A few weeks ago a guest author on a popular preparation blog discussed the value of gardening as a resource. He put forth the opinion that while he enjoys gardening as a pastime, the decision as to whether to engage in it should be based solely around time and cost. Citing the inability to move a garden in an emergency and the amount of labor required to get to harvest, he concluded that it is better to save your seeds for a bug-out and expend today’s efforts and money on a trip to the grocery store. “It’s all about time,” he says, “not a skill or desire.” Continue reading “Skills as a prep”
The Boy Who Cried Wolf: Procrastinating Our Preparedness
“This has happened before, and it resolved itself just fine. There’s no reason to worry about this time, either.”
In the past couple days, I’ve seen this argument made in all sorts of variations, with people asserting that there have been other non-threatening flu virus strains in the past, as well as other pandemic threats. Despite the media hype, these non-events have faded into history with only a minuscule amount of death and injury. While I agree in part, I believe that there is a “boy who cried wolf” danger to simply ignoring current and future threats, all on the assumption that since previous ones did not escalate, that other ones will not as well.
Continue reading “The Boy Who Cried Wolf: Procrastinating Our Preparedness”
Prepping for Spring
I just finished a lunch meeting with Jayce discussing upcoming posts, some potential new authors, work (real job kinda work) and several other things. One of the topics we discussed is that most of us (your authors) have posted few to no posts in the last month or two. I told him I would write a quick post explaining that :)
Book Review: The Zombie Survival Guide
Since we haven’t had a humor post recently (and boy do I need one), I decided to do a little review of one of my favorite books.
The Zombie Survival Guide, by Max Brooks. Now who among us hasn’t felt some joy in responding to the question, “What are you prepping for” with a glib reply of “For the oncoming Zombie Invasion”? If you haven’t ever used that response, you should try it sometime, and feel the joy. Continue reading “Book Review: The Zombie Survival Guide”
Self Reliance Class April 7th in Spanish Fork
Self Reliance Class “On the Road to Preparedness”
Taught by Debbie Kent who is a preparedness/food storage specialist in her stake in California. Debbie has taught numerous classes on every aspect of preparedness and has consented to share the latest up to date methods and ideas on how we can each secure what we need for the future.
Tuesday April 7th at 7:00 p.m.
Spanish Fork South Stake House
1240 South 1158 East
Spanish Fork, UT
Here is the PDF handout for the class. [download id=”4″]
Mike Rowe and Hard Work
I personally don’t watch all that much TV. Even shows I actually enjoy, I still am just usually too busy to feel I can arrange the time to sit and watch something. When I do watch though, one of my favorites is Mike Rowe. Currently he is most well known for his Discovery Channel shows Dirty Jobs, and Deadliest Catch. His dry humor, and matter-of-fact tone seem to keep me coming back for more. One of the best things about his Dirty Jobs show is how it focuses on what really are the average jobs in life, the ones that most people seem to look down on for various reasons. Continue reading “Mike Rowe and Hard Work”
To Bee or not to Bee?
A brief Story of the 3 B’s and the Bees
By Guest Author Bryan Esquivel
My name is Bryan. I am one of the 3 B’s. The three B’s are as follows: Bryan, Brian, and then there’s the other Bryan. I tell you that so you don’t get us confused. We are all beekeepers. If you were to tell any one of us a few years ago that we would be beekeepers, we all would have told you that you were stone cold crazy! Yet here we all are keeping honeybees…..and loving it!!! So…what happened?
Continue reading “To Bee or not to Bee?”
10 Scenarios For Which You Should Be Prepared
Preparedness. There is perhaps no other word that conveys so much, yet so little. What does it mean? To what areas of life does it apply (or not apply)? Being adequately and generally prepared of a necessity requires that we ask ourselves all sorts of questions, plan for various scenarios, and abstract our preparations enough such that they can apply to various circumstances, if possible.
For example, having a lot of food stored will help you if there’s an earthquake, fire, flood, unemployment, famine, etc. So, this preparedness item is quite versatile in its applicability and usefulness. Other, more specific items, such as a portable toilet or potassium iodide tablets, fill a much smaller niche and can’t be used for too many situations other than the ones they’re intended for.
Yet, they’re all important. Preparedness in this context means acquiring the knowledge, skills, and physical possessions that would enable you to comfortably survive whatever may come our way. In most cases, external circumstances outside of your control dictate what you must go through, and thus you cannot reliably foresee what will happen. So, preparing for the unknown can be daunting, but it is by no means impossible.
Continue reading “10 Scenarios For Which You Should Be Prepared”
Beginning Bee Keeping Class in Orem
Beginning Beekeeper’s Class
When:
March 20th (6pm-10pm) and March 21st (10am-4pm). Friday’s class is all instruction, Saturday’s class is instruction plus the possibility of an in apiary portion.
Where:
1206 South 1680 West, Orem, UT.
Cost:
$20 per person; $30 for couples.
Description of Class:
This class is aimed towards the first year beekeeper who is looking gain basic knowledge about bees, the problems, swarming, honey harvests etc.
Continue reading “Beginning Bee Keeping Class in Orem”
My EDC (EveryDay Carry)
I realized the other day that I hadn’t done an EDC post yet, so here it is! I do split EDC, meaning that some stuff I carry on my person but most of it I carry in my bag. There are two reasons for this, one I sit at a computer all day and do not like to have my pockets filled with stuff. I only wear cargo style pants so I always have plenty of pockets to drop things into as needed, but I don’t like to sit at my desk with anything in them. Secondly, as a geek I carry my computer EVERYWHERE I go and I carry it in my EDC bag. If you ever see the bag pictured on the right, it is probably following me like a monkey on my back.
Some First-Aid Kit Examples
First-Aid Kits are kind of a funny prepper item – there are SO many that you can just go buy that it doesn’t seem like a big deal. Yet, countless people I know barely have a box of band-aids in their home. Those who do go purchase a pre-made First-Aid Kit don’t typically pay much attention to it – it’s crossed of their ‘list’. But day to day use of the only medical supplies in the house means that after a year or so the First-Aid Kit is severely depleted and nobody notices until there’s a need for it.
Taking Stock
One of my secret, very un-prepper-like joys is getting the call from my wife on the way home, stating that I need to pick something up.
Who knows the reason, but usually that means I’m going to stop by Costco to pick up one of their roasted chickens. Then again, we tend to pick up one of these pretty often. Getting a whole chicken works out well, giving us several meals already largely prepared.
But whether you are like us, and just addicted to that rotisserie chicken, or you like to cook your own. There lies the question of what do you do with the *rest* of the chicken that you don’t eat?