For all the damage done to us by the global overlords in recent years, some benefits have appeared.
For one thing, there seems to be a heightened awareness of the fact that governments do not represent the people they claim to serve, but instead serve corporate and banking interests. For Canadians this became glaringly obvious during the trucker protests, where personal bank accounts were frozen or compromised simply because of a pro-freedom donation to the protest. The details of the fake dampenic are well known and there is no need to recite them endlessly.
The conclusion many have reached is that we are not all in this together, not at all, and the prudent thing to do is accept that basic fact and make some much needed adjustments in our planning for our own futures.
Planning is not all cut, dried and stacked of course. We do not know what tomorrow will bring and the only thing certain is there will be some surprises. One approach that makes some sense is to plan for the worst event imaginable, keeping in mind the possibility that we might have a much better experience than that and most likely will. Thing is, being prepped for the worst does provide a measure of comfort. The knowledge that we have a plan b gives a sort of foothold for a climb to a better set of circumstances.
With the preamble out of the way, let’s go into some specifics: My work has been intensely physical, and for that i need energy and lots of it. This fact has made it clear to me that i need carbs. Carbs are seeds and when you consider the fact that an entire tree grows from a tiny segment of a pinecone, you begin to understand why there are so many landwhales out there. Snacking on seed-based food like potato chips is like eating an acre of potatoes for lunch.
While going thru a family breakup, looking to payoff the better half, child support and getting ripped off here and there from other sources, it was either give up and die or fight, fight, fight. I tackled the problem like it was a war, and i found that peanuts are your friend. On a cup of peanuts i was able to work all day without becoming weak from hunger. Truly amazing the energy in those things. So tip #1 would involve one of those waterproof plastic barrels filled up with rice, peanuts, beans and things of this nature.
And on the topic, a bowl of oatmeal in the morning gives you half a day of energy, especially when it is fancied up with some wild fruit, raisins, cheese, cream, honey.
Just owning a barrel full of this stuff would give one person a good head start on a year of not starving to death. Keep it where you know you can find it if you get my drift, because if the stores run dry there will be some level of desperation out there within a few days.
I told my boys that a car is not just hubcaps and a steering wheel; a car is freedom: freedom to get the heck out of wherever you do not want to be. It is incredible though we rarely think of it, how a human being can be a hundred miles distant in as little as an hour, or half an hour if you are insane.
Cars and trucks from the 1980’s and earlier are grossly undervalued. The ability to avoid surveillance, the ability to repair them yourself, their simplicity and lack of computers, and the general strength of these rolling fortresses should not be under-estimated. But they are and the trend is to crush and destroy what is left of that era as fast as is physically possible and force us all into the latest techno gadgetry with exciting new planned-obsolesence features built right in!
Perhaps, if we do end up losing the battle with the financial kings of this world, vehicles will be the last thing on our minds, but for now a vehicle represents the ability to be somewhere else quickly, and that is worth a bit of effort. Even if you lack the ability to buy something drivable, having a driver’s license gives you the ability to rent one, or fly to another country and rent one. Arguably, especially for someone living in a large city (why would you??) occasionally renting a car probably represents a good alternative to parking fees, payments, insurance, tires and repairs, which can delete your balance faster than a nigerian prince. Ask me how i know.
Firearms are another item to consider. They represent fresh meat and could be useful in other obvious ways. Many many calibers and guages exist and reams of material have been written about the merits of this or that firearm and caliber. After a lifetime of using guns of many kinds, i have concluded that the lowly .22 is the most useful caliber in existence. Shot placement is critical regardless of how powerful a rifle we are discussing. Blowing the leg off a charging rhino may not do the trick. And of course, when it comes to stopping a large charging animal, the .22 is not going to be too helpful but who in their right mind is going to want to carry a thousand rounds of .577 nitro express with them in case they are charged by a wild animal? .22 ammo is light and inexpensive and 500 rounds will fit in a rucksack quite nicely. In a survival situation where the need for food is ongoing you could do a lot worse than carrying a .22 rifle or handgun you can shoot accurately.
Shelter: You won’t need to worry about this too much unless you are made up of 80 percent water like most of us. Cold climates encourage the construction of some sort of shelter. You see this trend even in the animal kingdom. Bears, wolves and coyotes have dens. Birds build nests and even fish have their favorite hidy holes.
Back to the analogy of the steering wheel and hubcaps equaling freedom, a framing hammer, a bucksaw and a box of 10 inch nails isn’t just hardware, it is a home. How long would it take do you think, to lay four ten foot logs in a square on some rocks and drive a ten inch nail into the corners.
Repeat this process for ten or twelve courses and don’t worry about precise fitting. If you stack the logs with the large ends to one side, you will have a naturally sloped roof.
Add either a small woodstove and four inch stovepipe or a trench stove, a roof of logs and plastic sheeting and your shelter is usable should the need arise. Where will you build yours? Not on private property obviously, but the good Lord made a lot of land. I do not think i am the first one to consider doing such a thing as i am continually finding old shelters and shacks where i hunt along the rivers in the yukon. One such one i stumbled on was not much more that 6 feet by 6 feet and had been vacant for some time. I deduced that by the ten foot tall tree growing on top of the building on the sod roof. Not much gets by this wise old logger you know!
So these things exist out there and sometimes i just make a mental note to remember the location if i am ever royally stuck out there, soaking wet and near to shivering to death. Just knowing where these things are gives you quite an edge, so getting out there and hiking around is a pretty sight better than running out of the city screaming in terror and not appreciating the difference between corn and cucumbers. There will be plenty of those should the worst occur. No need to add to their number.
When it comes to clothing, the temptation is to imagine yourself Daniel Boone or something and think you will be shooting deer with a homemade bow and covering yourself with it’s stolen hide. Really? Sorry but those days have shrivelled and died and today there are tons of clothes going to waste in landfills all over north america, probably south america too. There are tents being discarded, made of usable canvas and all manner of items useful for clothing, should it come to that. Footwear could become a problem, long before we run out of ballcaps.
In a really awful situation, clothing will eventually be an issue, but a decent set of climate-appropriate duds in a waterproof barrel will be a great base to build your apocolypse wardrobe upon.
Fire-making is the one skill you do not want to be without. Hypothermia is not anyone’s best friend and will kill otherwise healthy and happy people very nicely. Once your body is wet in a low temp, you are in a world of trouble. Personally, when i work outside in minus 20 or 30C, i take a break as soon as i start to sweat. Cold is bad enough, but cold and wet is no fun at all. Waiting too long to begin making a fire is another big mistake. At a certain point in the freezing process you fingers will be too numb to even work a lighter, that is if you carry one at all.
There are some great videos out there on this topic and i highly recommend the David West channel on youtube. The guy has a friendly way of passing on his vast store of knowledge on different methods of extracting heat from anything combustible.
My own basic advice would be to spend as much time as you can spare laying down a base of large dry logs, follow that with smaller material, and place the kindling on top of that. This is the reverse firemaking method. I heard of it on a talkshow and have been using it every since, even and especially in my woodstove at home. The great thing is you don’t have to keep attending it once it has taken because the coals burn down into the next layer all on their own.
That’s about it. I’ll follow those thoughts only with this dumb final one: Make sure you never get out and try any of this. Better to wait until disaster strikes. (This is reverse psychology btw but don’t tell anyone. it’s a secret)
Skulltripper 