I get asked a lot of questions about prepardeness but every now and again I like to run a poll to help me prioritize your needs. So this week’s Survivalist Blog poll is all about refining and ordering your needs.
I’ve taken the 9 most common topics that I’m asked about and have listed them in a poll. What I’d love to invite you to do is to tell me which of them you want to learn about the most. Most of us want to learn about more than one but if it was just one which would it be?
Expand upon your choice here in comments (tell us what particularly you want to learn about the topic, why you selected it etc) and feel free to list the rest in order of your priority.
What Do You Most Want to Learn About Survival?
Your votes will have a direct influence upon future posts here at The Survivalist Blog so I’m looking forward to your answers!
{ 42 comments }
I’d like to hear about homesteading in a desert environment. Growing food with little water.
Two things greywater, and waterharvesting. these two things will meet 60 to 80% of your water needs, if you choose the right crops. Another thing for the desert is higher than ‘normal’ water reserve. My emergency water reserve is four 55 gal drums plumbed in series to my washing machine cold water inlet. Fresh water comes into the first then onward till it reaches the washer. This freshens and chlorinates my reserve with every wash. Once installed its automatic and free. Fittings and piping was about $40. I don’t count the cost of drums as I needed to store water anyway. [Don't forget a check valve between drums and water supply.]
Azyogi, I live in AZ too, and have plumbed 5 55 gal drums togetherin series, as you did, but get a little nervous when I start putting water through them as they bulge. What size of pipe or hose do you have between yours? I used garden hose in the 3/4 adapters. Did you go larger, maybe using PVC pipe? I think your idea is genius, as it is important to keep that water fresh. Water is my biggest concern here in the Phoenix area. Without it, you’re dead.
3/4″ schedule 40 pvc was what I used you might try a pressure reducing valve my laundry room also feeds my RV so I stepped the pressure down to 25-30 psi. from the 50-55 psi at the house [you should have a manual pump or other means of getting to the drums] as my draft tube feeds from the bottom to the next and the system is airtight a schrader valve allows me to pump air into the drums and create a hydropneumatic system so the water runs without power, low pressure low volume but running water, none the less.
adjustable pressure regulators are available at RV supply stores, I just double checked my RV and the pressure there is only 15 psi as it has an internal 12volt pump I had not noticed.
The pipe size may be part of my problem. I’m using 5/8 garden hose. I like your draft tube idea as well. Did you use a 3/4 nipple thru the bung plug?
I’m interested in your ideas on graywater and waterharvesting, as well as what you figure are the best crops to plant to live on here in AZ. I’m really worried about the water situation of TSHTF. I’ve got a lot of fruit trees, apricots, apples, pecan, grapefruit, orange, peach, plum pear, etc. but they’re all gone if the water stops. Thanks for all your advice.
I’d be interested in scenario specific situations, say one a month, from warning signs through to long term survival and/or recovery.
Maybe you could have a recurring request for scenarios?
Tangent subjects could give lots of subjects to discuss.
Example: disaster type; warning signs are…short term concerns are…intermediate term concerns are…long term concerns are…complicating factors (children, elderly, chronically ill)…shortages to expect…impact on storage…impact on bugging in/out…and so on.
It could be another reader submission contest, too. Think of the quantity of info your readers could come up with…
I’ll second this request. It really would be helpful.
I agree with nobodyssister, living in the desert if SHTF what could we do to prepere and grow thing with little in to no water. Also, what kind of things can we do to fortify our homestead?
Prickly Pear; makes a great fence, new leaves can eaten ‘nopales’, fruit can be made into jams or wines, sap can be used as hair conditioner, or made into colonche [drink]. SHTF your water heater valve should be shut off to prevent siphoning back to the water main [gate valve muti turn type should be replaced with a globe valve or 90' shut off] 30 to 60 gals of water should not be overlooked. Flush it once a month keeps hard water solids from building up and will extend life of unit. Cholla buds taste like artichoke, and nobody will attack through your cholla patch.
In addition to small scale homesteading, I’d like to see more on alternative energy production and food storage.
Thanks,
Rifleman 336
I voted Other for more on Medical/First Aid. I know there are other sites that get into technical details on this subject, but I’m looking for what to do when the modern meds/band-aids run out. “Beans, Bullets and Band-Aids, right?
Les and Brad, four really good books for you to think about; PDR for Herbal Medicines, The Herbal Drugstore by Linda B White M.D. and Steven Foster, The Green Pharmacy by James A Duke Ph.D., and Rodale’s Illustrated Encylopeda of Herbs edited by Claire Kowalchik & William H Hylton. The PDR [Physicians Desk Reference] not only covers comon and scientific names for herbs but Indications, Thereapeutic index, Side Effects, Drug/herb Interactions, Herb Id index. Both the Green Pharmacy and The Herbal Drugstore are good basic books on getting started in herbal medicines. Rodale’s covers not only medicinal uses, but culinary use as well. Cultivation, harvest, and preservation are also covered in Rodale’s. Out of print but excellent if you can find it is J. Gloss’ Back to Eden.
I’m with Les! I voted Other for more info on Medical – how to best gear up once we’ve taken the classes, how to treat chronic illnesses, herbs, stocking up on meds, shelf life, etc.
I’m interested in how to preserve the harvest in a true TEOTWAWKI situation. You know, where you can’t go down to the local store and buy more lids for the canning jars, there is no electricity for the freezer/fridge, and salt is hard to come by. Root cellaring/burrows/drying/etc. I’m trying to teach myself, and I’m learning alot of what NOT to do, but not so much of what TO do.
Also, cheesemaking for idiots (that would be me) without using esoteric ingredients you have to order off the internet. I’m working on yogurt cheese right now…just threw away my third batch. I want to work up to hard cheese for storing. Good thing we have goats or my learning curve would be enormously expensive.
Yeah, food preserving, that’s my vote.
Preserving was my vote too. I have plenty of salt, but what is the process for meat, and how long do you have o smoke meat over an open fire to extend the edibility factor?
There is also the option of “potting” food, which is preserving in fat (lard or butter). It is a traditional English technique (potted shrimp is still popular). Look for a book call Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management. Published in 1861 it is a fantastic source of information in running a non-electric household. The book was written to offer advice to the newly wealthy in industrial Britain. I use it about once a week – recipies are great – although the section on managing servants is not much use :-)
Maybe more info on ‘buggn-in’ especially for those living in suburban areas.
Hey Robin Hood,
Being a suburbanite myself, way to close to a nasty city, I have thought about this too. Everyone has their own opinion about defensive tactics, but think of it like this. Look at your house from the outside, and imagine that there is something in there that you would have to take from someone else. What are the entry points? How would you approach the house without being seen? etc…..
If you can think of ways to assault the house, you will automatically think of ways to defend it. But bugging in won’t do you any good unless you have ample food storage.
…and Bugging in isn’t going to do you any good if you don’t own your property outright. I’m nervous about stockpiling supplies and getting evicted, or the landlord sells to someone else, or defaults the loan! It’s looking more and more appealing to have an acre and a shed that I own, with the taxes pre-paid, so that no one can come and tell me to get out.
Hi Mama. Just because you have a little land of your own, and you don’t have to pay rent to the land lord doesn’t mean that you’re safe. Don’t forget the city pulling an “Eminent Domain” so that some politician’s buddy can grab you place for some project “that’ll aid the community”, while he gives part of the proceeds back as a “Campaign Donation”. But as a fellow suburbanite, if you can afford it, you might want to backup your preps with an nearby storage rental space. It doesn’t have to be a big disaster, either. Twice in the last 6 months several home up here were leveled by natural gas explosions, in two separate neighborhoods miles apart. And who is to say that you won’t come home from work after a bad storm and a tree has smashed in the roof? Hope this helps, Bubblehead Les.
I see more problems this year than ever before. earthquakes, unnatural disasters, natural disasters, economic crisis, and it would be nice to hear from a down to earth human, more so than a talking head that says what his rich uncle pays him to say. Without all the “experts”, it can be difficult to sort out what I am looking at.
I would like to hear more on your opinion about where we stand. Do you think TSHTF a week, a month, or a year? I have copied much information from your blog into a SHTF instruction manual, printed copy, that I will refer to when needed. thanks MD.
I haven’t voted yet.
Food, preserving it, making my homestead more ‘hardy’ are my concerns.
This is our second year of seriously gardening for basic veggies to help fill the storage, last year the weather did not cooperate with gardens in this area.
We are learning to dry more things, cooking more from scratch. We MUST make our home better able to shelter us. More insulation, much more, it snows here. Window quilts, low energy appliances. How to live the way we like to without using so much energy. How to lower the electric bill. We cut back to where the actual electric was only twenty dollars, but with all the fees tacked on, it was over a hundred. We now have oil lamps, and are studying where to put them for light without danger of upset by the dogs or cat.
We got a smaller fridg when the old one went out. Second hand one. What we could afford.
Planting pyracantha or thorny bushes around the outside of the house instead of non-edible flowers. to discourage uninvited visitors.
So alternative energy, gardening for real, small live stock, like chickens, rabbits, what else for in the city where we aren’t supposed to have them?
City homesteading to survive right now.
Good inexpensive flash lights, where to buy them.
where to get medical training for free. We took the CERT course and became instructors. Well worth the two days for the course.
I want and need all this info.
Maybe a subject for a week, or two weeks or one or two subjects a month?
Also want to know what is going on in the rest of the country. What do the people actually there see and think, suggestions, warnings. Is there anything that I should stock up on ‘now’ ?
Wheat, corn, sugar, coffee, do you see something in the stores that make you go ‘hhhmmmmm’? or see it anywhere else??
So maybe my category is ‘other’
I want to know how to make my house better and easier to live in without using so much utilities. Comfortably and safely. We don’t have any choice about this. How to raise rabbits from those who actually do so, we like meat once in awhile. How to make home made laundry soap from someone who does, all the mother earth kinda things.
sometimes it feels like we are floundering.
Small house, small city lot. Not able to move, must make the best, most use of what we have. Temperate climate, twice as many here now than what we were prepared for last year.
And it does make a difference in everything
Selene
Medical training for free sounds great to me. I would like to be able to do many tasks that we go to the ER for. And get info on where I can get med. supplies- like lidocaine or other useful things. Isn’t it illegal to own them, though? A suture kit is well and good, and I can sew, but doing it to my kid without a local anesthetic is less than appealing. In-home care for bad flus. The value of putting up an epidemic sign on the front door when we’re all healthy. Contingencies!!
Hi Selene. Since I live a about a mile from Lake Erie, keeping warm in the winter and cool in the summer is big concern for me, also. Here’s a couple of cheap tips to save you money. I know they work, because I did it to my house. 1) Went up in the attic made sure it was properly ventilated (there’s a government website that tells you what to look for), rolled on some more insulation. 2) Crawled under the house, put some insulation between the floor joists. 3) Before I insulated the space between the joists, I got some peel and stick type shiny foil tape from the Home Depot and sealed every joint in the heating ducts I could get (got that one from Mike Holmes on his “Holmes on Homes” TV show). Turns out the one thing Duct Tape isn’t that good on is Ducts! 4) For the winter, for every window you aren’t planning on opening, use some BLUE painters tape on the INSIDE of your window seams. Blocks drafts, peals off easily in the spring, and is a lot cheaper than those window seal kits that you have to replace every year. 5) Find out what your city’s zoning code is on having a rabbit hutch in the backyard. Some places won’t allow it, but every place is different. 6) For the summertime, if you have double-hung windows, drop the TOP sash DOWN a couple of inches, and raise the bottom UP a couple of inches. Before air conditioning, this is how people cooled their houses. Hot air in the room would go out the top gap, cooler air would come in the bottom. Use a small, swivel-type room fan in the corner, it really helps a lot. What most people don’t know is that an electric motor is the most efficient motor on the planet! Once it gets up to speed, it uses very little electricity to keep running(about 3%). But don’t run fans with the windows closed! During the heat wave that hit Chicago in the 90′s, several people were found dead in their apartments. Turned out that with the windows closed, circulating the heat just turned it into an convection oven. (sad thing is, these people were worried about being robbed, and some had nailed there windows shut). 7) Run a clothes line or two, and let the sun dry your clothes. 8) Use your public libraries reference section. You paid for it with your taxes after all, they’re usually air-conditioned, and with a library card, you can shut off the Boob Tube and read a good book, thus saving electricity. Hope this helps, Bubblehead Les.
I voted “other”. There are a few different things I’d be interested in learning. To start, how to produce common chemicals that we take for granted. For example, I recently learned how to make Lye from ashes and rain water which in turn would be used to make soap (which could be a barterable item, or a handout depending on whether the person is upwind or downwind). Me being a nerdy chemist with a healthy amount of paranoia… er… awareness, I’m interested in how things were made and or preserved hundreds of years ago. How do you prepare harvest seeds for winter storage and subsequent planting? I also home brew; did you know that a little alcohol is a great way to preserve the nutrients from a fruit or grain harvest? But how do you prepare the yeast for storage? Or harvest it in the first place? How do you make vinegar? I hope you catch my drift.
Mike
mike if you make beer, you’re half way to vineger allready, alcohol is an anareobic [without oxygen] process. To switch to acetic acid production remove fermentation airlock and add a bubbler to your vat [aquarium supply, or bellows]. Distilling calls for lower temps than alcohol, you do have a hydrometer for measuring specific gravity? Once you get a must [bacteria culture] reuse for next batch, like sourdough starter whatever culture you need just keep it going, and keep them seperate [cross contamination] I have bottled the dregs from my primary fermentaion vats, with good results for later use, for long term don’t forget food [wort] and water for your yeast. I used champane splits [small heavy bottles] the culture will produce CO2 before going dormant so cap or cork well. Restarting from this calls coddling the must with extra food and warmth to encourage the culture to come out of dormancy.
I’d like to learn serious details about what exactly goes out in a emp/solar flare situation. Will my food processor? Washing machine? Dehydrator? Battery charger? solar/inverter/battery combo? I was brainstorming about lining a cabinet completely with tinfoil and again with cardboard, so I could store these appliances readily available and protected in a Faraday-style cabinet, but I don’t know any layman details. I’d almost prefer to have my food processor than my car- one I can make a realistic plan to protect, having the car just makes me a target.
my most pressing concern at the moment, and maybe someone here knows.. how the HECk do you get rid of a groundhog family that’s burrowin holes and eatin’ your garden as fast as you can plant it?? HELPPPPP!!
.22 bullet. If you’re in the city limits you could try drowning it. Pour buckets of water down any of its burrows you can find.
Last one I killed was with my boots in a hayfield
You could use a live trap from Menards or Farm & Fleet. Once they’re in the cage take them “swimming” – Quick and Quiet.
Cat or Gat [my choice would be scoped .177 pellet rifle]
Groundhogs are sometimes repelled by pouring epsom salts down their hole(s). It may take several attempts over a month’s time, but it usually works. Also sprinkle it around your garden as a repellent and, if you fence your garden, bury the fence with a 90 degree outward turn in it at least a foot under ground. The outward extension should be at least a foot long.
Mia – Additionally, the epsom salts can be sprinkled around your garden soil to keep slugs and snails from devouring your plants. Tomatoes thrive with epsom salts because of their need for the magnesium contained in it.
Azyogi, I live in AZ too, and have plumbed 5 55 gal drums togetherin series, as you did, but get a little nervous when I start putting water through them as they bulge. What size of pipe or hose do you have between yours? I used garden hose in the 3/4 adapters. Did you go larger, maybe using PVC pipe? I think your idea is genius, as it is important to keep that water fresh. Water is my biggest concern here in the Phoenix area. Without it, you’re dead.
Sorry if this is double post.
I deal with gophers year round here in AZ. I’ve had the most success with a ‘bait stick’ Look up “Yard Butler Gopher/Mole Bait Applicator #GBA-1″ on Amazon.com. I got mine from Home Depot along with the gopher poison. I’ve rarely ever seen a gopher, just dozens of mounds. Once I bait the hole, that one is gone. I smooth over the dirt mound they dug, and watch for fresh ones. With 2 acres, I keep busy. Don’t try to scare them away, they’ll just go to your neigbors yard, and then he’ll chase ‘em back. Kill the little bastards.
Hey great posts I am not anyway affiliated with this blog but over at foodstoragemadeeasy.net (i think) They gave scenarios of disasters and emergency situations to a bunch of different families and they have somewhere in their archives the results about what they came up short on. Has some very interesting results.
It’s interesting that the Guns answer only rated about 2%. I guess most of us feel we’ve taken care of the “Fun” stuff and have thought about the guns/defensive situations.
Home remedies, medicine, etc would a good topic.
I voted for alternative energy information. This is an area i find very confusing expensive and hard to approach. I would love to hear more about it from people who are more down to earth and budget oriented like the blogs author and the many great commentors on this site.
While guns and gear are not my priority of things i feel i need to learn, i always enjoy reading about them and getting peoples ideas and impressions especially about more affordable gear suggestions.
I’d be interested in survival techniques in a suburban or city environment. How do you generate your own power in the city when you have to “shelter-in-place?
Sheltering in place – defending the homestead.
How to identify/prepare/preserve local (in my case Utah) vegetation.
Small scale homesteading for me. My land is very limited, so making the most with the least is bascially my only option. Have a city park across the street, but it is ‘First come first serve’, or public property if SHTF? I’m banking on not having it to use. This and simple permaculture.
Comments on this entry are closed.