooted by the process and could cause slippage and injury. The rope must be very strong and as you can imagine could break based upon just how much weight you're trying to extricate.

Remember that when something gets stuck in mud, it creates a VACUUM. If you're trying to overcome that in addition, then this will add a lot of work to the effort. To imagine that better, think about a immersed vehicle creating that potential vacuum.

If the vehicle is loaded down by equipment then that mass will create more work. Similarly the heavier the vehicle's frame the more work is needed to winch it out. Any frays in that rope could make it snap and as it snaps through the air it could sever a limb. USE CAUTION.

This technique is considered so valuable that some scouting organizers created a handout to assist in teaching it. It would be wise to print that out and even to practice it.
[link to www.onlinescoutmanager.co.uk (secure)]

Think, you might need to remove a boulder or a tree stump from a field some day, and this might be a means of doing that.
Don'tBeAfraid
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08/16/2013 03:21 AM
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Nipping self-pity in the bud

Self-pity

I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.

D.H. Lawrence (in the public domain)
[link to allpoetry.com]

When the collapse comes, suddenly all of the luxuries and basic necessities will disappear. Maybe you'll have them only to lose them to stupidity, bad weather, circumstances, robbery, illness, etc. You can either give in to self-pity over your circumstances and risk infected others with it, or become very focused like a laser beam on problem solving.

While we can all pretend to be in control of our fate, when that's stripped away by reality, then all of the facade of self-confidence can be ripped away in seconds. What will you do in front of your spouse, loved ones, or children? Will you moan and groan and make them afraid? Or will you not allow your fear to run away with itself?

It's not a tough question at all if you're a parent. You do what you need to do to make them proud of you and feel safe and secure. If you cannot manage your fears NOW, how will you manage your fears THEN?

The more that you learn and practice skills, the more tools you have, the more you make your domicile safe, the more supplies you have, the less that you'll worry when a collapse comes. It's either get ready now when there's still time, or wait until there is no time and try to learn by doing. The former is a much more practical and well-trod path. The latter one tread by the lost and the fearful.

Fear is not a bad emotion. It's a useful emotion when immediately faced with life-threatening danger.

1) Are you in life-threatening danger though at that precise second? 2) Will you persist in a fearful mode over time and then allow it to overwhelm you into being afraid and feeling self-pity?

You better not, because chances are you'll be the one in a leadership role and those folks are looking up to you to be calm, in a good humor, and to inspire them by focused correct action.

You lend them your calmness. Believe me, someone lending you calmness when you feel out of control is almost better than water when dehydrated. Then when you feel self-pity and fear, and see them calm, it infects you with calmness and confidence.

You may be very cold, but are you really freezing? NOPE.
You may be hungry but are you starving? NOPE.
You may be wet but will you never get dry? NOPE.
You may be very thirsty but are you dehydrated? NOPE.

Someone always has it worse. Complaining never made it better.

If complaining made you feel worse and made your loved ones feel worse, then what will make them better?

Laughter.
Find something, anything, to make the other person laugh amidst the misery. You will be miserible together but laugh from the strength of your character and chances are even if they are dour that they will smile. That will take them away if only for a second so you can both reframe the situation and find a solution.

Praise.
Praise will make the shyest person who hates attention...glad and willing to bask in it. Praise makes the exhausted work a little bit more. Praise makes the fearful have courage. Praise makes the lost feel there is some Hope to find their way.

Don't give in to self-pity. Nip it in the bud or it will bloom on the tree and grow branches. Either deal with it constantly to give them your strength, or give in to it and die.
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Hauling that well bucket up: making a windlass

A windlass is a very common mechanical device to use a lever to wind a rope up a spool in order to lift or move a heavy object. Once you figure out how to make one and use it one time, I think you'll end up using that same principle over and over with little modification.
[link to www.wikihow.com]



This works great for moving a heavy object similar to what we witnessed with the Flip Flop.

What mistakes did they make? Obviously rotating the tree with a peavey tool, they could have trimmed off the branches that would hang up in the dirt and made their work easier.
[link to upload.wikimedia.org]

Hauling water up a well is hard work. If you've never done it, I think you won't truly understand until you've pulled up a ¾ full bucket of water. Let's imagine the bucket hold a maximum of five gallows.
¾ = 75%
so 0.75 x 5.0 = 3.75 gallons of water x 8.34 (weight of water per lbs/gallon) = 31.275 lbs.

Pretty heavy and no work for a child but a strong teen boy could manage it for a little while.

Now try doing that for many folks around your community well site. (Look back on why that will be a vital community activity to unify the group). As you can imagine, there will be lots of efforts and calories burned in a short time for even minimal buckets. Then folks will be hauling that water back to their homes, spillage will occur, and more done daily.

Obviously there is a limited amount of time before even very strong folks can haul that much water just up the shaft of the well. Accidents will happen and the bucket and rope lost down the well.

[link to etc.usf.edu]
This is why a windlass is so useful. A Chinese windlass uses two handles and two teams working to crank up the bucket or weight. An even better way is to make a windlass that has a fixed rope on one side of a pulley and winds the other side. By doing so the pulley is greatly reducing the total amount of strength needed to wind up the slack.
[link to images.yourdictionary.com]
[link to etc.usf.edu]

Can you see why a hand pump was such a marvel? Today of course those are still in operation but in many 3rd world nations a treadle pump is used since your legs are stronger muscles than your arms plus you can use gravity to help pump the water. Look for previous topics on both installing a hand pump for shallow wells, digging a well, making a water pump from common items, and making a treadle pump. I've tried to include every possible practical idea I could think and now since Dave Canterbury is doing some videos on simple machines, I thought it was a great time to discuss the most common agricultural engineering that pioneer folks would have employed as practical techniques.

[link to www.arbalistarmoury.co.uk]
Note that once you understand a windlass, I think you'll understand the basic principle of using on for a crossbow to wind up the crank and produce mechanical tension on it. Instead of weight you're developing mechanical energy.

You could use a windlass to move items up to a treehouse platform but there are easier ways by using a counterweight and a similar setup. You sure can't easily haul things by muscle alone. A windlass naturally was a way to raise and lower a crew into a shaft but again there are easier ways.
Anonymous Coward
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
Making a periscope

When I was young, we made our own toys. It was both entertaining to create them as well as an opportunity to learn some science. Not only that, but the old wise saying, "Measure twice...cut once..." made a lot more sense once we'd screwed up on a measurement and fabricated something that was less than satisfactory.

Now why would making such a thing be useful for prepping? You're going to be observing outside windows and cracks a lot more often while your tribe is on watch. There might be lots of times that your person on watch bobbing their head around is a foolish thing. If you think that's silly, then observe this WW2 video.


Better to make one and use it instead of giving away your position and taking fire. Right?

A simple periscope can easily be made by even a child under the age of ten. Why not use this as an opportunity to make something with a child or grandchild this weekend?

[link to www.wikihow.com]


One could easily cover the viewing end with a movable carboard cover painted black to minimize what is reflected into the mirror at the end. That way only an eye is seen. By painting the rest of it black or camouflaging it, then it will blend it better.

A prep need not be complex or expensive to be extremely useful. Only two small mirrors and some paint are needed to complete the project. You should be able to scrounge for the rest of it.

If one needed to look down into a hole or shaft or pipe then it would be very useful indeed.
Don'tBeAfraid
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08/17/2013 08:20 AM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
Tomorrow something bad will happen so why not make something great happen too?

I'm not optimistic. Not by a long shot. Each day the economic data shows how unstable the world economy is. Each day, I realize how unprepared most folks are. Each day I see that despite years of learning and being mentored, that I have deficits.

I could decide, “What's the use?” shrug my shoulders and give up. It would be simple to do that.

Of course, I think if you've been reading these many posts, now over a thousand and seen over 40,000 times, that all is not without purpose. Rather than giving up, my answer to the uncertainty of the future has been to prepare and help you prepare.

What will be your answer? It need not manifest as a long post on an Internet forum. It could be as simple as opening a book instead of watching television or a DVD or playing a computer game. It could be walking into the woods with your children and teaching them the names of plants and their uses. It could be volunteering an hour at a homeless shelter. It could be making preserves from fruit you harvested instead of eating that crap made from flavoring and corn syrup. It could be making a spring snare just to see if you can. It could be scouting maturing nuts to harvest this fall.

DO SOMETHING POSITIVE. Don't just read these posts to whittle away the time. That's just a waste of my effort and yours. Fabricate, write, exercise, cook...find some way to invest your time wisely now instead of just bellyaching like the mob.

Maybe you have no self-defense skills. Could you practice some on a boxing bag, lift weights, workout with a weapon, practice at the range?

Maybe you're overweight. Could you eat one less meal? Do three sets of ten pushups? Go for a jog? Workout on the elliptical? Paddle a canoe?

Find your deficits and slowly but surely improve on your skill knowledge.

Or die.
Anonymous Coward
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08/18/2013 05:36 AM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
When I read posts like this one, I am troubled...
Thread: Want to survive SHTF scenerio WITHOUT food storage? WILD EDIBLE PLANTS....

I know people mean well. They want to spread the word that there are edible plants one can identify and consume. I have tried to spread the word about such things in this topic. The problems are manifold however:

Identification
People don't identify foods well. They wait until they actually need the wild edibles and then and only then try to do it while very hungry, tired, low on blood sugar, and desperate. That is hardly the best time to do a thorough analysis of botany or biology of flora or fauna. In fact many folks have tried just that and poisoned themselves, made themselves sicker, or even died doing that.

When consuming a plant or animal in the wild, the slightest mistake could lead to improperly preparing it. Some people have pre-existing health conditions which preclude them from consuming that food. Do you know how many folks have misidentified mushrooms...even experts in the field of mushrooms or mushroom societies?

This is why I have intentionally used the easiest to identify plants/animals. I've included videos, links, information about preparing them, how to consume them, etc. A little knowledge is a DANGEROUS thing.

Abundance
While it is true that certain foods like grass seeds, pine cambium, acorns, white clover, cattails are abundant, the reason they are abundant is people have forgotten how to harvest them. They are harvested at certain times or require some work, else you kill the plant, disturb the growing area such that you overharvest it and kill it from successive germination/growth.

Merely lots of folks gathering from a meadow stomps down the niche in which the plants can succeed. As such, you disturb the balance of wild organisms that allow that species to live. It is dependent upon broadcasting its seeds by other animals catching it's seeds in their fur. Or maybe the seed is excreted by birds or mammals and so spreads it across the meadow. Or perhaps the animals that consume it leaves fertilizer that changes the pH of the soil such that the species can live there. Or lots and lots of factors.

Humanity takes and seldom gives back unless taught to do so.

Please don't teach people that identification or abundance are not issues. That is both untrue and it's unkind. It gives people false hope and also is teaching them to be irresponsible.

The very worst thing to teach nonpreppers or beginning preppers is that those species will always be available and that there is no need to store supplies. Really!?!? If I've learned anything over many decades and now generations, it is that you need supplies, skills, spirituality, and seed. If I were the only human left alive, they perhaps I might be able to live solely off of the land. Even then, what would be the main problem?

Harvest-time
Now is the harvest-time as it is August and so much bounty is either coming in, or so much abundance is right around the corner with fruit, seeds, nuts, vegetables from autumn crops of herbs, roots, shrubs, and trees.

In that abundance, a beginner feels overwhelmed by so much bounty in ways that a nonprepper could never understand. The harvest-time arrives, and there is constantly something to gather/prepare/harvest/dehydrate/can/freeze etc. There is so much and so little time for it is all coming in even with succession planting.

BUT don't be fooled by that bounty. One cannot gather many wild edibles or cultivated plants all year round. It would be a terrible ERROR to think one could at any time find food to eat. In fact, only by careful preparation of supplies can a good cook mix and match ingredients in order to prepare a meal. One cannot survive on one plant type at a time. Not without vitamin, mineral, carbohydrate, fat, or protein deficiencies.

Please carefully think before giving bad advice about wild edibles always around to harvest them.

I urge preppers and nonpreppers instead to read these links which succinctly explain the most common misconceptions that both groups have. They sum all most of my concerns in a few paragraphs.
[link to ready4itall.org]
[link to ready4itall.org]
Don'tBeAfraid
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08/18/2013 05:47 AM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
A tiny but important tip on spring snares

You probably have seen a spring snare in a movie, for they are often featured in an action film. The hero takes a bent over branch from a tree, sets a spring snare with some cordage and some carved wooden pieces to easily be disturbed, and some idiot triggers it and is lifted up above ground and helpless.

However, in many spring snare videos, a sapling is used, not a tree. Why? For ease of demonstration mostly. It's hard to set up a large spring snare or to capture one lifting up into a tree upon catching a critter.

But, in a collapse situation with potentially many folks attempting such a thing, then fewer and fewer animals will be caught. Some animals naturally are predators and will take the trapped animals like foxes, raccoons, dogs, coyotes, snakes, etc. Other humans will take them from your snares/traps as well. All of them hungry.

It's important to lift the animals quickly off the ground such that it breaks their neck PLUS gets them high enough that some other mammal doesn't eat them. Otherwise all you did was feed another mammal.

Please take heed of this.
[link to survivalgearup.blogspot.com]
Anonymous Coward
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08/19/2013 05:06 AM
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Organizing your neighborhood as things are collapsing

There's a tired old experiment about cold blooded animals like frogs. Get them near very hot water and immediately they will flee from it. Heat it up in minute amounts and eventually the frog will not be able to adjust their metabolism and will be cooked.

Right now this is happening with the world economy.

Each day, some new phenomena comes up, more bad economic data, grocery prices rise or packages shrink, the Drought worsens, etc. Still because all of that happens slowly and because some people are still employed, then most people do not prepare and extricate themselves.

It's now August and the harvest-time. Food is coming in abundantly and no doubt there are Autumn festivals happening in your region if you live in the Western Hemisphere. Each week food will come in abundance and then gradually plants will go more and more dormant as the days grow shorter and shorter.

While that is going on, the Autumn rains will occur, and then once that season is over, then unless your region gets lots of snow in Winter, you will have very little rainfall or snowmelt.

A prepper is aware of all of theses things as a result of their upbringing, education, and day-to-day living. That is not so for most folks. Very few are connected to the Land and so like the frog unaware of the changes in the seasons except for the occasional festivals.

Many people are beginning to wake up, but due to circumstances, limitation of their budgets, the realization of their lack of skills, or simply being too depressed to do anything, will simply shrug their shoulders and try to adjust to the constantly slow change into doom.

All of you live in a home now, or you wouldn't be reading my posts. So you have shelter if things get bad. What would you do, and in what order would you do things, if gradually the water and electricity and gas to your homes no longer functioned with Winter coming on?

An alteration in the schedule of utility operation will be the last straw when some people wake up. The last thing any city wants to happen is interruption of utilities. Once that happens, then chaos follows. Most people lack the ability to truly care for themselves, and they have no idea how to function without power or water.

With Autumn comes a falling of temperature and a reduction of rainfall soon comes. This means you must be very vigilant in discerning any changes. Your vigilance could result in helping a lot of people to survive. Are you up to the task if it happens?

I've made many long posts about how to organize things within your neighborhood. If you haven't read and printed out those, please do so NOW. In brief:

1. As the power gets sporadic, at that moment then it would be very wise to organize your neighbors who will listen. When the power finally goes out, then a lot of food will spoil. Without some guidance, they will eat food in the wrong order and likely die faster.
2. As the water gets sporadic, then water purity will be a major issue. You will certainly be purifying it far before it stops.
3. You will have to teach people the proper way to collect what water does come out of the faucet and how to clean it.
4. You will have to teach people how to collect what rainwater comes down.
5. You will have to teach people how to gather water from the closest safe source and purify it.
6. You will have to organize people on the use of their gas grills and charcoal. You will have to teach them how to gather firewood and to how to burn it outside for safety.
7. You will have to teach people sanitation of human waste.
8. You will have some people beginning to die and burial and placement will be an important health issue.
9. You will have to tend to the sick and injured without much medicine and finally no medicines.
10. You will have to teach children and adults without teacher training.
11. You might be the only priest/pastor for your neighborhood.
12. You will have to care for both you and your family as well as organize the best leaders or you will go insane from the effort.

You could ignore your neighbors of course. If you do that, then what will be very likely will be local battles within your neighborhood. That solution is no solution.

Please prayerfully re-read and printout my posts. I spent an enormous amount of time giving to the GLP community in order to protect you all. There are no doubt things you will decide to do differently based upon the dynamics of your community. Still, despite all of that, I think you'll see there was a lot of wisdom in what I wrote.
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
Drought: there is no more pressing concern if a collapse comes

With Autumn approaching, you should be keenly aware of issues with rainfall.
[link to drought.unl.edu]

Looking at the link above, how close are you to drought ravaged areas? If there is no rainfall and you are not close to a safe potable water source, then how in the world will you make it?

Anyone West of the Mississippi River and not immediately close to a well or a river will have severe issues. Maybe you'll have enough water to make it, but what about crops or raising animals. If there is no water, then there are no game animals to hunt or trap or fish.



The situation is still dire on the Mississippi River. Even a lack of movement on the Eastern side of the USA is a major issue for the transportation of food and supplies.

I hope you understand how to dig a well, but with the drought, that may not be an option for you.
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08/20/2013 06:06 AM
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Useful trade skills post-collapse: making acorn oil

Acorns can be gathered in North America during the months of September and October and their time of harvesting entirely dependent upon weather and location.

The humble acorn was used as both a survival or famine food as well as a staple to many cultures in history. The Celts ate a porridge of processed acorns (with the tannins removed) as well as hazelnuts. Separately the nuts are not that pleasant to eat. Together they are far more palatable.

Some Native American tribes would gather the nuts carefully and store the nuts for up to two years. The longer you keep them in a shell, the longer they will generally last if in a cool dry place. The problem is the nuts naturally have fats and develop cracks hence molds or fungus can be introduced. Many will end up with a small worm in them which is why you will intentionally not eat the ones with a hole in the shell. However because those are a large portion of the nuts gathered (depending on timing the harvest) then there is a very useful craft that can used for those nuts. Note that the grubs and nuts are eaten by squirrels so that means gathering utilizing them to bait traps is recommended.


Here's a video on steam extraction of acorn nut oil. Most people don't know how to do this old art anymore.

The oil is naturally found in the acorns that are cold processed, but that requires many days or weeks of cold water washes, and in a collapse scenario clean water may be difficult to come by. Cole processing will give you more calories and save you firewood but necessitates living near a river.

Remember that leaching lots of tannins into a nonrunning water stream or lake will expose the species (who make that their home and could be species you harvest for food) to those tannins and kill them.

Leeching by the Native American method through a cloth sieve will work but will stain the cloth and can permanently stain the porcelain sink based upon how it was sealed.

That little setup metal salt shaker distiller with a copper tube attached would greatly assist any herbalist in extracting any number of essential oils but would require very meticulous cleaning each time.

The oil is extremely valuable for hunters/trappers as it descents your body while also acting as a natural attractant to wildlife! Not only that extremely practical use, but the oil is very healing when suffering from dryness during the cold months. You use it by steam infusion in the old fashioned way of hanging your head over a bowl of hot water and a little acorn oil with a towel over your head. Plus cracked hands will be a terrible issue post-collapse. The oil is extremely valuable as an emollient and was used to treat wounds caused by cracking skin as well as burns. This means almost everyone will need it.

Because acorn processing is a community activity, then your tribe will likely be working together to shake the maturing acorns out of the tree, pickers gathering, others sorting the wormy ones from the good edible ones, with some roasting the nuts, others grinding the nuts into flour, others bagging the nuts for later shelling, and a small group making oil from the discarded ones.

You still can eat the steamed nuts that had worms in them if not too finicky.
Don'tBeAfraid
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
More tips about acorns

While today some old folks or preppers use acorns that they processed, most people in your neighborhood won't know how to do this. The few who try will not get their water to boiling, if extracting by that method, and will end up with bitter tasting nuts, or won't cold press them correctly with enough washing or chopping them fine enough, and again the nuts will be too bitter.

Regardless, the window is short for edible nuts or oil and so remember that if you pick them later they will be rancid and only useful for oil extraction. Even then, I wouldn't go too long gathering them.

Here are many links discussion tips about using acorns, mostly having to do with processing them.

While you could go to all the trouble of stretching your flour, for 90% of you, you'll run out of flour very quickly. You can make something crumbly that will sort of bind together, but not anything close to bread. That has to bake and that means good coals. All of that takes time. Porridge is always easier.

Steaming the nuts in the previous post QUICKLY removes tannins, something no one usually talks about. Those could be prepared and added to your meadow herbs used for salad. Personally I LOVE boiled peanuts, something the Cherokee tribe sells, and so I'd eat them this way. Hunters on a trip could pack some acorns and prepare them in this manner along with some pemmican for a delicious and fast meal.

The starch extracted from the acorn is used by the Koreans as a kind of gelatin. Then that's added to many dishes. Likewise that starch was used by the Native Americans to thicken their stews. If you want that, then DON'T use the boiling method to remove the tannins or you will screw up the acorn starch.

[link to www.lavidalocavore.org]
[link to www.thepeoplespaths.net]
[link to www.nativeamericannetroots.net]
[link to www.celtnet.org.uk]
[link to en.wikipedia.org]

As always, Greene Dean's Eat the Weeds link is the most valuable in terms of concise information.
[link to www.eattheweeds.com]
Anonymous Coward
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08/21/2013 08:08 AM
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Re: Last minute tips for parents when the SHTF
Sexual Abuse in a Collapse

I've hesitated to write much about this very serious subject. Instead I've discussed in very roundabout ways many of the issues of STDs, pregnancy, abuse, violence, the number of criminals and ex-cons, sexual predators within miles of your home, the proximity of prisons to your home and along likely migration routes of fleeing refugees, contraception, etc. However, I'd be remiss in not covering this topic unless I mention some safety concerns and try to dispel some myths.

Sexual abuse is rarely about sex. It's about domination, humiliation, and degradation. The perpetrators of sex crimes are often folks who were abused themselves. They felt powerless when they were children and because of what happened to them and choosing evil, take on a role in which they themselves finally feel powerful.

At any one time, you probably have encountered sociopaths. They are among the ranks of powerful professional people as well as worker bees who support those folks. They may or may not every act upon their inclinations. For some they are hidden by spirituality, philosophy, law, medication, counseling, etc. For others, the only reason they do not act on their inclinations is a fear of being caught.

In a world without rule of law, with little chance of detection or retribution, then the incidence of violence and especially sexual violence may explode.

We know this from experiences by both men and women in combat situations, prison, riots, etc. One need only read or watch some documentary on Bosnian War atrocities to see how prevalent sexual and physical abuse was in horrific ways.

While the sexual abuse will be so terrible as to be incomprehensible, the mental effects are far more damaging and long lasting. Despite how you imagine that will manifest, the abused person may instead withdrawn, become dissociative, lose their bearings, be unable to cope, become suicidal, etc.


It would be wise to watch this brief video on PTSD. I hope it raises your awareness. If you only understand that PTSD is about feeling hopeless or helpless, then that alone might give you some insight into phenomena.

Counter-intuitively the abused person might experience some sense of pleasure during their abuse, blame themselves for that unexpected response, then act in odd self-abusing ways. They might even enter into deeply abusive relationships for they see themselves as damaged beings and worthless. Because they feel worthless, they feel they deserve whatever abuse they get from then on.

Some people are very passive people. They rely upon others to care for them due to age, gender, or personality. Those who do not resist sexual abuse then blame themselves for not resisting. That reinforces the PTSD helplessness and locks the sexual abuse memories into the mind. They turn those events over and over and that focus ends up filtering all their other experiences.

Because there will likely be very strong physical abuse, in ways that you will be horrified, the abused person could die during a collapse. Something as small as interior lacerations can cause infections, most likely resulting in bladder infections. Those can easily go septic and infect the kidney. Without antibiotics such infections that are routine for women can be fatal.

Expect bruising, exterior lacerations, broken fingers, burns, dislocated jaws, broken teeth, broken limbs, or worse things to occur. All of these things can result in severe lifelong disabilities or mortality post-collapse.

Because there might be more than one attacker, pregnancy and STDs are a major concern.

Most women will lose track of their ovulation in a collapse. They will mostly be unprepared as contraception runs out, be stressed from the changes to the life, be malnourished, and so amenorrhea will increasingly occur. This means they may be unable to anticipate their cycle, may be enormously stressed by the event, plus be dealing with not eating from the stress, and even more amenorrhea will occur. That can look like a pregnancy.

Because the perpetrator(s) will have likely harmed many others, they can easily spread disease. That won't manifest for many days and will be masked by all of the other health issues.

In a collapse, there will not be any form of justice. Ordinarily you'd be very concerned about law enforcement and preserving DNA evidence first as well as ensuring the health and safety of the abused. Now, cleaning them up, taking whatever pregnancy/STD precautions that you can post-attack, and creating a safe secure environment will be paramount.

I hate to tell you this, but there are very limited options post-collapse. There is of course medicines to prevent pregnancy after an attack. I urge you to read about those things. I cannot advise you about them for that is a deeply difficult moral and spiritual issue. There are also herbal things you could try, but all of those are fraught with issues of bringing on menses early and hence increasing bleeding at a time when you are also trying to heal the patient.

In all likelihood, the best that you can muster is douching with things like a cola drink. It contains phosphoric acid and this alters the pH of the vagina and may prevent conception. There are also ways of flooding the region with a mild soap solution followed by water. The problem with such methods are the less than 60% efficacy rate for using those methodologies. However one problem is such douching can actually force fluids up further and can cause conception. Much more likely and practically the region needs to be cleaned and tended to.

Prevention is your best strategy. Because many people will be searching for food and items, then no one should ever travel alone, past sunset, or without weapons. Something as simple as cooking odors or a fire may give away your position and bring peril, especially those without skills and knowledge about concealment with camping.

While you may think your ammunition is adequate, I can assure you that this is not likely to be the case. While right now you may think you would help someone being attacked, and I would be proud of you for responding in that courageous way, the amount of ammunition in a gun battle is significant and the ability to extract a hostage is extremely difficult as that is the best way for the perpetrator to leave the region.

Often a sexual abuser will use the fact that children are in a home against the person who is being attacked. Your concerns about their well being will be twisted in such a way as to increase abuse.

Please prayerfully consider how you would respond to such tragedies. All men and women should be trained in realistic self-defense, possess and have a high proficiency with firearms, secure their domicile, and understand the multiple health issues post-collapse.

Look back at my previous posts on all of the mentioned subjects and try to create a comprehensive action plan to increase your sense of security.





GLP