Amy & Bones: From the front cover to the back cover, the book never tells you to go to the doctor
or get to the hospital, because the book assumes that something has happened, such as a natural
disaster, that has taken them away as an option. Even wilderness survival books, and I’m a mem-
ber of the Wilderness Medical Society, are based on the ability to stabilize and transport patients to a
modern medical facility.
DSM: Why mix alternative and herbal remedies in with conventional medicine in one
book? Most people that believe in one often don’t believe in the other.
Amy & Bones: Because we believe in integrative medicine, that is, using all of the tools in the med-
ical woodshed. If a disaster is severe enough, you’ll use up all your medicines very quickly, and it’s
worthwhile to know what in your environment might have medicinal benefits.
DSM: Talk about how you do expo circuit and travel the country meeting all types of
people and talk about survival medicine…
Amy & Bones: One of the things we enjoy most in our role as medical preparedness educators is
meeting so many like-minded folks throughout the country at our seminars and classes. We’ve gotten
to see so much of this beautiful country and count ourselves blessed to have the support of so many
great people.
We especially appreciate the willingness of the preparedness community to pick up the flag and take
medical responsibility for their family in times of trouble. Have no doubt, one day they’ll save lives in
good times or bad.
DSM: your book, dvd series , the game and anything else you want to mention.
Amy & Bones: Our main offering in our book, the 3 category Amazon bestseller “The Survival
Medicine Handbook”. We self-published and self-edited it, expecting maybe to reach just a couple of
hundred people. Many tens of thousands of books are now in the hands of our readers. In the book,
we discuss over 100 topics that the “survival medic” may encounter in a short- or long-term disaster
setting. We like to think that it’s become the standard reference for long-term disaster medicine.
The Survival Medicine Handbook has spent the last 2 years on the Most Wished For list on Amazon,
so we have just come out with an abridged version through Skyhorse Publishing that they titled “The
Ultimate Survival Medicine Guide”. It’s not as weighty a volume as our main book, but it is more af-
fordable for those who wish for the book but need a more affordable option.
As an aside, we also wrote a book called “The Ebola Survival Handbook” during the epidemic in West
Africa. We jokingly that we cured the Ebola epidemic because, as soon as we published the book,
you never heard about Ebola again!. It did spend a couple of days on the NY Times bestseller list in
health, however.
Other projects include our weekly (at least, when we’re not on the road) podcast on blogtalkradio, the
Survival Medicine Hour and our YouTube channel at DrBones NurseAmy, with 100 videos on survival
medicine issues. We also designed a board game “Doom and Bloom’s SURVIVAL!” to get that lone
prepper in the family to get everyone into the preparedness mindset in a fun and challenging way. You
can check it out at www.survivalboardgame.com
Of course, our website at www.doomandbloom.net has over 700 posts, articles, videos, and podcast
on medical preparedness, as well as Nurse Amy’s entire line of medical kits and supplies for the un-
certain future.
More and more each day people become invested in prepping and survivalism, unfortunately
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world and will soon be knocking on our doors here in America.
When disaster, war or martial law comes knocking at your door, will you be ready? I’m sure that
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So it is that time of year again when all of the hard work you put into tending to your garden is about
to pay off. Other then just giving away baskets of fresh produce to your neighbors, which is always
a good idea. It never hurts to be close to your neighbors especially in times of disaster. There are
several ways you can store the yield from your growing season to make sure it doesn’t go to waste. If
done properly you should have plenty to last all winter. Listed below are some of the top methods of
food preservation.
With cold weather soon upon us, everyone should be working to save your harvest, either by storing
or preserving. Canning, drying, and freezing, are good ways of preserving your crops such as beans,
corn, peas, peppers, summer squash, and tomatoes. They need to be done immediately after picking,
while crops are fresh and tasty. Whether you cold-store or preserve your produce depends on the
type of food you’ve grown, your facilities, and your family’s eating preferences.
Cold Cellars aka (Root Cellar)
Before refrigeration, the root cellar was an es-
sential way to root vegetables fresh through the
winter months. Depending on where you live
the temperature will vary and in some place like
Florida or where there is low water table this may
not be a viable option. You can’t freeze all of your
harvest and what if th electric goes out?
You can either use your basement to make a root A root cellar dug into a hillside
cellar or you can build one outside..There are
many plans available online. You can dig one into
a small hill or on flat ground in your backyard.
To maintain the proper “living” conditions, at least
three variables need to be considered: tempera-
ture, humidity and ventilation.
Tempature
In planning a root cellar, temperature is the first
consideration. You want to maintain temperatures
at 32° to 40° F (0 to 4 C).The earth (Dirt) makes a
great insulator.
Humidity:
Most root and leafy crops will store best at high
humidity (+80%) or moisture levels. Root crops
like carrots need to be stored in some moist me-
dium to maintain quality. Some crops like onion,
garlic and winter squash store better at low hu-
midity level (less than 60%). Moisture may need
to be added by wetting the floor or walls with
water depending on the construction methods.
ventilation Canning
Reasons for ventilation include: 1) removal of
heat of respiration, 2) replenishing the oxygen Home canning is an excellent way to preserve
supply, 3) removing volatile compounds from garden produce and share it with family and
the produce that may effect flavor or sprouting friends, but it can be risky or even deadly if not
like ethylene. The greater the density or amount done correctly and safely.
of produce in the space, the more ventilation
is needed. Ventilation or air tubes need to be
planned prior to construction and place during
construction.
Common storage categories are 1) cold dry, 2)
cold moist, 3) cool dry, 4) cool moist.
theorganicprepper.ca has some good resources
for building a root cellar.
FREEZING You can make homemade tomatoes sauces and
make your own salsa.
Freeze as many vegetables as you have room for
in your freezer. Dice up the veggies as how you -Pickling
would if you were cooking with like pre made stir -Soaking Oil
fry veggies or for soups and stews and prep seal -Jams and Jellying
them using a food sealer, zip lock bags or plastic
Tupperware. If you invest in a good food sealer Click Below for the complete USDA
it will help reduce the risk of freezer burn. Tup- guide to Home Canning.
perwere and zip lock bags can be found at every
dollar store.
If you can afford to buy a extra freezer then do it.
Try to find used ones at yard or garage sale or
look for restaurants or delis going out business. If
you live in a really cold part of the country during
the winter consider storing some of your frozen
veggies outside in a container of some sort. Just
make sure animals can’t get in it. If you have hot
ub outside drain the water just keep the lid on it.
Drying Food to Preserve it
By Tom Linden
Drying is the oldest method of preserving food.
The early American settlers dried foods such as
corn, apple slices, currants, grapes, and meat.
Compared with other methods, drying is quite
simple. In fact, you may already have most of the
equipment on hand.
Dried foods keep well because the moisture oven, drying food has been found to be nine to
content is so low that spoilage organisms can- twelve times as costly as canning it. Food dehy-
not grow. Drying will never replace canning and drators are less expensive to operate but are only
freezing because these methods do a better job useful for a few months of the year.
of retaining the taste, appearance, and nutritive
value of fresh food. But drying is an excellent way A convection oven can be the most economi-
to preserve foods that can add variety to meals cal investment if the proper model is chosen. A
and provide delicious, nutritious snacks. convection oven that has a controllable tempera-
ture starting at 120 degrees F. and a continuous
One of the biggest advantages of dried foods operation feature rather than a timer-controlled
is that they take much less storage space than one will function quite well as a dehydrator during
canned or frozen foods. Recommended methods the gardening months. For the rest of the year it
for canning and freezing have been determined can be used as a tabletop oven.
by research and widespread experience. Home
drying, however, does not have firmly established For a good-quality product, vegetables and fruits
procedures. must be prepared for drying as soon as possi-
ble after harvesting. They should be blanched,
Food can be dried several ways, for example, cooled, and laid out to dry without delay. Foods
by the sun if the air is hot and dry enough, or in should be dried rapidly, but not so fast that the
an oven or dryer if the climate is humid. With the outside becomes hard before the moisture inside
renewed interest in gardening and natural foods has a chance to evaporate. Drying must not be
and because of the high cost of commercially interrupted. Once you start drying the food, don’t
dried products, drying foods at home is becoming let it cool down in order to start drying again later.
popular again. Mold and other spoilage organisms can grow on
partly dried food.
Drying is not difficult, but it does take time and a
lot of attention. Although there are different dry- During the first part of the drying process, the air
ing methods, the guidelines remain the same. temperature can be relatively high, that is, 150
Although solar drying is a popular and very inex- degrees to 160 degrees F. (65 degrees to 70 de-
pensive method, Illinois does not have a suitable grees C.), so that moisture can evaporate quickly
climate for it. from the food.
Dependable solar dehydration of foods requires 3 Because food loses heat during rapid evapo-
to 5 consecutive days when the temperature is 95 ration, the air temperature can be high without
degrees F. and the humidity is very low. The av- increasing the temperature of the food.
erage relative humidity in central Illinois on days But as soon as surface moisture is lost (the out-
with 95 degrees F. temperatures is usually 86 per side begins to feel dry) and the rate of evapora-
cent. Solar drying is thus not feasible.
Drying food in the oven of a kitchen range, on the
other hand, can be very expensive. In an electric
tion slows down, the food warms up. Vegetables are a good source of minerals and
The air temperature must then be reduced to the B vitamins thiamine, riboflavin, and nia-
about 140 degrees F. (60 degrees C.). cin. Both fruits and vegetables provide useful
amounts of the fiber (bulk) we need.
Toward the end of the drying process the food
can scorch easily, so you must watch it carefully. Save the water used for soaking or cooking
Each fruit and vegetable has a critical tempera- dried foods because this nutrient-rich water can
ture above which a scorched taste develops. be used in recipes to make soups, sauces, and
The temperature should be high enough to evap- gravy.
orate moisture from the food, but not high enough
to cook the food. Many kinds of fresh fruits, vegetables, herbs,
meat, and fish can be dried. If you have never
Carefully follow directions for regulating tem- tried drying food before, though, it’s a good idea
peratures. to experiment first by drying a small quantity in
the oven. This way you can see if you like the
Rapid dehydration is desirable. The higher the taste and texture of dried food. At the same time,
temperature and the lower the humidity, the more you can become familiar with the drying process.
rapid the rate of dehydration will be. Humid air
slows down evaporation. Keep this in mind if you Fruits are easier to dry than vegetables because
plan to dry food on hot, muggy summer days. If moisture evaporates wore easily, and not as
drying takes place too fast, however, “case hard- much moisture must be removed for the product
ening” will occur. This means that the cells on the to keep. Ripe apples, berries, cherries, peaches,
outside of the pieces of food give up moisture apricots, and pears are practical to dry.
faster than the cells on the inside. The surface
becomes hard, preventing the escape of moisture Vegetables that are also practical to dry include
from the inside. Moisture in the food escapes by peas, corn, peppers, zucchini, okra, onions, and
evaporating into the air. Trapped air soon takes green beans. Produce from the supermarket is
on as much moisture as it can hold, and then dry- usually more expensive and not as fresh as it
ing can no longer take place. this reason, be sure should be for drying. It is a waste of time and
the ventilation around your oven or in your food energy to dry vegetables such as carrots that can
dryer is adequate. be kept for several months in a cool, dry base-
ment or cellar. Fresh herbs of all types are suit-
Drying the food evenly takes a little extra effort able for drying. The parts of the plant to dry vary,
and attention. Stirring the pieces of food frequent- but leaves, seeds, or blossoms usually give the
ly and shifting the racks in the oven or dryer are best results.
essential because heat is not the same in all
parts of the dryer. For the best results, spread Lean meats such as beef, lamb, and venison
thin layers of uniformly-sized pieces of food on can be dried for jerky. Fish also is excellent when
the drying racks. dried. Certain foods are not suitable for drying
because of their high moisture content. Lettuce,
Dried fruits are a good source of energy because melons, and cucumbers are a few foods that do
they contain concentrated fruit sugars. Fruits also not dry well. Don’t be surprised to find a variety
contain a rather large amount of vitamins and of suggestions for drying methods, temperatures,
minerals. The drying process, however, destroys and lengths of time. The drying process is simply
some of the vitamins, especially A and C. Expos- not as precise as canning and freezing because
ing fruit to sulfur before drying helps retain vita- it involves so many different factors. You may
mins A and C. Sulfur destroys thiamine, one of need to use a trial-and-error approach to find
the B vitamins, but fruit is not an important source what suits you best. Whatever method you use,
of thiamine anyway. Many dried fruits are rich in be sure to remove enough moisture from the final
riboflavin and iron. of minerals and the B vitamins product so that spoilage organisms cannot grow.
When you dry foods, remember the following: Do not use solid metal trays or cookie sheets to
Cleanliness and sanitation are essential. dry food because air must circulate all around the
food so that drying can take place from the bot-
The flavor of dried fruits and vegetables will tom and the top at the same time. Pieces of meat
be somewhat different from that of their fresh, for jerky can be placed directly on the metal racks
canned, or frozen counterparts. in the oven if the pieces are large enough not to
fall through the spaces in the racks.
One of the advantages of drying foods rather
than canning or freezing them is that you can get Do not use racks made of galvanized screen,
by with almost no special equipment. A kitchen aluminum, copper, fiberglass, or vinyl. Galva-
oven, drying trays or racks, and storage con- nized screen contains zinc and cadmium. These
tainers are the only basic equipment needed. If metals cause an acid reaction that forms harmful
you want to dry large quantities of food, you may compounds and darkens the food. Aluminum
decide to buy or make a food dryer, but it is not becomes discolored and causes an off-flavor in
essential. sulfured fruit. Copper materials destroy vitamin
C. Fiberglass may leave dangerous splinters in
For sun drying you need only racks and storage the food, and vinyl melts at temperatures used for
containers. Although the following equipment is drying.
not absolutely necessary, it will help you make a
more uniformly good product:
a food scale to weigh food before and after drying
an electric fan to circulate the air
a thermometer to check the oven temperature
a blancher for vegetables
a sulfur box for fruit
Wood slats or stainless steel screen mesh are Oven drying is the simplest way to dry food be-
the best materials to use for the racks. Cake cause you need almost no special equipment. It
racks or a wooden frame covered with cheese- is also faster than sun drying or using a food dry-
cloth or other loosely-woven cloth can also be er. But oven drying can be used only on a small
used for drying racks. scale. An ordinary kitchen oven can hold only 4
to 6 pounds of food at one time. Set the oven on
the lowest possible setting and preheat to 140
degrees F. (60 C.). Do not use the broiler unit of
an electric oven because the food on the top tray
will dry too quickly’ Remove the unit if it has no
separate control. Some gas ovens have a pilot
right, which may keep the oven warm enough
to dry the food. It is important to keep the oven
temperature at 140 to 160 F. (60 to 70 C.). So put
an oven thermometer on the top tray about half
way back where you can see it easily. Check the
temperature about every half hour. Arrange 1 to 2
pounds of prepared food in a single layer on each FREEZE DRYING
tray. Put one tray on each oven rack. Allow 1-1/2
inches of space on the sides, front, and back of Preserves Taste, Color, and Nutritional Value
the trays so that air can circulate all around them
in the oven. To stack more trays in the oven, use Freeze drying is a remarkable method of food
blocks of wood in the comers of the racks to hold preservation that does not damage the nutritional
the trays at least I inches apart. value of food. Other methods of food preserva-
Dry no more than four trays of food at a time. A tion, such as canning and dehydrating, use high-
lighter load dries faster than a full load. er temperatures that destroy nearly half (50%) of
Keep the oven door open slightly during drying. A the food’s nutritional value.
rolled newspaper, a block of wood, or a hot pad
will keep the door ajar so that moist air can es-
cape while the heat stays in the oven. Four to six
inches for electric ovens or 1 to 2 inches for gas
ovens is usually enough space for ventilation, but
use a thermometer to check the oven tempera-
ture to make sure it stays at 140 F. An electric fan
placed in front of the oven door helps to keep the
air circulating.
Shifting the trays often is important for even dry- Freeze drying also preserves the original size
ing because the temperature is not the same ev- and relative softness of food, unlike other meth-
erywhere in the oven. Rotate the trays from top to ods that often shrink it or make it tougher.
bottom and from front to back every half hour. It
helps to number the trays so you can keep track This picture was taken of food that was preserved
of the order in which you rotate them. Stirring fruit in a Harvest Right freeze dryer. It doesn’t have
or vegetables every half hour or so also helps the a drop of water in it. As you can see, the apples,
food to dry evenly. jerky needs to be turned over cheese, avocados and the rest (steak, turkey
occasionally to keep it from sticking to the trays. breast, raspberries, corn, peas, ice cream, yo-
Check the temperature about every half hour. gurt, banana slices) still look fresh. And, in reality,
Arrange 1 to 2 of prepared food in a single layer they are fresh. Simply add water—it is delicious.
on each tray. Put one tray on each oven rack.
Allow 1-1/2 inches of space on the sides, front,
and back of the trays so that air can circulate all
around them in the oven. To stack more trays in
the oven, use blocks of wood in the comers of the
racks to hold the trays at least I inches apart. Dry
no more than four trays of food at a time.
A lighter load dries faster than a full load. Home freeze drying allows you to preserve large
Keep the oven door open slightly during drying. A pieces of tasteful, high quality food, such as apri-
rolled newspaper, a block of wood, or a hot pad cot halves, strawberry halves, thick peach slices,
will keep the door ajar so that moist air can es- large slices of cooked steak, whole shrimp, ice
cape while the heat stays in the oven. Four to six cream sandwiches, etc. …not just small dices
inches for electric ovens or 1 to 2 inches for gas or shavings of fruit or meat that you find in store
ovens is usually enough space for ventilation, but bought, freeze dried products.
use a thermometer to check the oven tempera-
ture to make sure it stays at 140 F. An electric fan Oh and did we mention it can last up to 25+ years
placed in front of the oven door helps to keep the without refirdigeration if sealed and stored prop-
air circulating. erly?
Stirring & rotating fruit or vegetables every half For more info visit
hour or so also helps the food to dry evenly. jerky Harvestright.com
needs to be turned over occasionally to keep it
from sticking to the trays.
By Jim Kennard
With cold weather soon upon least expensive in the long run. green ones. Handle them gen-
us, everyone should be working And you can eat every one of tly, because cuts or bruises will
to save your harvest, either by these garden-fresh even 4 to cause them to spoil quickly.
storing or preserving. Canning, 6 months after they’ve been Fruit that’s close to ripe can be
drying, and freezing, are good harvested! However it requires placed on a kitchen counter,
ways of preserving your crops some careful preparation, so out of direct sunlight, and it will
such as beans, corn, peas, let’s discuss how best to pre- ripen in a few days. Green fruit
peppers, summer squash, and pare for and store your fall should be placed on a shelf in
tomatoes. They need to be harvest. a cool, dry place, such as your
done immediately after picking, basement or garage. As they
while crops are fresh and tasty. The details of harvesting and begin to ripen you can bring
Whether you cold-store or pre- properly storing your crops are them into the kitchen. Always
serve your produce depends on covered on several of the Mittle- remove any fruit that is begin-
the type of food you’ve grown, ider gardening books, including ning to spoil. We eat tomatoes
your facilities, and your family’s Food For Everyone – all avail- into January this way.
eating preferences. able at www.foodforeveryone.
org. Most of your other vegi’s need
Cold storage of vegetables such more help to keep them fresh.
as cabbage, beets, carrots, Since tomatoes are many peo- If your garden is very small and
potatoes, squash, and turnips ples’ favorite garden produce, you don’t have much to store,
can give you the best tasting let’s discuss them first. Before you may be able to use an old
and healthiest food of these the first killing frost, pick all your refrigerator, or a barrel buried
methods, and may even be the tomatoes, including the green in the back yard. However, for
those who are serious about avoid mixing flavors, and to upon which to draw in helping
providing fresh food for your keep squash dry. the Foundation “Teach the world
families, I recommend a root to grow food one family at a
cellar, either under the house or Potatoes should not be as wet time.” Jim has been a Mittleider
buried outside. A good size is 8’ as the root crops. They will gardener for the past twenty
wide and at least 10’ deep. This do well in temperatures below nine years; he is a Master Mit-
gives you 2’ for an aisle and 3’ 40 degrees, but pack them in tleider Gardening Instructor, and
on each side for storage. A shelf slightly moist, rather than wet has taught classes and worked
on each side is good for things sawdust. Peat moss and sand, one-on-one with Dr. Jacob Mit-
like onions and garlic, which or combinations of all three, tleider on several humanitarian
need to be kept dry. can be substituted for straight gardening training projects in
sawdust, but are not as ideal. I the USA and abroad. He has
You can set it into the side of recommend you work with your conducted projects in Armenia,
a hill or dig a hole 4’ to 5’ deep neighbors to find a sawmill, and America, Madagascar, and Tur-
in a corner of the yard, build obtain a truckload. key by himself. He assists gar-
the cellar, and cover it with the deners all over the world from
excess dirt. This will help insu- Onions and garlic also store the http://www.foodforeveryone.
late it and maintain the low, but well. They can handle cold org website FAQ pages and free
not freezing temperatures you temperatures but, like winter Gardening Group, and grows a
need. Provide yourself a small squash, they do better with large demonstration garden at
door and insulate it well. humidity only 60 to 70 percent. Utah’s Hogle Zoo in his spare
Therefore these should be up time.
Harvest your crops at peak ma- off the damp floor, on shelves
turity and store only those which or hung from the ceiling. A cold Gardening Books, CDs and
are free of disease or damage. basement can also work, but be Software are available at
Don’t harvest for storage until sure to provide separation from www.foodforeveryone.org
late fall, since more starches living areas to avoid the strong
are converted to sugars by smell.
the cool weather. Root crops
should be picked fresh and Remember, cold temperatures
stored immediately. Potatoes are essential for good long-term
and squash, on the other hand, storage of vegetables, but do
first need to be cured at 60-75 not let them freeze! Insulate
degrees for 7 to 14 days. Most your root cellar well. Good
produce should be stored at just healthy eating to you! More
above freezing temperatures, details are at www.foodforevery-
except winter squash, which one.org in the FAQ section. ©
does better at or above 50 de- 2006 - James B. Kennard
grees.
Your root crops will stay fresh Jim Kennard, President Food
and sweet for months if you For Everyone Foundation
harvest them with roots intact “Teaching the world to grow
and pack them in wet sawdust. food one family at a time.” www.
Cabbage and other brassicas foodforeveryone.org
also need their roots. Remove
outer leaves, then pack the Jim Kennard, President of Food
roots in wet sawdust, leaving For Everyone Foundation, has
the cabbage exposed. Provide a wealth of teaching and gar-
separation between crops to dening training and experience
Seed Saving with Survival Jane
-It only takes one seed.
www.survivorjane.com
I’m not a seed expert, nope, not by any stretch of to begin with the easy-peezy seeds; like say,
the imagination. But I am a seed saver; and that, beans, peas, peppers, and tomatoes; the
in and of itself should lend some credibility to “self-pollinators”, - remember they don’t require
the subject. So, let me share what I know about a visit from Mr. Beezy? – along with melons,
seed saving. squash, and cucumbers. With the exception of
the cucumbers and squash, most of these seeds
First of all, there is a learning curve to this art can be scraped out of the vegetable, rinsed off
they call seed saving, and it begins with the origin really well to get all the slimy coating off and laid
of the seed. Whether vegetable, grain, herbs, out on a glass or ceramic dish to dry. With cu-
nuts, fruits, or berries you have to start with a cumbers and squash, you want to leave a few on
healthy seed from good-stock. Heirloom seeds the vine until the last of the season– or what is
are the most sought after. These seeds have referred to as the mature ones – the senior vege-
been handed-down by your grandmother and tables if you will, before grabbing their seeds.
great-grandmother; and maybe theirs before that, Once you have all your seeds, washed and dried,
and are the tried and true seed of choice – what you’ll want to have a safe place for them to spend
you see is what you get. Also, you want to look the winter. The key to remember here, seeds like
for open-pollinated seeds - meaning seeds that us like to be dry and cool. I place my seeds on
produce a flower that does not require a visit a paper coffee filter when dry, then fold the filter
from a bee (or bird for that matter) - they can into a little rectangle envelope, tape it, write what
pollinate themselves (don’t ask.) The off-spring kind of seed it is and the year it was harvested
of these seeds will produce clones exactly like and place it in a dated brown paper bag with all
their parents, unlike the “hybrid” seed that is the other seeds for that year. But, just like asking
anyone’s guess as to what will result from year people what the color blue looks like, and getting
to year. Will it look like mom or dad? Hybrid a bazillion answers – the same holds true for
seeds are created by taking two different plants how people store their seeds – less the cool and
and cross-pollinating them to make a third kind dry part. Some will put their seeds in envelops,
of plant. Kinda like putting vanilla and chocolate make a label and put the variety of seed, where it
ice-cream together to make a swirl cone. And, came from (i.e., a neighbor, a seed packet, from
speaking of creating, this leads me to … GMO last year’s harvest), and the month and the date.
seeds (Ahhhh, not those!), the highly-debated Some use glass jars. While, others use a mixture
“genetically modified” seeds. These seed really of both; adding some powdered milk to the pack-
are created in a laboratory much like test-tube ets as a desiccant to ward off moisture. Some
babies. Adding a little of this and a little of that just use good old paper towels. See? It really is
with a whole bunch of chemicals – resulting “sup- up to you how you store your seeds.
posedly” in a more “hardier” seed. Thankfully;
well for those who are growing their own food, So, why even bother to save seeds? Wow, where
most of these seeds are used in commercial do I begin. Let’s start here. Have you purchased
growing. a packet of seeds lately? They are ex-pen-
sive! And you only get a little bit in each packet.
To earn your junior seed-saver badge, (that’s I remember the last time I bought a packet of
not really a thing by the way), you might want to seeds. I opened the envelope up and thought I
got a reject empty envelope because I didn’t see turned into a nursery full - and I mean that literal-
any seeds. Upon closer inspection, the seeds ly - of little seedlings all grown from saved seeds,
were actually wedged down in the corner of the getting ready to spread their little wings, er …
packet. Next, why buy when one vegetable can leaves to the outside food forest.
yield you more seeds than 20 of those packets
of seed would give you. Some people even do The greenhouse is also where we keep the
“seed swaps” – like I’ll trade you some of my dehydrator, which goes almost non-stop with
summer squash seeds for some of your water- spring and summer harvests. And when I’m not
melon seeds? Just make sure that the person dehydrating fruits and vegetables, I am canning
you are trading with only uses heirloom seeds too and preserving them. As I peel and clean the
in their garden or you will come out on the short garden food, I gather the “scraps” and throw them
end of the trade. And lastly, the reason you want back out into the garden as addition nutrients for
to save seeds, is preparedness. Gardening is the soil. Even snippets of browned leaves from
about being more self-sufficient and getting out herbs or plants from the greenhouse are saved
of the consumer-mind set. Think about this, if in a container to be thrown out into the garden as
there was ever a time when we had to use our green mulch. Nothing goes to waste. Everything
food stores, say due to an emergency disaster – has a purpose.
and we used up all our food and could no longer
purchase any at a store; for whatever reason - So, the next time a friend or neighbor shares a
how would we replenish our food supplies? With big juicy red tomato with you, ask them if it was
seeds you have an alternative means to replenish grown with heirloom seeds, if they say yes, save
your food storage. a few of the seeds before eating it up. Remem-
ber, it only takes one seed to grow a plant. That
Now, not to brag, but I am pretty lucky. Not only plant can provide nutrition for your family. It will
do I have access to a greenhouse, which I will also produce more seeds which will grow even
discuss in a minute, but I also have access to the more plants and provide even more nutrition for
author of the book “Secret Garden of Survival – your family and …more seeds. See where I’m
How to Grow a Camouflage Food Forest”, Rick going with this? The seed you save today can be
Austin - who just happens to also be my husband the meal you eat tomorrow, and next year, and
and who built my greenhouse. I have access to the year after that; and so on and so forth. - Just
the best of the best! You too need to align your- sayin’.
self with others who may have more knowledge
than you on seeds and what grows best where, -Survivor Jane
so you can tap into that knowledge and in turn
can share with others as well.
Okay, to the greenhouse. Our greenhouse is
non-stop growing year round with herbs and veg-
etables grown from seedlings that were started
from seeds in our “seed bank”. Who said gar-
dening had to be outside, right? All four seasons
there is food growing in the greenhouse. And, I
will tell you, there is nothing better than to walk
out into the greenhouse to snip a couple leaves
of lettuce, cabbage and some Okinawa spinach
to make an awesome garden salad for lunch. We
can grow melons, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce,
cabbage, beans, broccoli, peppers and cauliflow-
er and, almost every kind of herb you can think
of. As spring approaches the greenhouse is
There may come a time when you need to move through the back woods without being detect-
ed by someone who is intent on ruining your day, whether you are alone, with your family, or maybe
with a neighborhood Mutual Assistance Group. Knowing how to move like a sniper will give you the
fighting chance you need to either get out of harm’s way or move in unseen to eliminate the threat.
As a Marine Scout Sniper, I had a dual mission: first, to observe and report enemy activities
up the chain of command, second, to take the shot on selected targets and targets of opportunity in
support of combat operations. If my team mates and I were detected before we could get into posi-
tion, the entire mission was a fail, and other Marines were likely to die. So it was important that we be
able to get in, set up, and eventually get out without being seen. In order to do that, we used special
camouflage and movement techniques. Today I will give a few pointers on both.
The two entities most likely to compromise a sniper during infiltration are the enemy sentry LP/
OP (Listening Post/Observation Post) and the enemy tracker team. The LP/OP is the danger while
the sniper is moving into position. The trackers are the danger after the sniper has already passed
through the area or moved into his position. The techniques I describe will address both threats. First,
I will show the big picture movements where anti-tracking and counter-tracking play a part and then I
will progress to the very narrow, focused movements a sniper must employ in order to remain unde-
tected. This is also where the special camouflage becomes more important.
One of the most important concepts to understand and apply when trying to move undetect-
ed through an area is to use the dead space of the terrain and objects around you. Dead space
is the portion of an object and its surroundings that someone cannot see from their perspective. For
example, let’s say you are at the bottom of your own hill and there is another smaller hill out in front of
you with an expansive, open plain behind it. The dead space from your perspective is the portion of
the opposite side of the smaller hill that you can’t see, as well as any portion of the open plain behind
it that you cannot see, which in this case would be all of it. There could be an entire enemy army out
on the plain, and you wouldn’t be able to see them. Let’s change it. Let’s say that you are positioned
near the top of your own hill, now looking down on the smaller hill in front of you. Now the dead space
of the smaller hill may be only the small area around the base of the back of the hill and no longer any
of the open plain. Now you can see that there is an army on the plain. It all depends on what you can
see from where you are. Snipers move through the enemy’s dead space in order to move unseen,
and so can you.
The same concept applies with smaller terrain features. You may not have a hill to hide behind,
but a large tree or rock works just as well. Keep the tree or rock between you and them while moving
in a straight line towards or away from them, and they will not see you. Common sense right? And yet
so many people still get caught out in the open. This is one reason why it is extremely important to
know where the enemy/hostiles are located whenever possible. Many of our movement techniques
build off of the concept of moving in dead space.
When a person moves through a natural setting, they leave a figurative foot print. The foot
print can be literal at times, but what I mean by “foot print” is the sum total of the signs of their pass-
ing through an area. Man-trackers call the pieces of this foot print “sign” or “spore.” Snipers call them
“target indicators.” A target indicator is anything you do or fail to do that will reveal your presence to
the enemy.
Spore can be foot prints in the soil; scuffed lichen or moss on rocks and logs; transferred soil,
vegetation, and stones to other areas where they stand out; crushed or bent grass and other vegeta-
tion; snapped branches and overturned leaves and stones; trash that is left behind; urine or feces that
isn’t well hidden or carried out with you; the fire you cooked your lunch over, the smell of your tobac-
co, etc. Spore is left behind no matter how skilled the person is or how carefully they move through an
outdoor area. The trick is in knowing how to minimize and hide these signs.
All of this spore can tell a trained tracker a lot about their quarry: direction of travel, how long
ago they moved through the area, how fresh or tired they are, how much they weigh, how much
tactical training they have, whether they are an individual or part of a group and how many are in the
group, whether they are carrying weapons and often times what kind, how well provisioned the group
is, whether there are injured persons in the group, and so much more.
It can be difficult, if not impossible, to completely hide these signs as an individual. Throw more
people into the mix, and it does become impossible. The more people moving through a given area,
the larger their collective foot print will be, and the more difficult it will be to hide these signs from a
trained tracker. This is one of several reasons why snipers typically operate in smaller teams of two
to four men. They leave a much smaller foot print for trackers and enemy patrols to find and follow up
on.
So how do snipers eliminate their spore? Well, actually, they don’t. They are just good at
minimizing and hiding it. A well trained tracker with some experience under his belt will still be able
to track even a sniper team employing good anti-tracking and counter-tracking techniques. Snipers
know this and have ways of preparing for that possibility as well.
One way snipers can hide their spore is to modify their footwear. Typically, snipers wear boots.
When they get to an area where the enemy is known to employ trackers, they may start wearing
layers of fabric material over the top of their boots, i.e. sand bags or extra socks. I recommend sand
bags instead of socks over your boots. Less time and effort are required to put on and take off sand
bags vs. socks.
The reason for wearing fabric material over your boots is that the fabric softens the depth and
outline of your foot prints. Hard rubber soles often times leave a distinct pattern in the soil you walk
on, especially if vegetation is thin to nonexistent. The layers of fabric between your boot soles and the
ground make your foot’s imprint shallower and less distinct as well as muffle the sound of your foot-
steps. It’s almost like turning a pair of boots into moccasins.
This does not completely eliminate the spore that you leave behind, but it does make the spore
harder to detect. Anything that makes the follow-up more difficult, which in turn expands the time/dis-
tance gap between trackers and snipers, is a good thing for the snipers.
Snipers also change their foot placement when they walk through an area known to be cov-
ered by trackers. Typically foot placement isn’t a huge deal. You just put your foot down somewhere
that won’t leave an obvious foot print or make a lot of noise or twist your ankle or set off a mine or
booby trap. It is something that you pay attention to, but you’re not super focused on it because
you’ve usually got a lot of other things that are of higher priority in your mind, like looking for enemy
troops or thinking, “What am I going to do if ambushed from over there by that group of rocks or that
stand of trees?” But when trackers are known or suspected to be in the area, foot placement begins
to go up the list of priorities to pay attention to.
Snipers change foot placement by stepping more on large stones, being careful to leave moss
and lichen undisturbed (by avoiding whenever possible). They walk on fallen logs that are still solid
enough not to crumble underfoot. They avoid soft ground like sand and mud, where it is difficult not to
leave boot prints, or areas with a lot of fallen leaves that will not only make a lot of noise but will also
be crushed or flipped over in passing and expose the lighter underside of the leaf. When they don’t
have stones or logs to walk on, and they are forced to travel across areas that have a mixture of soft-
er ground and vegetation, they step into the vegetation, avoiding the soft soil.
Let me explain.
Your typical bush has three parts that concern us: a stem or trunk with branches that shoot
out from the trunk and are in turn covered in leaves of varying type. (Sometimes right at or just above
ground level, the trunk splits into multiple stems with branches and leaves, but for our purpose it
doesn’t really matter.)
Instead of putting their foot down into the center of the bush and crushing branches, causing
leaves to fall off, and generally creating a big ruckus and an obvious place that something big just
passed through; snipers put their foot down on the soil right next to the base of the trunk/stem, under
the branches and leaves. Then their next step goes into/under the next suitable bush in their path.
By doing this the snipers are leaving the bush relatively undisturbed, so they are not creating a huge
flashing neon sign there that advertises their passing. Their footprint is in the soil, but now it is hidden
from view by the overhanging branches and leaves instead of in the open area between bushes and
vegetation.
During a follow-up, a tracker will usually try to have the foot print between him and the sun so
that he can more easily see the shadow that is cast by one of the outside edges of your boot’s imprint
in the soil. With our foot placement technique this is much harder to do because the print is shaded
by the bush. If a tracker wants to see the actual foot imprint, if he even knows that it is there (which is
the whole point), he has to get down to a lower stance than his typical upright walking stance, which
will also slow him down.
You’ll want to employ this method in/under bushes that are between knee and waist height.
Too short and your footprint will still be visible. Too tall and the branches will likely be too large and
stiff to allow a soft passage when you press into and through them. You still have to be careful not to
break branches or knock leaves loose as these are just as easy to see and follow as footprints left in
the open. Also be wary of breaking spider webs between bushes, as this is a clear sign that some-
thing has been through there. If a tracker sees that, he’ll look a little closer and that’s when he might
spot your foot prints under the bush branches.
Now, combine the footwear technique with the foot placement technique, and you’ve got a
pretty dang hard to follow trail. Combined, they can really slow a tracking team’s follow-up to a crawl.
Open that time/distance gap between tracker and snipers enough and things like weather and other
traffic through the area will begin to erode the spore, and that starts to make an extended follow-up
that much more difficult for the trackers to the point that they might just lose the snipers’ trail.
Other techniques to employ while on the move include: using jump off points with direc-
tion change (to be used in areas with a lot of hard surfaces like large stones, firm fallen logs, etc.
that you can use to jump from one to another in series. When used with direction change, the tracker
loses your spore and is forced to slow down to reacquire it before continuing the follow-up.); split-
ting up with direction change and then meeting back up at a predetermined rally point (like I men-
tioned above; this forces the tracking team to decide which spore trail to follow which also costs them
time); circling back onto your own trail (in order to possibly ambush or at least detect a tracker
team follow-up. This will also cause a tracker team to slow down once they realize what you have
done, assuming you have already moved on, because they will need to be more wary of ambushes);
changing directions often to confuse perception of actual planned direction (this can be tricky
to do correctly because they will be keeping a journal of the route, so if they decide that they believe
you are going to a specific area or place based on your overall direction of travel so far , they might
send a team ahead to cut you off with an ambush or capture you. Definitely study more on the subject
of tracking/counter-tracking than just the little bit I am including in this chapter.), stopping for securi-
ty halts often to look/listen/smell for the enemy (S.L.L.S.), etc.
There are a number of other ways snipers can hide their spore from trackers and less profes-
sional enemy forces and increase the time/distance gap between them, but it really would take an en-
tire standalone book to fully explain. If you want to learn more on the subject, you should definitely do
some more research and then get out there and practice, but first you should get some basic training
in infantry patrolling and tactics, as tracking/counter-tracking and sniper movement techniques build
from that foundation.
A quick word about counter-tracking, i.e. setting traps: setting traps will certainly slow tracker
teams and other pursuers, possibly injuring or killing some of them, but done correctly they take some
valuable time to set up, especially if you do not have ready-made weapons like grenades. With that
in mind, only employ traps if the time/distance gap between you and your pursuers is large enough
that taking the time to set them will not put you at risk of being overtaken and captured or killed. Also
remember that traps do not identify friend or foe before they do their damage.
One benefit to setting traps is that once the trackers find one, they generally are forced to slow
down to prevent being hit by additional traps. You can use this to your advantage by a little further
down your trail setting just a few trip wires that will appear to trigger additional traps. If left in the open
enough to be seen without being too obvious, you could buy yourself more additional time than it
takes to quickly lay a trip wire to nothing.
There are some general rules about movement that I should mention.
Avoid trails, roads, and paths whenever possible. These are places where you will find people.
You don’t want those people finding you.
Avoid natural lines of drift. These are the places that, while not an established trail, path, etc.
people will naturally follow because people are naturally lazy and take the easier route. If you catch
yourself unconsciously being drawn to any particular place or direction as you walk, like down a hill
instead of around the hill, don’t go there. Take the hard way. The hard way is the way least travelled.
Avoid the very top of hills/terrain features. Anyone below you from either side will be able
to see you outlined against the sky. This is equally applicable at night as it is during the day. Use the
military crest when possible. This is the part of the hill that is near the top but from which you will not
be outlined against the sky by someone below you. Its location varies with the shape of the hills, but
with practice, you can easily find it.
Cross roads/streams (linear danger areas) where visibility is limited by curves/bends and
where cover/concealment is close by on both near and far sides. It’s best to cross under darkness or
through fog/smoke. Crouch low while crossing (weasel walk—more on this in the next article). If seen
while crouching low, especially while wearing a ghillie suit, you might be mistaken for a wild animal.
(This still isn’t ideal because a lot of wild animals get shot too, but it is still preferable to being seen as
the definite enemy.)
Go around small open danger areas and large open danger areas. Crossing through a
small meadow or an open field instead of going around and using the tree line to hide you is a quick
way to be shot or captured. The only time to cross an open danger area instead of going around is if
time has become a higher priority than personal welfare.
The type of movement I have discussed so far mostly refers to patrolling, macro-level sniper
movement techniques. In part two of this article I’m going to delve into the more micro-level move-
ments that a sniper would use when moving into a firing position or when in exceptionally close prox-
imity to the enemy. In the sniper community we call the application of micro-level movement tech-
niques stalking. This is also where the importance of camouflage comes into play. Look for part two of
How to Move Like a Sniper in the next issue of Disaster Survival Magazine.
if you have any questions or suggestions.
You can contact Jeremy McIlroy
by email at [email protected]
Jeremy is also the created of the ZAPS Gear Survival
Grenade. He developed the survival Grenade
from what he thought people would need in a real
survival emergencey from what he learned during his
time at the marine survival school.
Order yours at zapsgear.com
This article was written When disaster strikes, we hope and pray that we will be in a safe place
by Eve Gonzales with those we love; that way we will not have to worry about what has
Copyright©2015 happened to them and we will be able to handle the situation better
All rights reserved because we won’t be alone to figure out what to do – or so we think!
Many times disaster or crisis does not afford us the luxury of happen-
ing at the perfect moment like when we are gathered with all our loved
ones in a safe and secure location with all our supplies readily avail-
able already packed and sorted.
No they usually DON’T occur then, and that is why prepar-
ing game plans are so very important.
Do you remember where you were when 911 happened –
I do – I was approximately 50 miles from home in a hos-
pital (doing visitation). When the event happened, both
nurses and doctors who knew me told me what had just
happened and told me I needed to get home as
my husband was active duty and my 2 chil-
dren were home alone. At the time we
lived on a military base so by the
time I got home the base had
been secured – no one was
getting on and no one was
getting off! That meant
my husband was in
one location, my
children in
an-
other,
and
I was stranded sitting in a car outside the base
waiting to get back on which they determined could
be at least a day or more before anyone was allowed in. Praise God
– we had a game plan and we put it into action. Though we could not
communicate with my husband I was able to activate the plan with my chil-
dren; and my husband on his own followed the pre-determined plan we had
We were fortunate, we did not have destruction or loss of life we had to deal with directly and everyone
in our family came through the event just fine. BUT WHAT IF we had never established a plan for my
children and were unable to communicate with them? Just imagine the panic they would have gone
through if I had not returned for a day and neither did their daddy.
Being alone when disaster strikes can be a very scary situation, but it can be made easier if you take
the time now to establish your game plan.
Make clear easy action plans that each individual in your family will take in the event something hap-
pens and you are apart from one another. Work on needed skills to build up each others confidence so
when you are called into action, whether by yourself or as a group, each person will know how, when,
and where they must act.
My son and daughter did an excellent job and have had other situations over the years such as torna-
does and hurricanes they have had to deal with, but their stress and ours is greatly reduced because
we know that if disaster strikes, we will all go into planned action until we are able to unite. We have a
back-up plan for communicating if phone lines are down, we have a meet up place if we are separated,
and we know how long to stay put before we leave. We know skills such as land navigation, personal
defense, medical care, etc. and we have also discussed what happens if one of us never shows up.
Over the years I have been in many “Alone” situations when tornadoes and storms popped up out of
nowhere and action had to be taken. Whether I found myself in a car as a twister touched down or in a
home with no basement; having set a plan allowed me to go into automatic pilot and come through just
unscathed.
Being alone can be a very overwhelming thought, but if you take the time now it does
not have to be!
When my children were put to the test on 9/11 they came through just as we had
prepared them.
When twisters were touching down around us while we were driving in a car,
they responded just as they were taught and we all came out of it alive and well.
When we have had to evacuate or when we have had to take shelter, wheth-
er alone or together, they have come through beautifully because they had
learned what to do and had a course of action to take.
All they had to do was follow a previously learned plan.
So, whether you are alone or with many others – for the most part – the plan is
the same; you just have to have one and then follow it.
If you have children in school, we also highly recommend that you find out what your
school’s protocol is in the event of a crisis or disaster. (Some schools will not allow
you to just pick up your child and will not allow your child to just leave.) Knowing
what their guidelines are will help you to plan accordingly. If your school does not
have a plan, you may want to assist them in making one that will be in your child’s
best interest rather than just the school’s. (They are usually generated with more
than a little effort to limit the school system’s liability rather than to quickly reunite
children and parents/guardians following a crisis/disaster.)
I have written on the topic of the importance of having a game plan before and I will continue
to do so. I have met thousands upon thousands of people over the years (in disaster areas) who did
not have a plan, relief supplies, those who thought they were prepared but learned the hard way that
they were not even close, those who were separated from the ones they loved and had no idea where
they were or how to get in touch with them, and of course, those that lost it all – loved ones, posses-
sions, and hope for the future. Each time it is terrible to see the added distress, worry, and hardship they
have had to go through due to lack of planning and preparing.
Please, choose NOT to be a victim; prepare. Your plan may not be perfect but it is better than
doing nothing.
Article by Tom Linden
http://ukprn.blogspot.co.uk
In a survival situation, once you have found shelter, built a fire and col-
lected water, your next task will be to find food resources. And while it
is perfectly possible to exist without food for a few weeks and live off
edible wild plants and berries, you’ll no doubt be glad of a hearty meal.
Therefore, it’s very useful to learn some fishing skills and here are
some tips; assuming that you have no fishing gear with you. If you’re
near water, the first thing you must do if you’re looking to catch fish is to
spend a bit of time observing how the fish behave each day. Like you,
they’ll also be looking for their next meal, so you’ll need to establish
their habits – when they’re active, where in the water they head for etc.
An additional tip, however, is to consider the tem- For bait, it’s useful to try to gain an idea of what
perature if you’re not sure where to look. In hot the fish in the area are eating. Insects, a piece
weather where the water is low, you’ll probably of bread, some raw meat, if you can find any, or
find them in deeper shaded water and when it’s worms are all good sources of bait.
cooler, you’ll find them in shallower areas where
the sun warms the water up. Some type of cord
should always form part of your survival kit any-
way and if you haven’t included a proper fishing
hook too, you can always improvise and craft one
out of a piece of bone, thorn, wood or a safety pin
works just as well.
Survival fishing isn’t an exact science though. Only your imagination can limit you to the kinds
of fish traps you can engineer. One of the sim-
The more hooks you have in the water and your plest methods is to use the effects of the tide. On
willingness to be patient and to experiment are a beach or area with tidal waters, build a circle of
going to be your biggest allies. Bad weather ap- rocks and use small pebbles to plug any gaps.
proaching is always a good time to go fishing as When the tide comes in, it will bring small fish in
well as just after dawn and just before dusk. with it. Simply return to the rock circle later and
see what you’ve caught.
If you are handy using your knife to carve out
a piece of wood, making a spear to fish with in Most fish found in freshwater are edible although
shallow water is another alternative but if you see some will taste better than others. However, it’s
fish swimming around in shallow water, it’s a use- important to remember that it’s not a matter of
ful skill to learn even though it takes an extreme taste but a matter of survival. Once caught, cut
amount of skill, quick reactions and patience. A the throat and gut it by slitting it from its anal pas-
forked spear which can trap the fish between its sage to its throat removing the offal as you go.
prongs works best. Remove the head, tail and fins then smoke, grill
or boil it.
As for a net, you can fashion one out of using
some kind of shirt or T-shirt tied onto a Y shaped Be Creative! Check
branch. out this example of
Fish hook made
from Can tabs.
Article by Eve Gonzales
Copyright©2015
All rights reserved
Disaster Preparedness = Self Reliance
Are You Ready?
Over the last two years we have attended and spoke In my new book (to be released soon), I share the les‑
at numerous conventions around the United States sons we have learned during all our disaster responses
regarding our lessons learned from 17 major disas‑ and how you can avoid the same mistakes others have
ter zones and shared how you can avoid becoming a made so you do not become a victim. Before you can
victim. At each event we have found 3 types of people: avoid being a victim you first need to understand the
Those who came as a family to prepare, those who mindset of many who became one because they were
came without their spouse because the spouse wanted caught unprepared, simply chose not to prepare, or
nothing to do with preparedness, and finally those who worse yet, they thought they knew it all and had it all.
just wanted to see what preparedness was all about – Many people think they are prepared - but never in all
not that they had any interest in doing it themselves my years of responding did I ever come upon someone
but that they were curious about those who did. in a disaster site who was. So please, the most danger‑
At conventions the biggest request for assistance has ous thing you can do is be over confident or arrogant
come from those whose spouses were not on board in what you have or the skills you think you know.
with the idea of preparing. I always suggest that they Many people who think they are prepared – are not.
read my article which I am now sharing with you today Many say they have been preparing for years and know
and also tell them to present the reason for preparing all they need to know (however, when we are given
to their unsupportive spouse this way: A person buys the opportunity we always find a gaping hole in their
life insurance for their family in the event someone plans). Others are so full of themselves especially when
dies because they want to make sure their family will we ask them if they are prepared and their response is
have the needed funds they require to live off of while – “You Bet We Are! We have the biggest guns and the
they are trying to put their life back together. Prepar‑ most bullets”! My response to them is “Great” – “what
ing for a disaster is no different. You do it because you will you do if you are bit by a rabid animal because
love them and need to know that if an event happens your guns and bullets won’t help you then?” They just
and you die – that they and the rest of the family will look at me and each other totally stumped and con‑
have everything they need to survive. Once it is shared fused and say “I don’t know, what should I do?” I tell
that the reason is because you care about them and it is them they don’t know because they put all their trust
not just about conspiracy theories or because all your in a false way of survival and forgot to do the most
friends are doing it – most spouses become willing important thing of all – PREPARE!
partners in the endeavor especially when they believe Let’s start from the beginning…
you are sincere about their welfare.
Why do people not prepare? These are excuses we have heard time and time again.
These are also the people who have been and will be
Natural and man-made disasters are becoming increas‑ standing in long lines waiting for assistance. During
ingly common — earthquakes, tornadoes, flooding, one disaster we were headed to a location when we
hurricanes, floods, and fires can strike swiftly and with stopped to check with another relief agency. There
little warning. Every year thousands die and millions were hundreds of people in a line that had been wait‑
worldwide are driven from their homes. If it happens ing all day for someone to show up with food and
to you, will you know what to do… let alone have the water; nothing had come yet. We were asked to distrib‑
necessary supplies on hand to make it through? Do ute out some of what we had to the people there even
you have a 72 hour emergency kit in your car if you though we were headed into a harder hit area where
must evacuate immediately from work/school? Do you the people could not get out to get any other help. We
have a plan for your family or relief supplies in your agreed to give them a small amount but explained we
home? Do you have a specific, timed plan on where could not give them all of it because our supplies were
family members will assemble if the crisis happens expected somewhere else; in a much harder hit area.
when you are apart? (If you answered yes to the above So we opened up the back of the truck and handed out
questions do not stop reading because you think this hundreds of items but it was not enough to feed ev‑
article is not for, because it is for everyone, prepared eryone there. People were screaming and crying for us
and not prepared.) to give them the rest of what was in our truck but we
As crisis first responders, we have seen thousands could not. It was a heart breaking site but we knew that
caught totally unprepared. They had no food, no our first mission was to get it into the areas devastated
clothes, no shelter, no plans, no money, and no idea of by the storm. The people we left crying in a parking lot
what they should do. We do not want you to be one of had the ability to get to better ground but instead were
those people who will be aimlessly wandering around waiting for aid to come to them. That was their plan
crying for help and looking for answers from others and it didn’t work very well for them that day.
who have not prepared either. The fact is, many of
those wandering around actually thought they were The #1 excuse we have heard as to why people
prepared before the event happened. have not prepared is:
Here are some of the excuses we hear all the “Nothing has ever happened here so I don’t want to
time as to why people are not prepared: waste my money.”
It is very difficult for people to prepare for something
1) Nothing has ever happened here so I don’t want to that they can’t imagine will ever happen. But facts are
waste my money facts; September 11th did happen, hurricanes, torna‑
2) I don’t have the money to prepare does, earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, and mudslides
3) I will deal with it when it happens have all happened. The fact is most of these will hap‑
4) I don’t know where to begin pen again and if you live in a region where it is possi‑
5) My spouse does not want to waste money ble, then you should be prepared.
6) Why bother when the government and others will Should we live in fear and panic of these situations - of
give us what we need course not.
7) I have no place to store it Should we live as though they will never happen to us?
Absolutely not!
Preparing yourself and your family for a possible
disaster does not mean you live in fear. An example
of this would be: most parents, who have a pool, live
by the ocean or on a lake, or those that just want their
child to have a life saving skill, enroll their child in a situation like, let’s just say for instance - “getting wa‑
swim classes at a young age. Knowing that their child ter” - when there is none available. In our relief manu‑
can save themselves if they fall into the water brings al, a story is shared about a doctor who never believed
great comfort and assurance to all involved. Preparing anything would happen to him or his family so he
for a disaster is no different; it will bring peace of mind refused to prepare. Well, something did happen, a hur‑
knowing that every person in your family will have a ricane hit forcing him and his family to live on almost
plan of action to give them the best chance of surviv‑ nothing for two weeks (one gallon of water and some
al and the tools and supplies they need to get by. Just tuna fish). He greatly regretted his decision and wanted
as swim lessons are not a waste of money, neither is his story shared so other families would not have to
preparing for a disaster. In fact, the money you spend endure what his family did. Having been in disaster
on supplies will be items you can use even if nothing sites before and having lived through a disaster, the
happens, therefore nothing is wasted. time to prepare is before an event because everything
is hard to come by after the event.
Excuse #2
“I don’t have the money to prepare.” Excuse #4
Preparing for an unknown disaster does not mean “I don’t know where to begin.”
you have to spend a lot of money, and the food you This thought can be truly overwhelming and we have
purchase can be part of your food budget since all been there. For most people the thought of clean‑
you will eat it sometime anyways. Most of the ing out their garage is such an overwhelming thought
items you will need, you most likely already have; because it usually is the messiest and most cluttered
you just don’t have it organized to go on a mo‑ room we have to clean; so we avoid it at all costs and
ments notice. allow it to get worse year after year until finally we
At the impending arrival of the tsunami that hit must take action. When the day of the big cleaning
Japan, people were given warning and told to leave comes, we stand there looking at the mountain in front
immediately. Many died because they were trying of us, clueless as to where we should begin. The best
to grab as many supplies out of their house as pos‑ answer to the problem is to not look at it as a whole so
sible. If their emergency supplies had been in totes, as not to become discouraged. Instead, take one sec‑
backpacks, or boxes close to an exit, each person tion at a time. In doing this we can see progress and
could have grabbed one container, headed straight become energized and we will eventually get all the
to their car and been on their way; no going back sections done. Now I can assure you that preparing
for seconds. But if you have to run to each person’s for a disaster is much less painful than cleaning out
room, try to grab clothing, shoes and any other your garage and if you attack it from the stand point of
items you might think of, you may not get out in doing one section at a time, you will see quick progress
time and you will certainly not get everything you and be encouraged to get it all done. The biggest hurdle
need. Organizing and packing the items you will you have is to decide to prepare; once you do that, the
need during a disaster or evacuation will take time, rest is easy.
but if you do it as a family, not only will everyone
know where the relief supplies are but it will take Excuse #5
much less time getting it done. “My spouse does not want to waste money.”
This reason for some people not preparing is more chal‑
Excuse #3 lenging and CAN cause some to do nothing; but we want
“I will deal with it when it happens.” to encourage you to take a stand on this issue. Many times
This is not a plan but a cop-out. How do you deal with we are told one spouse wants to prepare for a disaster and
the other does not. One wants to get everything the fami‑
ly might need and the other doesn’t want to “waste” their
Continued.....
money; so compromise. First find out why your spouse Excuse #7
really does not want to prepare; it might truly be that “I have no place to store it.”
they just do not know where to begin or it might be This is simply just an excuse. You DO have a place to
that they do not want to be bothered with it and mon‑ store supplies; it might mean you have to clean a small
ey was never the issue, just the excuse. If your spouse corner in the garage, or a closet, or even under your
does not want to be bothered with it, tell them you will bed. But rest assured, you do have a place. You just
do it. If they just do not know where to start, tell them have to make and use it!
you do and that you will do it together. If money is the This is simply just an excuse. You DO have a place to
real reason, tell them that there are so many things you store supplies; it might mean you have to clean a small
can do to be prepared that won’t cost anything. If your corner in the garage, or a closet, or even under your
spouse personally does not want to do anything to pre‑ bed. But rest assured, you do have a place. You just
pare, and they do not want you spending any money, have to make and use it!
there are ways you can prepare for your family and Once you address why people are not prepared or
get your children involved to give them skills they will wanting to get prepared you can tackle it head on. By
need. Remember, you have many items around your knowing and understanding their excuses you can
house already that could be packed and set aside in the either help to change their mindset or you must find a
event of an emergency. You can also find many good way to move on through their disagreements or de‑
items cheap at rummage sales; everything does not sires. However, understanding why neighbors, friends,
have to be brand new, just in good working condition! and other family members may choose not to prepare
will also show you where you will need to make plans
Excuse #6 to handle their actions of not preparing and expecting
To all of us, this one is mind boggling and a terri‑ others, including you, to help them if something hap‑
ble game plan; it is: pens – but that my friends is a whole other article.
If you would like to learn more on making a game
“The government and others will provide all I plan, or how to get prepared, please visit our site at
need.” www.tradingpostinthewoods.com
Time and time again we have seen this to be what
many people have chosen for their plan. Trust us when
we say, it will cause great pain and hardship in you
and your family’s lives if this is your choice for your
relief plan. People think that FEMA’s job is to provide
them with everything they need after a storm or other
disaster strikes: this is not true. It is also not any other
part of the government’s job or the non-profits. We are
here to assist and to help, but no agency will be able to
provide everything you need. You will have to wait in
line with everyone else to get whatever supplies may be
available.
One evening, when we were responding after a hur‑
ricane, we came to a feeding site that had a very long
line of people waiting to get a hot meal. The feeding
site was out of water and not a single person in line
had any toilet paper to use all day. They were thirsty,
exhausted, distressed over the fact that they had to wait
in 100 degree weather for food, and they were really
upset they had to use leaves, newspapers, and maga‑
TOP SECRET
This article was written
by Eve Gonzales
Copyright©2015
All rights reserved
11) Have you addressed the emotional side of a crisis and do you understand the meaning of
“Frozen in Fear”?
12) Have you had training to sharpen critical survival skills, improve existing skills or gain new
skills?
13) Do you know how to camp in a survival or disaster situation? I do not mean camping like on
a fun family vacation, but rather camping when others need what you have and are willing to do
anything to get it?
14) Do you have a safe water supply and have a back up when that one fails? Do you know the
basics of how to construct one from available materials?
15) Do you know how to convert unsafe water into safe drinking water, and do you have the tools
to do so?
16) Do you possess the homesteading skills of your great-grandparents and do your children?
17) Have you practiced how to USE everything you have so that even in poor weather conditions,
you KNOW you will be successful?
Have you ever stood out in the middle of your yard and imagined that everything was destroyed
and wondered how you would survive? Imagine, no rescue personnel to help you, no hospital
to go to, no stores to purchase from, no garbage men to haul your debris away, no electricity, no
bathrooms, no telephone, and no shelter – YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN! Think about what you
would need, including skill sets and then re-look at what you have so far. Do you know/have ev-
erything you will want and need?
I wrote and created Preparation Made Simple © in order to
help you get started and help you to verify the items that
you have. I took all the lessons learned from 17 major di-
saster zones; items that work and do not work in a disaster
area along with vital skills, ideas, and important information
you will want and need in order to survive.
By actively taking the steps NOW to help yourself, it will
mean our organization, or other first responders like us, will
not have to help you or your loved ones out after a crisis.
Your life will be made easier because you will not be forced
to stand in the long lines, in the heat or cold conditions, hoping the available assistance lasts long
enough for you to get to the front of the lines. Or even worse, the stress and helplessness of wonder-
ing if and when any assistance is coming at all. This will be because you will have the important skill
sets and supplies that you need to survive.
Please do not think you are prepared unless you truly are – but know this – in my ten years of re-
sponding, I have never met anyone in a disaster site who was.
Survival Tips for Camouflage Poncho & Poncho Liner
By Daniel W. Shrigley
Often I teach natural shelter construction via primitive methods. However, I also teach not to avoid
modern technology. Modern materials and equipment is always the easiest and most effective time
saving option. No body ever says primitive skills is easy. The more you know and use primitive skills
the easier the end results may come to you.
For this survival tip on the Poncho & Poncho Liner, I want to quickly point out some basic uses. Such
as shelter, sun shade, litter carry, sleep system, extreme weather insulation options. At first look it’s
very obvious the Poncho makes for a great rain coat. The poncho must be treated with wet resistant
spray to maximize it’s ability to deflect rain water. It fits loosely so as to allow layering of optional
clothing for various temperatures depending on your climate zone and calendar seasons.
Second noticeable and most obvious option if you posses a camouflage poncho is the ability to stay
hidden from view if used correctly. I suggest that you avoid a camouflage poncho unless your military
or law enforcement. Instead use a Royal Blue or Hunters Orange poncho for easy visible location by
search teams should you find yourself lost or in a survival situation.
Additionally the poncho makes a phenomenal option for litter carry and is sturdy enough material to
build a stretcher for the injured. There are several ways you can make use of the poncho to carry or
drag a injured person with the poncho. You can make use of the eyelets, snaps and cord.
The poncho may also be used to fashion together a solar still to collect water or be used as a water
bladder. You are only limited by your own imagination as in most survival situations. Creativity and
calmness will save your life, trust your mind and never panic.
In warm climates all you need is a poncho and poncho liner to make a sleep system to keep you
warm. In colder climates of seasons you can combine the poncho & liner with added foliage for extra
insulation. This method creates air pockets between your bodies core heat and the barrier layer or
shell of the poncho keeping you warm.
Fill the poncho with leaves after you snapped together all the buttons, closed off the hood and you
now have a sleeping bag that will offer you protection from the outdoor elements.
You may also use the same method to act as a coat and assist you in maintaining a warmer core
body temperature.
The poncho may also be used in fishing as a net. First you must seal the hood by drawing it closed
or making a knot. Use para cord at all four corners, leading to a central cord that is draped over a
branch as a pulley system. Place in shallow water and use this to trap baited fish as they pass over
the poncho. In a sharp and deliberate action, pull the poncho up via the central cord and eat to see
another day.
In extreme conditions such as sun, snow, wind, dust or rain use the poncho as a shield to block and
protect yourself. In the desert it best to travel a dawn and dusk. Most desert predators are nocturnal
so avoid travel by foot at night. Also traveling at night increases your chances of slips and falls. In day
light hours the poncho makes for a fantastic sunshade. All you need is the cord it comes with or for
improved options carry extra para cord.
By design the poncho makes for a perfect lean-to and if filled with a layer of foliage will keep you
insulated and warm. All you need is a heat source such as a campfire or stove at the opening. The
poncho is much smaller than a tarp. The poncho comfortably serves one person. A second person
would fit in a poncho shelter under cramped conditions. This typically is determined by the size or the
occupants.
If suspended six feet above a small fire in the shape of a cone, the poncho is perfect for making dried
meat or jerky. Remember that once used in the fashion, the smell of smoke will remain for a long
while or until laundered. The upside to this is that the human scent is masked and might increase
your odds with hunting larger game animals.
Signaling aircraft with the royal blue or hunters orange poncho is very easy, all you need is an open
area or high ground. Spread it out as a marker and indicator for search aircraft. It’s wise to also set a
signal fire or use a signal mirror added to this method.
The poncho is also useful as a bundle carry or carry tote. If you are gathering food or fire tinder the
poncho makes light work allowing you to carry much more than an arm load.
If you are sleeping in a natural cave, only use the poncho to act as a mid-section curtain. This will
allow you to burn a small fire inside the largest portion of the cave and let’s the carbon-dioxide escape
at the top. Warning be very careful when using fire in caves as the increased heat can cause rocks to
crack and ultimately crush you.
Poncho liner is also good to use in a shelter and a ground barrier. Never sleep directly on the ground
as the earth will suck your bodies heat right out of you. In extreme conditions layer the ground with
dried foliage and then lay the poncho liner on top.
As I stated before survival is knowledge “Know More, Need Less.” You are only limited by your imag-
ination and creativity. This article we discussed two items: Poncho & Poncho Liner. Many items offer
multiple options, just be certain that what you put in your survival kits or backpack has three or more
uses. This will limit items carried, limiting weight and possibly space removed.
Special Tip:
When packing a packing list your overall weight should not be more than 15% of your nude body
weight. On average 20 to 30lbs is perfect for fast traversing. This weight does include your allotted
water carry weight. Carry at a minimum of three ways to start a fire carried in various locations around
your body. Carry three types of cutting instruments, such as multi-tool, pocket knife and a survival
knife, parang or hatchet. Your location will determine what’s best for the main tool.
To ask me survival question directly please send an email to [email protected]
Hope you enjoyed this article,
Daniel W. Shrigley
CEO of Survival Extreme Catalog Inc.
Creator/Host/Producer/Publisher
Of Survival Trek Escape (Television/Radio/Magazine)
ications, medical supplies, and alternate mobility assist
devises and/or other assistive devices that individuals
use for daily living.
Dealing with An Aging After mentioning a very brief and short list of supplies
Society During Disasters that may need to be on hand in an event that would
prevent us from operation on a normal day to day level,
With the average life expectancy in Arkansas being 75.9, we need to think about having a plan, supplies are one
we are also living longer in the home independently. As thing, but how do we plan and act before, during and af-
we age we are not as steady on the feet as well as having ter an event? When we plan we need to do several things
more medical issues and we need to know what to do in advance and a few of those steps would be to have a
when we have upsets and disasters that hinder our daily contact person in another state if possible. Often times
living. phone lines and cell phone towers become damaged and
even bogged down with the overwhelming response to
When it comes to disasters and a change in our daily people trying to connect with loved ones letting them
living, sometimes are not sure where to turn, who to talk know their status. If we are going outside our regular
to, what decisions to make when making plans or repairs call zone, we are more likely to get through and report
and as a health educator we like to set down and discuss our status. Another avenue is sending a text message.
several topics with seniors who are still living inde- Typically text messages use a lot less battery and a
pendently to give them the tools to make those plans and different frequency so getting messages out are a little
have the tools they need to prepare, get through, and easier. Also, when a disaster strikes, do you know where
recover from disasters and upsets in daily living. your public shelters are, do you know the evacuation
When it comes to having supplies, the older we get the procedures of the location where you live? What if you
more supplies we need and sometimes those supplies are not able to leave your home? There is a difference
are unique to the individual due to medical, mobility, between sheltering in place and staying at home. When
or other conditions the individual may have. In all sheltering in place we need to know how to do so safely
emergency situations, we need to have a survival kit such as making sure there are no gas leaks, chemical
and some of those supplies might include flashlights, emergencies, ability to seal a room temporarily as well as
blankets, copies of personal documents emergency knowing fire safety measures such as not using candles
contact information for family and friends, and even as a light or heat source.
sanitation and hygiene items. There are also items you
need to think about keeping in your vehicle in the event After the disaster we have dangers and hazards such as
you get stranded on the road during natural disasters downed power lines, debris from buildings and trees
such as ice storms or tornados due to debris and some of that will contribute to injuries and falls which the older
those items may include climate appropriate clothing, we get the less steady we are on our feet. One of the
blankets, bottled water, and first aid kit. Individualized growing threats after disasters is financial exploitation/
supplies that we often overlook and that would be med- scams. When discussing repair work medical supplies
and such, scammers prey on seniors after events because
often times there is desperation of what to do and how to
get it done. This senior program talks about the safety
and credibility of using local services and not talking to
solicitors on the phone and agreeing to assessments and
work without meeting with someone face to face. Again,
stressing using local resources is always advisable over
the people who are there just to take money.
Everything mentioned up to this point is just a small
amount of information that is available to discuss with
seniors. One thing I want to go more in-depth on and
that is medications. You should have at least a three
day supply of reserve mediation tucked away in a small
emergency kit. You can visit your local pharmacy and
ask them to print medication labels for small medica- Community In Prepping
tion bottles and put a 3 day supply in and put those in
a separate bag near an escape route in our home so you Dan Shrigley
can quickly grab if you need to evacuate on short notice.
In this bag you should also have a list of all medica- If Preppers focused on community versus individualism
tion, doctors, and emergency contact information for the power of politics would be in the hands of the people
yourself and at least three friends or family members. in a time of crisis. We as a People need to be prepared in
Those contacts should be someone close in distance, in case of political meltdown and social collapse. It takes
another town and one in another state is advisable. The organized patriotic constitutionalist joined at the hip
reasoning for a three day supply is if an event happens to save the nation in time of despair. Like I said before
on a Friday evening, you have until Monday when many power in numbers. The mission statement of a group like
pharmacy and doctor offices are open to get replacement I suggest should be to reestablish what makes us a re-
prescriptions as well as if you had to go to a different public and not deviate to socialism. The Constitution is
geographical location, you have time to contact a doctor and will always be the backbone of what we should strive
and have a prescription transferred as well. to preserve and defend. The trend of Preppers and indi-
The American Red Cross has a great program that is Di- vidualism has streamlined a trend of what most might
saster Preparedness For Seniors by Seniors and it talks consider an anti-government movement. Government is
about being Red Cross Ready. The program is excellent not bad, it’s very necessary and should be included at the
in the fact they gathered a group of seniors who actual- lowest levels of community Prepper groups to quickly
ly went through a power outage for two weeks due to a reestablish life saving resources and structure. My ideals
massive ice storm in Rochester, New York. This group of stem from watching factions of Preppers. Whom have
individuals provided valuable input on what issues they become extreme in their individualism, which will in my
encountered during this natural disaster that helped opinion lead into pockets of possible criminal groups.
form the program. Many of the topics discussed above Exploiting the masses due to the fact that only 1.67%
are covered in this program. of Americans are classified as Preppers. Having taken
up not only preparedness for sustainment but Arms for
defense against their neighbor. Community should be
the focus and recovery of community is the only true
American way and idealism.
Sincerely,
Daniel W. Shrigley
I hope you found this information valuable and consid-
er contacting a health educator/preparedness training
individual to assist you and your aging community to be
prepared for detrimental events that may happen.
Barbara Jackson MS, CHES, LTP
http://www.preparednessandtraining.com/
https://www.facebook.com/preparednessandraining
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