Archive for August, 2008
Hurricane Gustav – Part 1
As Hurricane Gustav approaches the coast of Louisiana and Texas, its time to start preparing. One of the first concerns is fuel for the generator. Gasoline is usually one of the first things to disappear, so its important to stock up while you can.
Even if your area is not directly affected by the disaster, if other people evacuate through your area, those people will clean out the gasoline supply. So if you live along a major (or minor) evacuation route, its important to stockpile fuel before the supply in your area dries up.
Instead of using 5 gallon gas cans, consider using 16 gallon drums. These are still movable by one person, but take the place of 3 – 5 gallon drums. The drums in the video held some type of syrup used for making DR. Pepper. These 16 gallon drums need to be bought in advance of any kind of disaster, washed out with soap and water to remove the syrup and allowed to dry.
Using a GPS and Compass
When on a hiking, hunting or camping trip, it is very important not to get lost. And if the hiker or hunter does find their selves lost, how do they get found again? There are some basic tools that should be included in the wilderness survival tool kit. These include a GPS, compass and the knowledge on how to use them.
Regardless of what items are included in the kit, the most important tool is the knowledge. Only knowledge can empower the person to effectively use the gear in their survival kit.
This video discusses some basic information on how to a TOPO map, compass and GPS.
The mistake that a lot of people when they get their GPS, they do not practice. Before a GPS is taken into a wilderness area, take the GPS, read the instruction manual and get some practice in.
Fruit trees and the urban survivalist
Fruit trees are often over looked asset to the urban survivalist. Most people live in a neighborhood where the fence line goes straight back, makes a 90 degree turn, runs across the backyard, makes another 90 degree turn and goes back to the house.
What is planted in the 90 degree turns? Maybe some ferns, or maybe some landscaping? You can not eat those ferns or palm trees. Dig that stuff up and use it for compost.
A deer hunting story
This is based off a true story that happened on November 30th, 2007. Discussion on this deer hunting story can be found at this link.
I got out to the lease around 3:30, got the 4-wheeler unloaded and drove a little over 1/4 mile to an old logging road. I parked the 4wheeler on the logging road and walked 100+ yards to the stand. I walked because I can move quieter by walking then I can on the 4-wheeler.
On the way to the stand I saw some coyote tracks. It looks like a rabbit track was mixed in them them. I got in the stand around 4:00 pm, took some scenery pictures and read my bible for a little while.
By 5:00 pm there were 3 does under and around the feeder. A little after 5 pm a spike and 6 point came out. The 6 point was too small to shoot. All three of my last deer have been 8 points, so there is no use in going backwards.
Just after 5:15 a nice size deer walks out and starts grazing on the grass on the logging road. I looked at him through my scope and thought it was an 8 point. Later I found out it was a 9 point.
Planting a fall garden
A fall garden should be a serious consideration for any survivalist. Spring and summer crops are one thing, but late season crops deserve special consideration.
Examples of cool weather and cold weather crops are – Cabbage, turnips, rutabagas, mustard greens and onions. Garlic should be a consideration as well.
Rutabagas: After world war 2, the rutabaga helped stop most of Germany from starving to death. Rutabagas seem to grow pretty good in cold weather. My ex-father in law grew a field of rutabagas in the middle of winter. I remember walking out into this field during the wet and cold middle of winter, and there was this green patch of Rutabaga tops. My first thought was – “wow, how can these things grow in the winter?”
When adding potting soil to your garden, avoid the cheap potting soil sold at places like wal-mart. This stuff has been know to have pieces of plastic and other trash in it. Sometimes you get what you pay for, and when you buy cheap potting soil, you get just that – cheap dirt.
The first 72 hours after a disaster
This past July 4th weekend my family and I spent 3 days at the camp. This “3 days” is important – the gubberment says that after a disaster you can expect at least 72 hours before relief services are put into place.
While my kids were busy playing in the creek and shooting fireworks, I was thinking of the situation we were in. Even though this was an enjoyable weekend and everyone had fun, there were some serious situations that needed to be considered.
Stocking up on firewood
For thousands of years mankind has used wood for cooking and warmth. Even today thousands of people still rely on wood for their everyday cooking needs.
Firewood is an important asset – but its only an asset if the person can utilize it. In this case a storm blew down an oak tree. Instead of the tree going to waste, it was cut up for firewood.
Camping Video Collection
This video is a collection of different types of camping and hiking videos streamed from youtube. To scroll through the videos, click the buttons on the right and left hand side of the player.
If the video player shows an error that the video is no longer available, just click the button on the right hand side of the player to advance to the next video.
Stihl Chainsaws
The Stihl company was was founded in 1926 by Andreas Stihl. Andreas was an important innovator in early chain saw production. The Stihl company is one of the world’s largest sellers of chain saws and is the only chain saw manufacturer to make their own saw chains and guide bars.
Chainsaws should be an important consideration for any survivalist. On average, one tank of gas can cut a one truck load of wood. After a disaster, such as a hurricane, chainsaws can greatly speed up recovery time. When stock piling wood, chainsaws are the preferred way to harvest the wood. In a long term collapse of society, the chainsaws dependence on gasoline is its draw back.
For harvesting firewood, a chainsaw is the way to go.
Harvesting Home Grown Potatoes
Growing potatoes is a pretty easy and straight forward process.
Once the tops of the potato plants start to die off. Which is usually about 3 or 4 months after planting, just pull the top of the potato plant up and then dig the dirt up around the plant. The potatoes will be easy to damage, so dig up with care. Try not to use tools such as shovels as they can damge the potato.
Some people use cloth gardening gloves to help protect their hands from injury (from debris in the dirt) and to prevent getting dirt under their finger nails. One way to quickly harvest the potatoes is to run a plow down the middle of the row. This will roll the dirt up and bring the potatoes to the surface.
After the potatoes have been Harvested, store them in a cool dry place. Some people will put down a bed of straw, layer of potatoes, layer of straw, layer of potatoes. When they need the potatoes, dig through the straw and dig some out.