17 Things That You Should Do Around Your House Before the Coming Deadly Crisis
This blog is LOADED with the latest coming from the prepper, homesteading, health and survivalist world
The best preparation for tomorrow is doing something today.
When we’ll have no running water, no extra food, no electricity… then we’ll truly understand this old saying… the hard way. Or we can make sure that our houses offer a decent level of protection.
Install a Rain Water Collector or a Rain Filter Barrel
You may choose to store water for gardening or for drinking. For gardening, rainwater is, naturally, best unfiltered. But, for household use, you can make an easy auto-filter using a barrel.
The filter may be set in the cellar and used only for drinking water. Or it may be used in time of drought for filtering stagnant water, which would otherwise be unpalatable, for the use of stock. This also makes a good cider filter if you want to make vinegar. Here is how to Make Raw Apple Cider Vinegar at Home.
This will stop you having to spend more money time and energy into a filtration system.
Build a Can Storage Rotation System
Verify the self-life of your canned goods on a regular basis and learn how to tell when your canned goods become spoiled.
You can verify your canned goods even easier with a can rotator and you’ll always make sure you’re opening the first one to expire (first can in the column – easy).
A can rotator is also a space saver, especially those hanged on the wall.
Disorganization is one of the most common mistakes the new prepper makes. A lack of a real rotation system means the oldest can on hand may not be the first to be use. There are a lot of other woodworking projects that may help you prep a lot more efficient.
Start a Home Defense Plan Including Some Smart Protection Systems
It is generally believed that a good defense position can hold against an enemy with 10 times the numbers of the defender. (same guns)
Being a single person defending a house, you should have this goal in mind: to withstand the attack of 10 armed street-smart looters. I’m saying “street-smart” because they’ll probably also have a plan… they may surround your house… or maybe they’ll attack at night or when you least expect it… or maybe they’ll set your house on fire, etc.
Without a good defense plan, you’re doomed! Here’s what preppers did during the Baltimore riots.
When setting up your home defenses keep in mind the military term OCOKA which stands for:
1. Observation and fields of fire
2. Cover and Concealment
3. Obstacles
4. Key Terrain
5. Avenues of Approach
Following these five key principles, you will greatly improve your security and survivability. This is one of the things that I’ve learned from a well-known army officer vet Steve Walker, for whom I have all the respect in the world. Watch his video and learn some fast-tips about protecting your home in time of war or social chaos.
Get Seeds From Your Plants
This is a very important technique that needs to be honed and is essential to the continued survival of your plants and garden. Seed collection varies from plant to plant and type of edible vegetable. For example, there will be differences in how you preserve and collect seeds from tomatoes, sweet pepper or wheat.
There are too many things to say on this subject. There are a few good articles on the internet if you are interested in post-apocalyptic gardening; no science fiction, just self-sufficiency.
Most of these things can be learned only by reading and practicing. Most of the times reading alone is not enough.
Get to Know Your Neighbors
At the best of times this is a good idea, but of course, this will be useful in terms of if you both have skills that can be beneficial to you both (maybe he’s a Medic or a Marine).
Most of the times your neighbor is your friend. In the case of a crisis you can start a small community based on mutual interest. Maybe you won’t have to defend your house 360 degrees.
Plus… when it’ll be no hyper active police, and when you’ll be outnumbered… it’s nice to have a “close” friend (literally) ready to help you.
Don’t think he’ll help you? If he’s smart, he’ll better help you… because he’ll be next anyway. In my opinion, the community is the key to survival.
Drill a Well or Install a Water Storage Tank
A “prepper house” should draw water from its own well rather than rely on a city water system.
You should make sure to fill up empty clear containers with drinkable water by whichever filtration or purification system works for you (including the barrel filter). For example something like a Brita system or boiling/distilling. In essence, he waters ready at any time as it is singularly the most important resource that is necessary to promote survival.
Don’t want to drill a wheel? Check out the H2O Dynamo - a device that produces water for your home (and also has a water storage tank).
Build a Root Cellar
If you don’t have a root cellar yet, then you should consider building one.
Root-cellaring is a saving technique for ordinary winter storage of fresh, raw, whole vegetables and fruits that have not been processed to increase their keeping quality.
The root cellar is a way to hold these foods for several months after their normal harvest in a cold, rather moist environment that does not allow them to freeze or to complete their natural cycle to decomposition in the fall.
Understand the elements that make up a Root Cellar which circles around Humidity, Ventilation, and temperature. If these elements are adhered to, a root cellar can be built by using any viable technique.
There are a variety of building materials that can be used that include stone, concrete cinder blocks, logs and so on.
But recently I’ve discovered an even easier method using earth-bags (and cheaper). If you use earth-bags, please tie them together very tight with barbwire between bags.
Secure Your Living Space From Natural Disasters
Depending on where you’re living you may want to consider implementing some level of protection against hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, wildfires or floods.
Making sure that tables and sofa’s etc. are nailed down so as to protect the larger objects in the home from damage and from damaging people around them. Making sure that loose objects such as paining’s or vases and similar objects are secured to the best of your ability without making them too much of an eyesore. If you don’t already have one, buy a fire extinguisher.
A secondary stocking space in case your first is compromised. Example: a flood may compromise your supplies in the root cellar, but not the ones in the rooftop.
Make a Faraday Cage
Some people talk about EMP’s like they were talking about science fiction. They look at me like I’m crazy.
Well if I’m nuts, then why does the Army prepares for this? Recently, NORAD has moved its communication equipment back to its nuclear Cold War-era bunker under the Cheyenne Mountain because this base is EMP hardened.
To avoid a total collapse every American should have some EMP hardened equipment or at least a Faraday Cage to protect the most important survival electronics. Here are some Faraday cages that you an make at home… and the most important electronics that you should keep safe, in the cage.
Make Room in Your Garage to Store Gas
Another essential is to keep a few gallons of gasoline in the garage or anywhere away from the house and from the sun.
You’ll power a generator or your car… either way, fuel is an INVESTMENT! Gas price will rise for sure.
Just make sure that the container is safe for this and that it keeps the gas airtight. For example, plastic containers that seal well are always good ideas.
Install a Backup Power Source
The mechanism that you want to install depends on where you live. You can use solar, wind, water power or a generator.
If you can use solar panels for part or all of your electrical needs it would go a long way towards making you completely self-sufficient and living with a sufficient amount of comforts in the form off electricity.
With sparing use, it is possible to live completely off of solar energy but more than likely it will be a combination of the eatery and solar power that will allow you to operate your electrical equipment.
Here is the DIY Back-up Generator
Build a Hideout For Your Valuables or For Your Family
Cash and gold are a good idea to have but it is necessary to ensure that these items area safe. Make sure that valuables are in a safe or a storage facility that is difficult to reach into as these items while trying to survive become ever more important.
If you have a useless space in your house, you may want to turn it into a super hideout (see picture).
If your family has a food storage of 2 months or more, you might want to consider the potential risks associated with others knowing about it.
Or the safe room could be your root cellar. The weak point on that structure would be the ventilation system. In order to conceal your root cellar, you’ll probably need to hide your exit pipe or to extend your ventilation system up through the walls of your house and to the roof, thus appearing as part of your house’s vents and pipes, hiding in plain sight.
Build a Medical Survival Kit
First Aid Kits are one of those preparedness items that people often neglect. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to get the same attention that things like survival knives, guns, and bug out bags get (Source). But if you think about it, in a crisis… diseases are the no 1 killer.
Antibiotics, penicillin and a few other essentials like iodine, gauzes and bandages will go a long way to ensuring that inevitable accidents or simple colds do not become fatal. Here are the only 4 antibiotics that you’ll need when SHTF.
Splints, scissors, and painkillers would also be of good use as one never know what sort of ailments or accidents will happen in the course of survival.
Build a Fireplace
Why? Just so you can provide heat in a low-tech fashion, and because you don’t want to rely entirely on fuel, grid or other generators that may fail in a crisis.
Instead, anybody can cut and burn woods… just like our ancestors did.
Plus… it also provides light in one room.
Plus… you can cook in-house when there’ll be no electricity.
Plus … it’s a cool place to sit by in the winter.
Start a Small Medicinal Garden
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could walk out into your backyard and find the medicine you need growing right there, ready to be picked and used to treat someone in your family?
A few days ago I made a 72 square-feet medicinal garden plan (see picture) that you might want to see.
All plants have different therapeutic actions, such as anti-inflammatory, fighting fever, for heart failure, a sedative, etc… basically for anything.
Preserve Part of The Food That You Produce
Drying, cooling, freezing, salting, smoking, pickling, canning… you have a lot of methods to choose from.
Recently drying has become more popular, but let’s not forget about a few old methods like burning food in a barrel (see picture) or turning meat into Pemmican balls.
If you have a dehydrator, you are likely already putting it to work making dried eggs, fruits, meat, etc.
Isn’t it nice when you know how what goes into your food? Maybe more importantly what doesn’t go into it, such as chemicals.
Insulate Your Attic and Turn It Into a Place To Keep Supplies
More heating and cooling goes through the roof in most improperly insulated homes than you’d think!
An efficient exhaust venting at the top of the roof (see picture) will remove the warm air in summer keep a cool, dry and dark… just perfect for storing supplies.
And in winter, it reduces the humidity by stopping the condense on inner walls (caused by the snow on the roof). Here are two pictures that explain this better than me: in the summer and in the winter.
Generally, a well-insulated house will reduce reliance on both air conditioning and heating systems.
Plus… poor insulation can cause your power bill to be higher than it needs to be, so taking the time to ensure your home is properly insulated can save you some money. Think of this as an investment. Yes, you’ll spend a few bucks today, but on the long run, you’ll get them back and make a profit. Seal all air leaks… especially in autumn, just before winter. You can also install door sweeps.
Emergency Water Purification When You’re Desperate And Dehydrated
If I had to choose from among the worst possible scenarios of being marooned in the wilderness, it would be one of these two predicaments …
First, I’m stuck in an area where there doesn’t seem to be any readily identifiable sources of water.
Second, I successfully found water, but since I wasn’t able to properly filter it before drinking, I’m now lost AND sick from those nasty waterborne parasites, known as cryptosporidia.
One of the reasons why the inability to hydrate with clean water is easily one of the worst possible killers in a survival scenario is because you really only have 72 hours (maximum) to come up with a solution — and if you drink the wrong stuff, then you’ll end up dehydrating yourself even faster than if you hadn’t even taken your first sip.
But perhaps the biggest problem is dealing with the symptoms leading up to terminal dehydration. Not only will you burn through your energy quickly, but it doesn’t take long before delirium and confusion sets in.
Image source: Pixabay.com
That’s why it’s an absolutely critical skill — if not, THE MOST critical skill — for you to be able to find water and, as we’ll be discussing in this post, filter it. Now, keep in mind that the filtration system we’ll be constructing in this post is actually quite simple, as compared to the ones you’ll see in other survival tutorials. The reason why I’m keeping it simple is because …
This should NOT be your primary method of procuring potable water, and should be used for emergencies. In other words, you already should have water filters in your survival kit. (The Paratrooper Filter is a great one to carry; it’s tiny, and you can fit several into a single survival kit.)
Since this is for dire situations, it’s better to make it fast and simple, because you don’t know what state your body will be in at the point when you might need it.
Let’s get started …
No. 1 — Get a Small Fire Going
Let’s kill two birds with one stone on this step: Your first task is to collect water into a metal (or possibly glass) container. Also, DO NOT sip from this “no-drink-container” until it’s been sanitized, no matter how thirsty you feel.
Paratrooper Filter: Ultra-Small Water Filter Turns Dirty Water Clean, In Seconds!
Next, you’ll want to get a small fire going. When the fire is finally up and running, this will give you an opportunity to boil the water that you collected into a non-plastic (for obvious reasons) container. The cool part about this is the fact if you were very desperate, then once the water is boiled, you could actually sip that water without any filtering.
It sure would taste nasty, and you’ll be chewing on heaven-knows-what, but at least you can rest assured that 100 percent of all present cryptosporidia have been wiped out, according to the folks at the CDC. The water will be dirty, but at least it’s a sanitary kinda’ dirty.
Once the water has reached a rolling boil for a good five minutes, then set aside the container and let the fire consume the wood and allow it to change into charcoal material. Once you have a small sandwich bag full equivalent of charcoal to work with, then smother the fire by spreading it out or throwing sand on it.
No. 2 — Set up Your DIY Filter
While you were waiting for the fire to die down, a great way to take advantage of that time would be to go out and find a plastic bottle (really, any size will do).
Use your best judgement on this one, but depending on the size of the bottle, you’ll need to acquire the appropriate quantities of the following items, including a rubber band, cordage or wire and a bandana or piece of cloth.
Charcoal
Sand
Tiny Pebbles
Small Stones
Image source: Pixabay.com
Now, basically what makes the magic happen is the charcoal. In fact, even commercial-grade filters use carbon, which is what charcoal fundamentally is. Let’s put it together:
Cut the bottom off of the plastic bottle, and hold it upside-down.
Place a small swatch of cloth at the bottom (this will be where the water drips from).
Add the charcoal.
Add the sand.
Add the tiny pebbles.
Add the small stones.
Place a larger swatch of cloth at the top, and then secure it in place with your cordage/rubber band/wire.
At this point, you now have a working filter and water in a “no-drink-container” that’s been completely sanitized of any living thing that would try to kill you from the inside. Lovely.
No. 3 – Use Filter, Repeat, and Then Hydrate at Your Leisure
Pour the water from your “no-drink-container” into your filter, which is situated to drip down into the container you plan on drinking from.
Ultra-Small Water Filter Makes Dirty River Water Clean, In Seconds!
The water will still appear very dirty on the first few times you run it through your filter; however, this isn’t a problem, for two reasons …
Since you were able to boil the water, all possible cryptosporidium are quite deceased at this point. All that’s left will be sediments and some traces of hard metals.
It will take 2-5 cycles through your filter in order for the water to start looking clearer (potable), but this is largely because your filter materials will initially have small dirt particles in there. Basically, your first few cups are going to be cleaning out the filter itself.
Also, remember that even with manufactured filters, you should cycle water through it a few times before drinking water from it.
Just keep in mind: It’s quite stellar that we are able to craft a DIY survival water filter in the boonies with nothing but litter and natural materials, but this should not be your go-to option. This DIY filtration system should be used in the event that you find yourself in a pinch and need to hydrate urgently.
4 Tbsp. a Day and Cancer Is Gone: Bulgarian Scientist Reveals the Most Powerful Homemade Remedy
Hristo Mermerski is a well known Bulgarian Scientist who came to limelight for his groundbreaking homemade cure for cancer.
There are thousands of people who support his claim for curing cancer with this simple remedy.
Dr. Mermerski explains that his cancer-treating recipe is a food that treats our entire body. It is because of this overall healing effect that cancer also gets cured.
It is almost like a magical homemade remedy that offers many other health benefits including the following:
It cleanses our blood vessels
It strengthens our immune system
It heals our heart. It also protects against heart attack.
It cleanses our kidneys and liver
It improves our memory
It is the best natural cure for all types of cancers
How to Prepare Mermerski’s Recipe
You will need the following ingredients to prepare Mermerski’s recipe:
Lemon – 15
Garlic – 12
Honey (natural) – 35 oz.
Walnuts – 14 oz.
Sprouted grains – 14 oz.
How to Prepare Sprouted Grains
Add green wheat in a large bowl of glass
Add water to ensure the wheat is covered and leave through the night
Drain off the water in the morning and rinse the grains
Remove the drained wheat into a bowl
After 24 hour the wheat will sprout
Preparing the Remedy
Clean the garlic cloves
Mix the sprouted grains, walnuts and garlic cloves and grind them
Take 5 lemons and grind them (including crust) and mix with the already ground mixture
Squeeze juice from the remaining 10 lemons and add to the mixture
Mix well for consistency
Add honey to the mixture and mix using a wooden spoon.
Remove the mixture in glass jars and keep in the refrigerator for three days
After 3 days your famous Mermerski cancer remedy is ready. Start taking 1 to 2 tablespoon of it, half an hour before your breakfast and dinner. Also take a spoon before going to sleep.
If you are suffering from cancer, Dr. Mermerski recommends 1 to 2 tablespoon every couple hours.
According to the Bulgarian professor, because his homemade remedy replenishes nutrition for all body functions and improves overall health, it helps you lead a long and healthier life. It cures cancer and allows you to lead a vibrant and youthful life.
He claims that he has studied the ingredients and nutrients in this remedy. It is loaded with all types of essential vitamins and minerals. It has all the proteins, fats, carbs and bioactive substances. Thanks to all these nutrients, our organs and glands receive everything they need to work effectively and keep our body healthy.
Read more »
There are basically two types of preppers getting ready for SHTF, those who are ready and willing for a fight and those who will avoid a fight as long as possible but fight back when needed. If you’re in the latter camp, who would prefer to avoid a fight as long as possible, then you will need to become an expert at deceptive strategies and how a prepper can apply them to survive.
The best way to avoid a fight is to not be there, which means you want to do everything you can to make sure that you and your home or bug out location don’t become a target for those who are looking to steal your supplies and do harm to your family. In the chaos following a natural disaster or SHTF event, the goal will be more than just survival, it will be staying out of the line of fire.
Yes, you may be able to relocate now or bug out so that you are isolated and away from the crowds of desperate people. But there will still be those individuals and possibly groups who will seek out places to loot for supplies and food. They may not find you immediately but the persistent ones will circle farther and farther from town until they eventually get to you.
And how do you protect yourself and your family from those preppers who take off into the woods thinking they can hunt and live off the land, only to discover that strategy isn’t feasible? They could very likely end up near your location at their most desperate point. And if you’re stuck in a populated area, with other desperate people all around you who are also trying to survive, you have even more work to do in order to keep from becoming the target of these desperate neighbors.
So what to do? If you can master enough deceptive strategies to basically become less noticeable or at least avoid standing out, you have the best chance of survival without having a confrontation that could end in violence.
Be Sure Your Clothing and Gear Blend In
The first thing to keep in mind when preparing for visual deception is your clothing and gear. You want to avoid “looking” like a prepper to those you interact with on a daily basis even now before SHTF. This is part of OPSEC procedure. “Looking” like a prepper can make you a target even long before SHTF, folks will remember you and come looking for the supplies they’re sure you have stocked.
Don’t wear camo clothing, openly carry your weapon or use a tactical looking backpack. Make sure your EDC items aren’t too bulky and are either visibly hidden or considered normal use items.
Visit the goodwill or salvation army store and pick out several layers of clothing that you will wear following a SHTF event. Wear the clothes occasionally while working outdoors, don’t wash them or mend them if they get ripped or become thread bare. When SHTF, start wearing your “worn and dirty” clothing, so you blend in with everyone else who hasn’t showered and will avoid becoming a target.
The same holds true for your vehicle. Don’t drive a decked out hummer around town or one stuffed to the gills with supplies pre-SHTF. It should be nondescript and shouldn’t stand out from other vehicles. Use an older vehicle to make it easier to withstand a possible EMP, but make sure your vehicle doesn’t scream “bug out vehicle” as you drive down the street.
Be careful when making modifications to your vehicle, do these in a garage or your backyard out of view from passersby. This precaution prevents your neighbors from having a reason to steal your decked out vehicle instead of taking their own when SHTF.
Be Invisible or Look Desperate
If you are living in an urban or densely populated area or if you are planning to make a trip into a populated area and you are better prepared than those around you, then you have to be able to blend in and you best not look like you are better off than anyone else. This means you are going to have to deceive others into believing that you are as desperate and hungry as everyone else.
Look hungry if you are out in public or around other people. Don’t overeat and even lose weight if you can so that you don’t look well fed when everyone else is thinning down from lack of food. Keep your hair and appearance disheveled as if you just lack the energy and resources to keep yourself up.
Pre-SHTF act eccentric often enough so that neighbors consider it normal behavior for you. This way when SHTF, they won’t think it odd if they happen to see you building something in your backyard.
For more information on how to blend in with the crowd and be invisible, learn how to be a gray man.
Negotiation Strategies
Flattery-There are times when flattery will get you out of a potentially dangerous situation or get you additional food rations or get you through a checkpoint. Before attempting to use flattery though, you need to be absolutely certain that this technique could work. It can sometimes backfire.
Bribery-Just like flattery, there are times when bribery will work in a tense situation. If you have stocked up on silver or ammunition or any of the other most desired items when SHTF, you can use these to “buy” your way through a checkpoint. Again you need to be careful about using this technique. Once you are known for bribing your way out of things, people may come looking to see what they can take.
Be graceful and forgiving during all negotiations, but smart and tactful. Keep your emotions under control no matter what is said or done. Try to avoid impulsivity.
Pay attention to how someone says something versus what they are saying. Listen for any details that they might be leaving out of the conversation. Suggest solutions or options rather than stating them as an absolute or directive which could be perceived as you giving orders by the other party.
Manipulation
Make a loud recording of dogs barking and growling so you can play it when you are alerted to someone on the perimeter of your property. For some less determined thieves, it will be enough to scare them off in search of an easier target.
Setup debris or other obstacles in your yard and around your perimeter to “lead” intruders to follow a certain path when trying to get into your home. This way you can be ready to ambush them. Also post-SHTF it’s a good idea to board up first floor windows and sliding doors. This leaves less options for intruders to get inside without making noise and alerting you. Make sure you have a rope ladder for at least one 2nd floor window so you can escape from the inside if needed.
Tactical Home Defense Strategies
Another tactic you can use is to make your home or bug out location look like it has already been abandoned and looted. This is part of preventing your home from becoming a target by making it appear like there is nothing there worth taking. Think about all the safety practices that are used during normal times to convince thieves that someone is home and then do the opposite.
Shove some mail into the mailbox or pile up some newspapers on the front step or at the end of the drive. Spray graffiti all over the outside walls of your home. Anything you can do to make your home look abandoned.
Use lights very sparingly once it gets dark unless you are using black out curtains or landscape fabric to block the light. If you use black out curtains, make sure they aren’t visible in the daytime.
Let the grass go uncut and don’t worry about raking leaves or picking up tree branches. Gather debris from other places and place it against your house, blocking the front door, or in the yard.
Get yourself several fake but realistic looking snakes, make sure they resemble poisonous ones, coil them near the door of your home and just inside the door to make it look like the house has been taken over by less than desirable reptiles. Lay out a couple of long skins shed by actual snakes on the walkway up to the door, if you can get them to add to the illusion.
There are some preppers who will go so far as to burn their own land or house, enough so the exterior appears like the house is burned out and not worth exploring further. You can also spray the perimeter of your property near the road with skunk spray each night. The thought that there could still be a skunk nearby will be enough to convince many people to move on to the next house.
If you have the foresight to have two wells, you can even taint the taste or even poison the well nearest the road so that anyone attempting to drink from it becomes either disgusted or ill. This increases the likelihood they will move on to another house rather than setup camp in your area.
Along this same vein, you can also have some decoy food in the cupboards for looters to find. To make sure they don’t want to return to your house to check for more in a couple days, poison the decoy food with laxative or something stronger. Make absolutely certain you keep the poisoned decoy food separate from your family’s stockpile.
Hide Your Supplies Well
When it comes to supplies, you’ll want to be fairly covert about your behavior pre and post-SHTF. Store your supplies in several hidden locations around your property so if one location is compromised, you still have other supplies. Before SHTF, pull into the garage when unloading boxes of supplies or into the backyard so all your neighbors aren’t privy to how much you actually do have stocked. Have boxes of supplies delivered to the back door of your home instead of letting them sit out front where they can be observed.
If you must build an underground bunker to store your supplies, create a cover story so that folks won’t consider it when SHTF. For example, you could make it known that you are terrified of tornados and are simply building a temporary storm shelter. Or because even a tornado shelter can be attractive in a post-SHTF situation, you could convince neighbors you are a wine collector and are building a wine storage cellar.
Use the Trojan Horse Technique
Disguise things so they look like something else similar to a Trojan horse. A typical swimming pool will hold a lot of water and won’t be obvious that you are storing water. It’s just a matter of having a way to filter it once SHTF and you’ve got plenty of water for a little while. Make your ham radio antenna look like just another exhaust pipe on your roof.
If you must have a generator or solar power system, batteries, and charger, figure out how to disguise the equipment, perhaps in a fake “outhouse” on the side of the house. If someone walked into it, they would see an outhouse. But beneath the outhouse on either side of your drop hole, you could have your batteries stored and the solar panels could be out of view on the roof, etc.
Create portable solar or wind power equipment by mounting them on a wagon or handcart so you can move them in and out of a garage or pull them to different hidden locations. You can also install them in vehicles such as your truck or RV. Some solar power gear is so lightweight that you can carry it in your backpack.
Make Use of Camouflage
If you must use traditional row gardening, consider using large camouflage netting to help hide plants or your greenhouse from view of passersby. Following a SHTF event, you can also use camouflage netting to hide any equipment such as a tractor or ATV in the woods when it’s not in use. Carry the materials you need to paint your vehicle with a camouflage pattern (tape, paint, etc.) along with a machete, so that if you need to pull off the road and into the woods to sleep, you will be hidden from view.
Use Defensive Landscaping
One area where many people go wrong is they secure the perimeter of their home or bug out location as if it were Fort Knox holding all the world’s gold within its walls. Instead of installing flood lights and building a ten-foot high wall with barbed wire along the top, which basically screams to thieves that what you have inside is worth any expense to protect, consider using defensive landscaping instead.
Defensive landscaping is a way of using more natural looking materials to create the kind of perimeter around your home or bug out location that looks relatively normal and yet still deters intruders and make them think your house isn’t worth the effort. A barrier made of dense thorny bushes along the edges of your property will deter quite a few would be looters. The type of plant you can use obviously will depend on the climate you live in and what grows well in your area but here are some suggestions:
Holly shrubs-these are big shrubs that are green year round, grow well in most types of soil, and come with leaves that are spiky enough to prick if you push into them.
Blackthorn-this is a shorter shrub, less than a foot tall, that is spiny, but has small dense leaves that make it very suitable as a hedge. Its flowers are white and it produces a dark, blue-black berry. It is also referred to as Sloe, since the fruit is used to flavor sloe gin.
Firethorn is great for growing a hedge that is virtually impenetrable. It can grow as high as fifteen feet and has thorny stems with brilliant reddish-orange berries and white flowers in the summer months.
Oleaster-this is a tree that is smaller in stature, typically reaching about 15-20 feet in height. Its leaves are lighter green and silvery on the underside, deceptively pretty, because the branches of the tree have spines. It can double as a food source because it does produce a sweet tasting yellow fruit and edible flowers. Oleaster will do okay in poor soil or dry climates and it’s a sturdy wind resistant tree.
Creeping Juniper-has thorny foliage and stems, its referred to as “blue rug”. It can be used to cover the ground at the edge of your property. It would not be fun to crawl on if you were trying to get through the bushes undetected.
Giant Rhubarb-is a plant with sturdy stems, pretty rough foliage, and large leaves. It does well near water so it would be great camouflage for a pond or stream.
There are many, many others that will work well including the Mountain and Blue Pines, sea buckthorn, and prickly ash. Some of these could be used around windows too to prevent anyone from getting close enough to look inside.
Use Hidden Survival Gardening Techniques
A traditional row garden visible from the road will be a dead give-away that not only is the house not abandoned but that whoever lives there has supplies and food.
Use permaculture principles and edible landscaping to plant your garden in various sections around your house and property so that it blends into the landscape as possible. You can also plant less common plants which don’t look like food. The key is to make passersby think there is nothing there that is edible.
Take time now to learn about wild edible plants and how to cook and eat them safely. Plant wild edibles all around the yard along the road that most people won’t recognize is even food, such as:
Dandelions
Mullein
Wild garlic
Wild mustard
Monkey flower
Wild bee balm
Hop clover
Red clover
Cattails
Wild grape vine
Pigweed
Plantain
Pine trees
Watercress
Creeping charlie
Chickweed
Miner’s lettuce
Joe pye weed
Milk thistle
Daylilies
Field pennycress
Chicory
Wood sorrel
Lamb’s quarters
Sweet rocket
Yellow rocket
Coltsfoot
Beach lovage
Shepherd’s purse
Common mallow
Purslane
Kudzu
Ramps
Study the techniques involved in companion planting and building a food forest to ensure that your survival garden doesn’t make your home a target. A food forest can be developed if you start now so that no one will even know that the “woods” at the edge of your property hides a secret garden of food. Sure a few people could stumble upon it if they happen to walk right through that area, but most people will walk right by or loot your house and yard without even bothering to enter the forest behind your home.
For most preppers, you will need to learn, practice, and then deploy a combination of deceptive strategies once SHTF so that you can avoid a confrontation for as long as possible. But deception will not be enough. You will also want to be prepared by Along with deceptive strategies you will want to learn about tactical home defense as well as how to defend your home with guns. If you balance your knowledge and skills over all of these areas, you will have a much better chance of keeping your home and family safe from harm.
How to Grow Potatoes in Grow Bags, Pots, & Containers (The OYR Way)
7 Actions to Take Immediately Following an EMP Strike
A huge EMP is like opening a Pandora Box:
1 – At a community level because we haven’t experienced one yet and we don’t really know how bad it can get. Frank Gaffney – president of the Center for Security Policy predicted that:
“Within a year of an EMP attack, nine out of 10 Americans would be dead, because we can’t support a population of the present size in urban centers and the like without electricity. And that is exactly what I believe the Iranians are working towards.”
Experts also agree that the next nuclear war will start with at least an EMP. If one of the nuclear powers blasts a nuclear weapon 275 miles above the US it will produce an EMP that will basically send us, the Canadian and the Mexicans back to the Dark Ages. Can we fight back (after an EMP) or we will be nothing more than sitting ducks for Russian’ nukes?
2 – At an individual scale because you don’t really know where you’ll be when it happens. There won’t be any kind of transportation or telecommunication. You’ll have to walk your way home. If you work 40 miles away from home, you better have a plan. If your car gets stuck with your family on the highway on a cold winter – you got to have a back-up plan. If your child is at school you got to get him… and so on.
Of course it’s imperative to have (at the back of your mind) a list of things to do immediately after an EMP. But just like in an economic collapse, you won’t be able to do a lot of things after the crisis begins. The information you’ll find bellow it’s good to know and should be considered as a plan. But it’s not 100% prepping. If you want to prepare for an EMP you need to have some things ready in advance.
by P.J.
So what actions should you take immediately following an EMP strike? Remember that time will be critical, the first few hours (days at most) will enable you to get a jump on everyone else and set the stage for your success. You will immediately know that an EMP, be it from a nuclear weapon or massive solar flare, will have struck your area. Your car will no longer work, your cell phone won’t work, the power will be out everywhere, planes will have fallen from the sky. You will know it was an EMP but the vast majority of the public will not, they will be quite literally sitting around waiting for someone to tell them what to do. You won’t know how large the scope of the strike is but you will have to assume the worst, which would be a nationwide outage.
First things first, if you are at work, get home. Your boss no longer has authority over you, your co-workers no longer are a priority. They will be trying to restart a computer that will never again work, trying to restart their smartphone, sitting in the break room trying to call 911 and saying things like: “This is ridiculous, I’m going to miss my 3pm sales call!” You on the other hand will go to you car and change into the extra set of clothes and shoes you keep in the trunk. You will don your “get home bag” and start walking, hopefully your walk will not take more than a day.
Once home it is time to start implementing your plan. Remember time is absolutely critical and you only have a small window of it in order to set yourself up for success. During these initial hours and days people will still have faith that some sort of government agency will come in to make everything better. They will expect to see the power come back on any minute because someone will surely do something. They will tell each other to sit tight, just hold on for a day or so because eventually the HMMWV’s will roll in loaded with supplies and some military officer or government official will explain that this is merely a temporary problem, nothing to worry about, sorry for the inconvenience. You know better because you realize just how devastating an EMP strike is and the reality is that it could be months before systems start to come back online. It will only take a week or two (at most) before things start getting really ugly because people start going hungry. With all of that that in mind you take these 7 actions because you were prepared for this to happen.
1 – Use your cash. In the first few days after an EMP strike cash will still have value. Take all of your cash and that radio flyer wagon your kids have and walk down to the corner store. Avoid the big retail stores, I suggest finding the corn