Jan52010
More resources for your SurvivalMom Binder
image by t0omuchfun
If you’re like me, much of the information you count on is stored on your computer. However, there are times when a computer isn’t the most reliable way to keep stored information.
Households can lose electricity due to any number of reasons, at any time of the year. Computer hard drives can be ruined, losing all stored data, preparedness tips, and survival plans.
Earlier this year I recommended starting your own SurvivalMom binderjust to have hard copies of the most essential information you find online. Don’t get me wrong. I love having mountains of information at my fingertips via my computer and internet connection, but neither one is as reliable as an old-fashioned three-ring binder sitting on my bookshelf!
A reader, Bob Waldrop, passed along two websites with some helpful, practical tips for staying warm in a winter emergency, family food security, and much more. That site is here. The second site details actual plans made by Oklahoma City in a series of workshops. There are some practical ideas here, but what is more interesting, to me, is the process of putting a large scale emergency plan together. (I have no idea why they assume a household size of twelve and a dozen chickens. Maybe Bob can enlighten us.)
While you’re browsing these sites, also check out the free survival library at The Survivalist Blog.
© 2010, thesurvivalmom. All rights reserved.
(19) Readers Comments
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Why Getting in Shape Should be Part of Your Apocalypse Preparations
Not only should endurance and strength be of concern but if one needs
Why Getting in Shape Should be Part of Your Apocalypse Preparations
I want/need to lose about 35 pounds want to get to or under 200 for my
Why Getting in Shape Should be Part of Your Apocalypse Preparations
I only noticed a handfull of truly obese "characters" on the show. Man
How-to: Storing food in buckets
I've been stockpiling Idahoan potatoes and such, and wonder how to bes
Why Getting in Shape Should be Part of Your Apocalypse Preparations
This article really hits home for me. I started doing some cardio work
Andrea
Hmm. The OKC contingency plan is more disturbing than comforting; especially the part regarding food. (Yeah. I'm always worried about food LOL). The plan suggests they could "import lots of chickens from the rural areas" and they also suggest a cattle drive. Are they planning on buying these animals or just taking them from farmers who they think want to "help in time of need"?
TheSurvivalMom
I have no idea, Andrea, but it's clear to me that I'd rather be as self-reliant as possible than expect any municipality to look after me. The trick is long-term survival. At some point, our food stashes will begin to run out, which is why it's just as important to look at gardening and raising smaller farm animals (if you're a city dweller). I think the challenges will be different, depending on where you live. In my part of the country, water will probably become a critical problem, while in others' it will be dealing with long winters, not enough firewood, a shortage of heating oil, etc. All any one family can do is prepare and become as self-sufficient as possible wherever they reside.
One other point. The OKC doesn't mention anywhere the collective IQs of the people working on the plan, does it? I've been on planning committees before, and sometimes it's just a bunch of people calling out ideas in brainstorming sessions where everyone is asked to yell out whatever idea crosses their minds. Maybe THAT is most worrisome! LOL
Andrea
And beyond the brainstorming: assuming these things do come to pass, what then? Will the average person know what to do with a chicken? And the flour ration; who among us knows how to bake, even something as simple as biscuits? I think the real problem is that Americans have lost their survival instincts AND forgot (or never learned) basic life skills. I don't claim to know it all, not by a long shot, but the lack of knowledge out there is astounding.
TheSurvivalMom
Those are very good points, Andrea, and they just make me feel a whole lot better about what I'm doing right now, where I am, with what I have.
) This week I'm going to be experimenting with making artisan bread. Every new skill is not only something that is helpful and practical right now, but is something we can pass along to our kids.
juju_mommy
I have a binder that I add to almost weekly. I have it sectioned off. Some of the information I have printed and in there are on the subjects of: Food storage, recipes for food storage, first aid, herbal remedies, LDS preparedness manual, some prepardness info from Uncle Sam (for what it's worth LOL), wild food foraging info (such as info on eating catails which are common in my area), solar oven cooking (plans, recipes, info), making lard, butchering info, making soap, uses for common household ingredients (I probably refer to this most often!), dutch oven cooking, sprouting, wheat, making bread, canning/preserving, making/using a food dryer, etc. When I find something online (from a valid source of course), I read it then print it for my binder. I make notes. I talk to people (like my elders) about what I read. I try to make sure I'm prepared to make/do things. For example, what good are plans for a solar oven if you don't have the materials? Right now, I don't have a solar oven built just yet but I have the materials at home. I added some stuff over the holidays (had a pile to file) and realized that I really need a bigger binder. LOL.
TheSurvivalMom
Julie, those are excellent categories,and you have some I haven't thought of before. Learning and training are very often overlooked, and both can be passed down to our children, so I think they might actually end up being some of the most important preps we do.
LizLong
Don't forget – depending on the age of your kids, you may be able to train WITH them. I know I knew more about camping and outdoor survival in Jr. High than my husband does now. Gotta love the Scouts! I'm sure they're not the only place you can train with your kids, they just come to mind quickly for me. Even now, five or ten years later (:-p), having forgotten a lot (and all knots), I still remember more than most people know because of my years in scouting.
Also, something called the Izaak Walton League seems like a good resource for this. We haven't joined yet, but we're looking into it.
TheSurvivalMom
I LOVE learning something alongside my kids. It demonstrates to them that learning is a lifelong endeavor, not just something that happens between the ages of 5 and 18 or 22! I know how to build a fire WAY better than my husband, although he'd never admit it!
rightwingmom
Learning lost skills is essential. I'm blessed to still have my 91 year old grandmother who has taught me canning and gardening. Of course, my jelly will NEVER be as good as hers!!!
Also, she just "bagged" an eight point deer this season. Not bad for a 91 year old great-grandmother!
juju_mommy
Oh and I totally agree Andrea! And what's even harder is even if you have dabbled in different survival areas/skills, it's one thing doing them for fun and another to do them during a stressful situation!
jpeaceokc
I'd like to respond to some of the comments about the OKC Mutual Aid contingency plan and the printable flyers.
The purpose of the OKC Mutual Aid plan is to avoid a die-off of the population in central Oklahoma due to an extreme situation where the economy has collapsed, the electrical and natural gas grids are down, the stores and banks are closed, unemployment is effectively 100%, and no rescue is expected for the forseeable future. In other words, the traditional prepper "teotwaki" situation. This is not a government plan, this is a grassroots plan. It is not dependent upon anything that the government does or doesn't do. It is only dependent upon what ordinary people do.
No one said anything about not paying farmers for crops or cattle. Among other things, in real life I am president of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, which makes it easy for people to buy food directly from farmers. Everything we have to see is made or grown in the state of Oklahoma. Thus, 80% of the food in my house originates within 120 miles of Oklahoma City. The idea of using over-land drives to bring cattle and hogs to Oklahoma City is not outlandish, it's the way things happened a hundred years ago. However, there would be no incentive for farmers to do this if they werent going to get paid. If the currency is worthless, we will just have to reinvent a local economy, probably starting with barter. Large cities are full of useful materials that will be needed in rural areas, so I don't think there will be a big problem in that regard. And the farmers won't be able to care for the large numbers of livestock that they presently manage without the just-in-time inventory and fuel systems to do a lot of the work. So if someone with a big chicken house with thousands of layers wants to salvage anything, they will figure out a way to get their chickens from their farm into the towns where they can get something for their soon-to-be-declining investment. Actually, with chickens, I expect people from the cities to do the transporting. Here again, hunger will be a great motivator and will have a way of focusing people's attention.
As to skills, in the Oklahoma Food Coop we started confronting this six years ago when we got started. On one hand, we had this great locally produced foods — grass fed beef, butter that is naturally yellow, cream so sweet it doesnt need sugar when whipped, etc. On the other hand, we had customer members who didn't know what to do with a bucket of wheat. So we already teach people how to use basic foods, since that is what we mostly sell. In the event of the situation envisaged by OKC Mutual Aid, hunger will be a great motivator. If people have information, they can adapt and learn. The printable flyers, for example, teach people how to make a homemade grain grinder from three water pipes, duct tape, and a large can. So I don't doubt the ability of people, motivated by an emergency, to learn this and then learn how to make sour dough bread and bake it in an outdoor wood fired bread oven that they and their neighbors built in less than a day. It's not rocket science, and it brings instant rewards, which is good for learning skills.
If nothing is done, then the default "solution" is collapse and the death of hundreds of thousands of people in central Oklahoma. If we leave it up to the government to make plans, we won't like the result. So we plan to counter the "tendency towards collapse" with practical grassroots action, using the already-existing, exceptionally dense network of civil society organizations of the area — churches, organizations, clubs, etc. Will it be enough, who knows but if no attempt is made, then here again, the default solution is collapse and death.
As to the average household size, I expect that under the pressure of the circumstances, people will tend to consolidate their households. e.g., extended families moving in together, etc. The typical 3.1 member nuclear family will be hard-pressed to do all that needs to be done on their own. Plus, if people move in with each other, that leaves vacant housing that could be scavanged to make improvements to the house they choose to concentrate on (e.g. additional insulation, passive solar greenhouses, season extension devices for gardens, etc. This isn't something that could be mandated, but the circumstances will be such that the advantages will be obvious. 12 chickens seems about right for a back-yard flock that would produce some eggs and the occasional bird in a pot for the family. Obviously, both are arbitrary figures. Some households will be a bit smaller, some larger, but when doing back-of-the-envelope calculations, you have to start somewhere.
As to the
rightwingmom
Our mini van and pop up camper are paid off. I try to keep the van's gas tank full and the camper stocked. If we ever need to "bug out" all we have to do is throw in our 72 hour kits and head for the hills.
juju_mommy
I keep my "bug out" bag in my car, though I don't ever plan to bug out (prefer the stay-in-place plan). I work about an hour from home so it's more an emergency and/or get-my-butt-home-to-my-family bag. I use two nice bags I got at a conference (hope to replace them with a hiking back-pack eventually). I keep in them: first aid kit, leatherman type tool, wind-up flaghlight/radio, 2 MREs, 1 can of beans, water in stainless bottle, bungy cords, tarp, trashbags, KI03 tablets, face mask (cheap kind though), heavy duty gloves, duct tape, small travel toilet paper, poncho, matches, lighter… and I think that's it. LOL. I need to put an extra set of clothes and a pair of hiking boots or something in there too eventually. Even before I got into prepping, my grandfather always told me to have a well-stocked car b/c you never know when you'd need something. Family laugh at him but he always has a crate in the trunk that's well stocked.
rightwingmom
Juju,
Heading for the hills would be a last resort for us too. I like your suggestions on items to keep in the car. I should prep the back of my mini van. Your grandpa was a wise man! Our generation should listen and learn from his!
RWM
p.s. I have K103 tablets too.
jpeaceokc
I'd like to address a couple of the concerns expressed about the Oklahoma City Mutual Aid contingency plan.
First, the farmers would have no reason to undertake cattle drives to the city if there was no prospect of payment. If currency has lost its value, cities are full of resources that would be useful in rural areas, so I don't expect it would take long to reinvent the barter system, and then there's always gold and silver. I am the president of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative, an organization that makes it easy for people to buy food directly from farmers, which is how my household gets 80% of its groceries from farmers within 120 miles of Oklahoma City.
Second, the OKMA plan is not a government plan. The government doesn't put food on my table right now, and I am not going to wait around after a "teotwaki" event for FEMA or somebody else to show up with a plan. I practice food storage (one of these days I hope to get good at it), but food storage has its own built in limitations. If the old just-in-time globalized economy has collapsed, the first job it seems to me is to reinvent a new "more-local" economy.
Third, in the Oklahoma Food Coop, we've been confronting the "lack of skills" problem from day one. On one hand, we had all this great locally-produced food, on the other hand, we had all these customers who were used to packaged and prepared foods. So we do a lot of teaching, and the same would be true in an emergency situation like this. Hunger is very great motivator, and I don't doubt its ability to encourage people to learn how to make a grain grinder out of three steel pipes, some duc tape and a can, grind some grain, and bake it into bread in an outdoor wood-fired oven that they and their neighbors had built in less than a day.
As to why we figured "12 people and 12 chickens", one of my thoughts is that under the pressure of these kinds of circumstances, people will move in with each other and combine households, since most households of 2 adults and 1 or 2 kids would have a hard time doing everything that needs to be done in a civil emergency like this. The numbers we picked were arbitrary, 3 or 4 nuclear households combined into an extended family would be "about a dozen" people, and a dozen chickens is a nice sized back-yard flock that would produce enough eggs and the occasional stewing hen r cockerel to provide a bit of variety in the family stewpot.
I would be happy to answer any other questions people might have.
TheSurvivalMom
Thanks for taking the time to address some of the questions asked by my readers. At least people in OKC know there IS a plan. It's far better to come up with a plan before an emergency than to try and make one up on the fly afterwards.
LizLong
For my planning, I assume my parents, and inlaws, and a single friend who lives in the closest city and has very few resources (but a good bike and exercise plan that will allow him to get here), will all end up here with us. So, just with close family and friends we could almost certainly expect here, we'll about double the size of our household, and I could definitely see it being more in some situations. But it's nice to see at least one city planning ahead!
TheSurvivalMom
Like you, I think we'll end up taking in at least a couple of family members. In fact, the other day I was contemplating what life would be like if the four of us slept in the master bedroom with other people occupying my kids' bedrooms. It would be an interesting way of life, that's for sure. From what I understand, Arizona's former governor, now the head of Homeland Security, never got around to creating a statewide emergency plan. What could be more logical than putting her in charge of Homeland Security?? LOL I think in a really bad SHTF situation, we are all pretty much on our own.
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