Basic water purification

In an emergency situation, the thing that most people will need right away, and the one thing that they routinely fail to to stockpile, is water.  Even relatively unhealthy people can survive several days without food, but water is a basic and immediate need for everyone, and most humans can only survive for a day or two without an adequate supply. Continue reading

A primer on self defense

Among preppers, the subject of self defense seems to be a regular topic of discussion.  Depending on who you listen to, tactics of self defense range from dialog to scorched earth, with an entire range in between.  This is article is sort of a primer on the subject, and I’ll be expanding on my thoughts on individual ideas brought up here in later articles.

Choices for self defense are highly personal and subjective.  There simply isn’t a method, tool, or process that is going to work for all people and all situations.  What will work for someone with a career in the armed services living on a ranch in Colorado isn’t going to work for a single mother with a two bedroom apartment in the suburbs.  You need to examine your home, place of work, you physical abilities, and those around you and who depend on you in order to come up with a good plan for self defense and preservation of your dependents. Continue reading

The problem with buying potting soil

I’ve recently been very disgusted with the state of potting soil that I’ve bought at garden centers and hardware stores recently.  To me this “potting soil” it looks like black mulch with some pearlite and something vaguely organic mixed in.  Great big twigs and splinters of wood run throughout the stuff, making it difficult to work with, scoop, measure, and sprout seeds. Continue reading

What is this all about?

Unless you’ve unplugged from all major media and the Internet, the word for early 2012 is “prepping”.  Just a few years ago most of the world would never have heard of people with underground safehouses, stockpiles of food to last 20 years, water purification systems in their house, or even what a “prepper” might be.  Times change, and now most people have at least heard of all of these things, but thanks to the media, it all is presented with a generous helping of crazy. Continue reading