EXCHANGE ARTICLE

How are you doing financially in this day and age?  Some people have 401Ks, real estate, stocks, bonds, CD’s, retirements, social security, and of course cash.  So you are doing very well, which is great.  It has been a long road no matter if you are 75 years old or 35 years old.  How you have saved and sacrificed your time and energy to build your nest egg and future is a tribute to your work ethic.

The sun comes up tomorrow morning, but it is not a good day even though the sun is shining brightly.  There has been an occurrence last night that changed the whole financial world.  It could have been a bomb, a rocket shot into a major city, a bankrupt country, or just plan calling in a debt.  The world’s currencies begin to fall off a financial cliff.  Every economy is tied to a dollar, mark, yen, shekel, or others.  Within a week all word currencies are worth pennies on the dollar.

What do you have in your possession that you can exchange for food, water, clothes, medicine or any of your needs?  Your checks that were deposited in your accounts are worthless.  There is no electric, water, gas newspapers, or other services to your home.  Most of the workers who kept the system working have left their jobs due to the problem of their pay being worth nothing. 

So what are you going to pull out of your house to trade for what you need to survive?  You need food, precious metals, fuel, weapons, ammo, and a short list of other materials to exchange for the things you need.  Where are you going to go?

SKILLS ARTICLE

Do you think that you have a lot of skills?  Remember that the skills that you have today may not work out for a different tomorrow.  The truck that you drive today will be sitting cold and dark, if you have no fuel to run it.  The restaurant business that you and your employees run will not work if there is no food to serve.  Your computer consulting will grind to a stop when the power goes out.  Farming will be quite a challenge without fuel and power to plow, plant, and handle grain.  

What type of skills will be needed if the bottom drops out the economy?  The ability to work with your hands will be paramount.  A group will need a number of members who have useable skills.  Most of the skills that we have now will not be of any use.  Here are samples of the skills that will be needed: hunting, gardening, medicine, butchering, construction, cooking, logistics, reloading, tactics, foraging, farming, and of course future planning.

Why do we need these skills?  The future will be void of cheap fuel, housing, clean water, and protein rich foods.  How will you secure a Haven for your friends and family if no one in your group has the necessary attitude and skill sets in order to survive?

Take a look at the general population of people around you.  How long do you think they will have if there is an occurrence?  Where are you going to go???

WATER ARTICLE

Water is the building blocks of life. In the event of an occurrence that would threaten your way of a life you are going to need water to survive. You can go 10 days of more without eating but that goes down to 4 days for water.  The main thing in planning your Haven is to have good clean water. You will need water to drink most of all. You must have a clean and accessible source of water for cooking, bathing, and sanitation. How much water do you have at home for your friends and family?

Remember that if you lose power you will not have water.  I do not care if you have your own well or city water.  City’s have water towers which have a pump which pumps water up into the tower to build the pressure for the water system. After about six hours the tower is dry.  Your well works with a pressure tank after fifteen minutes your tank is dry.  Most cities do not have a generator to back up for pumping water.  Generators for home owners are rare and finding one that will be large enough to pump water is very hard to find.

How long are you going to stay at your home if there is no water?  Do you have a lake of stream in the area?  Do you have a way to treat the water before you use it?  Think how sick you would be if the water was polluted.  This would make a bad situation worse. 

You at least need a gallon of water per person per day.  Let us say that you are going to be going on the road for seven days and there are four in your party.  Water weights eight pounds per gallon which means 4X7X8=224 pounds. I hope that you have a car or truck to just carry your water.

You need a Haven to go to that has running water.  A plan to get there should include a water filter kit and some tablets to disinfect the water.  Right now do you have any plan at all if there was to be an occurrence?   I would bet that you think someone will be there to take care of you, family, and friends.  Do not count on large relief effort if the occurrence is over a large area.  We have seen in the last year with floods, tornados, and hurricanes how well the residents were taken care of in their time of need. Where Are You Going To Go???

GARDEN ARTICLE

After you have used up all of your dried foods how are you going to find something to eat?  You can only forage so long.  The majority of people have never even walked in a garden.

Even planting a small garden plot in your backyard will only begin to prepare you for a survival garden.  There are many people who have the title Master Gardener.  It takes years of study to become a Master Gardener.  Even if you have the title, how will you fair if you are in survival situation? 

The most important part of a garden is the water.  Nothing grows without water.  Do you have access to rain, irrigation, or must you carry the water to your garden?  How many mouths do you have to feed?  How long is your growing season?  What kind of soil are you working with?  You will find it is hard to grow anything on rocks. 

What are you going to plant?  Where are you going to get the seeds to plant your crops?  After you have picked your crop will you have seeds to plant for next year?

How do you amend the existing soil for that soil to produce more products for the coming year?  What kind of PH do you need for each type of plant? Do you have acid soil or alkaline soil and what do you use to make it more neutral.

What are you going to do about those pesky bugs and sick plants?  Do you know how to use organic methods to keep your plants healthy?

You have excess food.  How do you prepare it for storage?  Do you have the knowledge to preserve foods for the next months or years? Where are you going to go???