Sunday, May 22, 2022
How Prepared Are You REALLY? The Prepper’s Objective Self-Assessment
As humans, we tend to look critically at others but not ourselves. We look past things about ourselves we could or need to improve on. Some even blatantly ignore these things. (Caveat: Not everyone looks past or ignores things they could improve upon.
As I look out the window, I see the fields covered in about four to five inches of snow and the thermometer hovering around the low 20s. This time of year is when I like to do an annual Objective Self Assessment. I say “Objective” as this is a totally honest and even brutal assessment of myself. A personal risk assessment is one of the most important things a prepper can do.
What does this Prepper’s Self-Assessment entail?
Saturday, May 21, 2022
The Uncensored, Real-Deal Guide to Bugging Out of the City
The concept of bugging out is one of the most discussed and controversial topics in preparedness and survivalism. The term “bug out” comes from the military. It means retreating, fleeing in a hurry, abandoning position in panic. This definition applies to the act of bugging out in survivalism as well. For the sake of objectiveness, let’s consider bugging out as fleeing the urban context because this is the current situation for most people.
Given the tense situation building around the world, we’re about to see more and more people fleeing from the cities. Many of them have no idea what they’re doing so the definition above fits perfectly. As situations escalate, these relocations will be less planned and they won’t just be moving – they’ll be fleeing.
You can find entire chapters in numerous books, endless videos, articles, and treaties dedicated to the whys and hows of bugging out. The debates continue whether it’s the best or the worst idea ever for when the SHTF.
This dilemma stem perhaps mostly from two conflicting factors:
Friday, May 20, 2022
7 Homestead Items You Forgot To Buy
When you first set up a homestead, you tend to be focused on the obvious big-ticket items, and that’s fine because you’ll need a lot in the beginning. This post is a checklist of homestead items you might have overlooked, but they’re good to have when you need them.
Based on personal experience, these items are essential on a homestead—and very easy not to think about the rest of the time. Having these seven items will make your life easier, and you’ll thank yourself for keeping them stashed.
1. An Electric Generator
For some, this one is a no-brainer. For others, this one is a must-have. Living in a rural location means big storms can knock out the power for days.
Now, if you’ve got a solar array or are comfortable camping at home for a minute, all the more power to you. However, if you’ve got a chest freezer full of meat or an incubator full of eggs, a disruption to the power supply can cost you terribly.
A generator will make these times considerably easier. The other thing that generators are ideal for is giving you a power source far from a building, which can come in handy when you need to use welders or power tools on remote parts of a large piece of land.
Just beware—as left in a generator for too long can go bad, so either use an additive to preserve it or drain the tank when it’s not in use.
Related: 5 Ways To Generate Power When Living Off Grid
2. A High-Quality Headlamp
You may think a flashlight is all you need to venture out in the dark—which might be true in the city—but on a homestead, you usually need to use both hands. Trust me on this one, when you’ve got livestock of any sort, some nights you are going to have to head out into the darkness to check on them.
Storms, flooding, and predators are all things that will have you out of bed doing a wellness check at 3 a.m. And if all you have is a flashlight, you’re going to curse yourself for not investing in a good headlamp.
Note: Don’t buy the cheapest one you can find. Do your homework and find one that is comfortable, powerful, and has a long battery life. You will thank yourself for this many times over.
3. A Come-Along Winch
If you’ve never heard of a come-along, then you’re in for a treat. This small, portable winch is one of the most useful tools any homesteader could hope for. You can use a come-along to straighten trees, remove tree stumps, erect poles, and much more.
My personal favorite use of a come-along has been pulling vehicles out of the mud by attaching it to a tree with a rope and tow chain and pulling it to more solid ground. Talk about a lifesaver!
4. A Chainsaw
Remember when I mentioned severe storms up above? Well, in addition to knocking out your power, a serious storm can also take out trees or lots of tree branches that need to be cleared quickly. Felled trees often block roads and driveways, damage livestock shelters, and ground out electrical fencing.
You should have a chainsaw for a wide variety of land management activities, but when it comes to emergency tree clearing, the chainsaw is an indispensable tool. Make sure you keep your chain sharp and your gas fresh to ensure that your trusty chainsaw cranks up when you need it most.
5. Plumbing Patch Kit
When hard freezes hit, irrigation and other exposed pipes sometimes freeze. This is a minor problem typically solved by waiting for them to thaw. However, when frozen-solid pipes do finally thaw, your relief can turn to anxiety and through-the-roof stress if they’ve burst.
Of course, you can turn the water off at the source, but if you have animals who need troughs filled, you’ll need to repair your pipes as quickly as possible. Having a good plumbing kit around will save you countless headaches.
Any pipe repair kit should include a pipe cutting tool and an assortment of push fittings (shark bite or compression) in appropriate sizes for your pipes. You’ll want to act fast, so learn the basics of pipe repair beforehand so that you can spring into action without hesitating when the time comes.
6. An Extensive First Aid Kit
I don’t want to scare you, but the reality is that most homesteaders live more than an hour from a hospital—very unfortunate when considering that heavy tool use and the living off the land lifestyle make us more prone to accident and injury than your average office-working city dweller.
Having a thermometer, band-aids, bandages, antihistamines, an epi-pen, burn cream, antiseptics, and some pain relievers on hand is absolutely necessary. Depending on where you live, a snake bite kit might also be a good investment. Knowing how to stop bleeding, dress a wound, and apply emergency care to injuries will give you what you need to take care of any unforeseen medical emergency.
Related: Homestead First Aid Kit for 10 Common Injuries
7. Veterinary Supplies
Animals are an essential part of most homesteads, which means that you need to be prepared to deal with all sorts of bizarre and potentially deadly conditions. Flystrike is one of the most nightmarish afflictions an animal can acquire (Google at your own risk), and keeping a supply of Ivermectin around for topical treatment is a small thing that you’ll thank yourself for later.
Keep a stash of wormer (for all your livestock, from chickens to horses), as well as some syringes and injectable antibiotics. You can care for most animal wounds with vet wrap, Betadine, and a supply of sterile gauze.
Having a basic working knowledge of how to perform sutures, or a skin stapler to close a gaping wound will save you time and money. The first time I gave my dog stitches, I was able to have a productive day by not spending hours at the emergency vet.
Related: Protect Your Livestock from Deadly Diseases – Part 1: Birds
Conclusion
It’s probably pretty clear from this list, but most of the things you don’t think about in the beginning are emergency supplies. Sadly, by the time you realize you need them, you’re already in the weeds.
Save yourself some time and trouble by investing upfront in some of the little things you don’t foresee yourself needing right away. Even if you don’t use them at first, you’ll be thankful to have them ready when the need arises.
Thursday, May 19, 2022
Why OpSec Has NEVER Been More Important
If you’ve been in prepper circles for long, you’ve probably heard the term OpSec. It is taken from military jargon and it’s short for Operations Security. In the preparedness and survival world, it generally means not letting other people know that you are prepped, or if they know, they definitely don’t know the specifics of what you have.
Not only do we want to keep the level of our preparedness private, these days, keeping our opinions private might be likewise beneficial from a security perspective. More on that in a moment.
Trigger Warning: There’s no way I can write this article without ticking somebody off. Some readers will feel that I’m siding with the right and others will feel like I’m siding with the left. I’m not because I am not a Democrat or a Republic, nor am I a conservative or a liberal. I’m a critical thinker with diverse opinions that fall into all sorts of categories. Yet others will feel I didn’t go far enough or that there’s some “fact” or conspiracy that I didn’t reveal. I’m not an ice cream cone. I can’t make everyone happy. Also, there may be some swearing.
What is OpSec?
Wednesday, May 18, 2022
How to Read a Road Map – 6 Easy Steps
It’s raining. The sun has set. Your GPS had died and you need to get this leg of the journey to your bug out retreat over with already, but the road closure detour wasn’t planned. You have a vague idea of how to navigate back to your original route, but the road signs are misleading and nonsensical and there is no one around at this time of night to ask for directions. You’re not exactly sure you would want to stop anyway with the signs of desperation on the faces of some people when viewing you and your vehicle drive by.
All your plans can be for nothing if some disruption prevents you from getting safely to your destination. You have always practiced the mantra of two is one and one is none when it comes to redundancy. Technology is great, but it can fail. Signals can be lost. GPS Service could be taken offline, your battery could die. When all else fails, do you know how to read a road map?
OK, so this may be a pretty extreme example but if you are bugging out or maybe something less serious like traveling overland, knowing how to read a road map is as integral to the smooth flow of your trip as having the experience and equipment to change a tire. Even if you have gone off-grid in search of a different type of self-reliance – an opportunity to liberate yourself from any dependence on a GPS system, before leaving, you need to know how to read a road map.
Reading a road map is easier than you think and it is a skill that can save you not only time but trouble on the open road.
We have broken down how to read a road map down into six easy steps. With this information, you can be prepared if something goes wrong to use your fallback navigation system.
Step 1 – Get The Right Road Map
Knowing how to read a road map could get you to safety if more technical methods are unavailable.
Topographic maps are perfect for situations where the normal roads can’t be counted on. These are good backups, but most people can rely on a trusty road atlas.
When you think about it maps can serve a multitude of purposes; a hiker will need a different set of information from a driver and a farmer will need a different set of information from a fisherman. In that sense, no two maps are created the same.
What type of map do you need? You have guessed it, a road map. On top of this, you need the most up to date road map available. Infrastructure and roads are being developed everywhere on a continuous basis and the lay of the land can change dramatically from year to year.
If it is not possible to buy a printed fold-out road map for a certain leg of your journey then turn to Google Maps in advance. Print out the sections of the map you need and keep them tucked away should the time come that you need to use it. You could organize these maps in a binder to keep them arranged logically and easy to find.
Step 2 – Orient the map
Understanding which way is up on a map is really important. Up? No, north, south, east, and west are the directions you use on a map. Regardless of what direction you are looking at on the land itself the top of the map is always north, you can assume that this is the case even if there is no compass rose on the map.
Maps are oriented to the North. If you don’t know where North is, a compass is good to have also.
Step 3 – Reading the map scale
The scale of the map is important to get your head around too. The scale of the map indicates the ratio of mapped distance to actual distance. This ratio and scale differ from one map to the next. The scale will feature on a map even if the compass rose does not. On a ‘proper’ map (e.g, not hand-drawn) you will find both a compass rose and a scale.
For example, you measure your points A to B on a map (we’ll go through that in a minute) and it measures 5 inches (12.7cm) and your map’s scale is 1: 190,000 in order to find out the actual distance from A to B can be worked out like this;
5 x 190,000 = 950, 000 inches
One mile = 63, 360 inches
So, 950, 000 ÷ 63, 360 = 14.9 miles.
The only number you need to remember is 63,360; the number of inches in a mile.
If you work in kilometers then also remember that 1-mile is 1.6km so, in this instance, 14.9-miles would be 23.9km.
Step 4 – Contour Lines
Reading contour lines is an important skill to have even if your journey covers flat territory. Contour lines indicate how high or low the terrain is and each line represents the distance above sea level each location is.
It is easy to remember, the closer the contour lines are to each other the greater the gradient, the steeper the land.
A contour map is a map illustrated with contour lines, for example, a topographic map, which thus shows valleys and hills, and the steepness or gentleness of slopes.
A contour map is a map illustrated with contour lines, for example, a topographic map, which thus shows valleys and hills, and the steepness or gentleness of slopes.
The further apart the contour lines are from one another the flatter the gradient, the flatter the land.
If you are driving through mountainous regions you need to pay attention to contour lines, especially if you wish to estimate your journey time.
Step 5 – The Map Legend
Sadly not as exciting as the name would suggest but, we have to admit, one of the most useful parts of the map. Arguably, no map will make much sense without a legend. The legend explains what all the different symbols, styles of lines, and color gradients mean on the map in front of you. Again, just as with a scale, the legend on every map is different but there are some standard symbolic depictions that most follow.
Mountains are generally depicted in shades of green or brown, with a white section showing a snow-capped peak; commonsensical really. The darker areas are the lower sections of the mountain that get greener or a lighter shade of brown as you reach the higher areas.
Any bodies of water such as ponds, lakes, rivers, or oceans are depicted in blue; again, commonsensical.
Forests, woodlands, park areas, and even golf courses are colored green, these will be a universal block of green rather than the changing shades of green you find in areas of the maps showing mountains.
Buildings and residential areas are shown as black or gray blocks with the borders shown in hues of pink or sometimes yellow.
It may seem rather self-explanatory but if the language of the legend is foreign to you then knowing the standard legend rules can help you figure out what is happening on your road map.
Step 6 – Using Your Map!
So now you know how to read your map you need to know how to use it. Get your pencil at the ready!
If you can’t locate your start or endpoint on the map just by looking flick to the back of your road map and use the index to find out what page or pages your start/endpoint is on. The index will be in alphabetical order and will inform you of both the page number and the grid reference for each named place.
What is a grid reference and how to use them?
A grid reference helps you pinpoint an exact point on a map. The X-axis runs along the horizontal edge of the map and the Y-axis along the vertical. A grid reference for a road map will generally use four figures, walking maps use six.
In a four-figure grid reference, the two figures on the X-axis are first followed by the Y-axis.
E.g say you are looking for the rural Cotswold village of Bibury, UK. You flick to the index and see that it is on page 34 grid reference 2437.
You flick to page 34 and follow the X-axis to 24 and the Y-axis to 37. Trace, using your fingers, until they meet and you will have found Bibury on the map.
How to Get from A to B using a map
So now you know how to pinpoint your start and endpoint on a map now you need to know how to get from A to B.
To map your journey out the traditional way you will need a piece of string. Put one end of the string at the starting point, and then follow the route of the roads, as best you can, to point B. Then mark the string where it meets point B, remove the string from the map, and measure.
Like we did in the equation in Step 3, use the string to work out the exact length of your journey.
A reminder for you here;
If your journey measures 5 inches (12.7cm) and your map’s scale is 1: 190,000 in order to find out the actual distance from A to B can be worked out like this;
5 x 190,000 = 950, 000 inches
One mile = 63, 360 inches
So, 950, 000 ÷ 63, 360 = 14.9 miles.
The only number you need to remember is 63,360, the number of inches in a mile.
Keeping Note
If you are driving solo then it is best to make a note of the road names and junctions that you will need to enter and exit the highways with. If your travel buddy can’t read a road map (send them this article!) then it is an equally good idea to have a list of notes that they can refer to to help you both on your journey.
Remember, don’t try and read a map while driving. Pull up in a safe spot and concentrate on reading the map so you can then concentrate on the road ahead!