Survival Education Plan

I am sorry that I have not been posting regularly but I have taken my own advice and went back to school. I currently work in the medical field but decided I needed more skills and went back to obtain my Pharmacy Technicians certification and on July 15th I passed my boards! 

Along with this plan of going back to school was the long range goal of transferring to a hospital closer to which now is my bug out location but once I transfer it will become my permanent survival retreat.

As I have said time and time again education is going to be one of the keys to long term survival. Even if it's not formal schooling take a survival first aid course, hunting course, canning etc all these add up in your knowledge savings account.

Challenge

I challenge you to expand your knowledge savings account and I would like to hear from you. Share your knowledge plan with us and we can inspire and motivate eachother!

Be prepared, not sorry

Survival Retreat: Making A Plan

This is the next installation in the series of the Survival Retreat.

This has been a pretty talked about and sometimes heated topic this week. To be a part of a group or be alone? What kind of skills someone needs to have to join a group? How many preps to have etc...even though it was heated at times........We are talking and exchanging ideas and that is where knowledge comes from. To see both sides, evaluate, and make the right decisions for us.

Thank you to Deborah and Carolanne...you are amazing warrior women with vast knowledge and I am so privileged to know you.

Let's look at the questions you should be asking yourself, a potential group, or member to your group. In the last article we talked about how the retreat land/property is owned and held. Again I strongly urge that unless the person owning the property is a relative or a friend that you would trust with your life that you NOT buy into a retreat that you hold no rights/share to the property. I have seen people lose money and their preps this way and that is the reason I am writing this series.

MYTH: There has to be property purchased to have a retreat

For some reason there is this idea that you have to own or be a part of owning a mass amount of property. I live in Michigan where we have thousands and thousands of acres of state forest. I have lived in Alaska where 90% of the state is unpopulated. The most important thing you need is........

A Plan

I can not stress this enough...make your plan NOW!!! One thing that 9-11 taught me as a search and rescue person is you better have an emergency plan because when SHTF communications will me non existant or stretchy at best, travel will be a nightmare, and the media will be trying to control the sheeple hysteria. Make your plan now. If you are going to try to make it on your own or with a group make that plan. When SHTF what is the sequence of events and tasks that must be done? Where do you go? What do you do? What is the list of important things you must do in order. What is your backup plans B C D and E?

If you are staying in your home then your plan needs to consist of have your plan in place now for security, sustainable water and food, and a energy plan. You will not survive without these.

If you or anyone in your survival group does not own property take a hard look at what you do have. Who owns the largest home? Where is the largest piece of land that is not owned by anyone? Make that plan of when SHTF this is the rally point so if there is no communication capability everyone in your group know this is where everyone will gather.

Take some weekends and actually rough it (because welcome to WROL) and go into the state or federal area and find that rally point. Now I know I'm gonna have emails that give me crap about it belongs to the government blah blah blah..believe me when there is a collapse a group of loners in the state forest will be the least of their worries. They will be trying to control the hoards in the cities.

Find that spot that has adequate water and hunting capabilities. And squat...yes you heard me squat..... I have a shelter and fire pit that I use to go hunting and just get away. You better believe me I have preps buried and no one has ever disturbed it because it is that far in and it is camouflaged. It is a good part of a day hike in from the closest road which is a dirt road and 55 miles from a large city so that is my plan E. And this year I will be taking my group there so they can make their own shelters and this will be my whole groups plan E.

My point is you can have a retreat anywhere but...........you better have a plan!

Be prepared, not sorry

The Threat Of All Show And No Go

My grandpa used to have a saying about people who tried to pass themselves off as something they wasn't and that was "All show and no go". In the prepper community we have that and unfortunately they are going to be what I think, a huge threat. These individuals have the mind set of the most guns and stored food will survive and that may true for a "limited amount of time"....

But what happens when WROL goes into overtime?

With no skills to grow food, hunt, improvise or barter what will these people do? A hungry pseudo prepper is going to be a very dangerous person. I always use the aftermath of Katrina as an example because that's what it will be like. Being hungry, thirsty with just enough tactical experience and the moral compass lowered to the mentality of "It's you or me" they will, by force try to take what they need. If they have a military background they also know that strength lies in numbers and may recruit their own private army.

The harsh truth...

I'm sorry but the truth is harsh and a WROL situation is not going to be going back to the Little House on the Prairie days, its going to be survival of the fittest and the most adaptable. Within hours of Katrina blowing thru the looting, rape, and murder began. This past summer with the unbearable heat people were using their AC at astronomical rates and there was a suburb in Wisconsin where the power grid went down for three days. Within only three hours of that grid going down there were armed gangs that began robbing and looting. That was was only three hours what happens when it months or years?

Don't show your hand..

If your like me I like to attend the prepper conferences and network with other preppers but I always keep in mind not to give away too much and choose carefully who I network with. This also goes for the survivalist boards etc. because I have met some pseudo peppers that quite frankly scare the hell out of me and I don't want to be around them right now let alone in a WROL situation. But on the other hand I have met some fantastic preppers that I have learned so much from and very grateful for it. The reason I started this blog was to help women take an active roll in prepping and their survival but still I don't give away information that would put myself in danger in the future.

Skills, Skills, and more Skills...

As I wrote earlier I believe it will be survival of the fittest and the most adaptable that will survive. When I say the fittest I don't mean that so much in the physical sense but the person that knows how to hunt and fish, how to grow food and preserve it, how to barter, how build shelter and fire, first aid, and has tactical sense. I am always trying to learn new skills because you can never in my opinion have enough knowledge. Many preppers play and rely on their strengths because they feel that will get them thru.....it won't. You have to be adaptable and the skills to adapt to the given situation. My strengths are hunting, fishing, and farming but yet I know this will not carry me thru. I need the tactical experience to protect myself and what I have so, I continue to learn. Work right now the skills you are lacking in so when the time comes you are not "All show and no go"

Be prepared, not sorry

What If You Knew....

As preppers we are always preparing for what we think will happen in the future, whether our scenarios of the future is a collapse of the power grid or economy, nuclear war, zombies, and the list goes on and on, we are are always preparing. BUT..

What if you knew.....

What if you knew for sure in 6 months to a year the scenario for which you are preparing is going to happen? What would you change or start doing right now at this moment?

*Are you going to bug in or bug out?
*Store more food?
*Store more ammunition?
*Learn new skills such as hunting?
*Create alternative power sources?

I urge you to spend some time considering this. We all would like to think we have more time to prep but we seldom give ourselves a date to be prepared by? I understand no one can be fully prepared for a life shift of this magnitude but seldom due catastrophes show themselves ahead of time or they wouldn't be a catastrophe right?

There are many shows out right now such as "The Walking Dead", Falling Skies, and soon "Revolution" that all show life being turned upside down and all the characters were caught off guard and thrust into this situation and having to cope the best they can. My personal favorite was "The Colony". To me this was about as realistic you could get (in a controlled environment) without the real thing.

This was a group of strangers that were thrust together after a virus wiped out 90% of the population. They all had to pull together to survive and thrive.

I asked you to sit down with pen and paper and write down what would you start doing at this moment if you knew in 6 months to a year your life would be the scenario you most fear? I would like to hear from you and ask you to share with others.

Be prepared, not sorry

Looking For The Perfect Bug Out Location

First of all I have to apologize for my long break from posting. I have been working 60 to 70 hrs per week and I just have to say I'm plain worn out. Extra money means extra preps that can be purchased. I am also looking to purchase my bug out location and begin building. I have already purchase plans for a cabin to be built totally off grid. So I am looking for at least 5 acres with a well and septic already present and close to another source of fresh water. 

A place fairly secluded and away from the larger metro areas. A area that still has good hunting and soil for growing within a 60 minute area from my present location.

This has been quite the task!

Its hard to find everything I want. I'm curious to hear from those that have purchase a bug out location as to what it is they have purchased and the criteria you had during your search. Did you have to sacrifice some of your criteria or did it change during your search. Can't wait to hear!!

Be prepared, not sorry

Walking The Talk

This post may ruffle some feathers with some but I'm hoping this turns on the lightbuld for others. I know plenty of people that spend countless hours watching You Tube videos, on the prepper boards, and email lists. They have the expensive bug out bag with every top of the line gadget known to the prepper world. They have a stockpile of weapons and ammo that could outfit a small army and just as much food.

But they haven't spent 1 minute putting it into practice.

I met a husband and a wife that were so proud of their bug out bags and these bags had everything you could imagine in it. I asked the wife if she had ever actually carried hers because I'm a pretty good judge of weight and that thing came close to out weighing her. She said "no" so I asked her to put it on and walk across the parking lot and back. She barely made it. If she can't carry it...then it's useless.

You have to have more than a plan.

One man I talked to said he was going to bug in as long as possible then he was heading to this state forest. I asked him "Have you ever spent any time there? Do you know the area? Where are your water sources? Any possible threats?" He just looked at me and said "No but I can make it there" Don't be foolish, have a plan. If possible have your bug out location stocked and ready to go but if that's not possible spend some time getting to know your bug out location. Take you BOB and spend some weekends there and see if its actually going to work for you. Find your water sources, practice building a shelter and fire.

What are you going to do when the cans run out?

I have heard so many preppers say "I'm going to live off the land, I'm going to hunt and fish" I then ask them "Do you know how to field dress what you kill?" and the answer I usually get is "Well no but it can't be that hard" Believe me it's very easy to ruin good meat and possibly making yourself ill by cutting into the stomach or intestines and contaminating the meat. Another thing I ask them is "How are you going to kill it?" and they look at me like I'm stupid and they say "I'm gonna shoot it". Why would you want to waste your precious ammo along with risking your safety by letting others hear the shot? I am not going to waste my ammo shooting a squirrel or rabbit when snares work just as well and they don't risk my safety. As far as bigger game learn to use a bow, it is a challenge but that knowledge comes in handy to have.

Put into practice what you have learned because you don't want to learn the hard way after SHTF.

Be prepared, not sorry

Childrens Role In The Retreat

Do your children have a role in your retreat?

I grew up on the family farm. What that means is "everyone" contributes to the operation of that farm. I remember I was driving tractors before my feet could reach the pedals. I remember driving the tractor and the baler while my brothers stacked the bails on the wagon.

When I was in my teenage years my brothers had left home and so it was my job to wake before school and take care of steers, chickens, pigs, and my horse, then I repeated this in the evening. Also it was my job to take care of treatments, wounds, and on many occasions emergency situations where I had to "wing it".

This taught me responsibility, work ethic, and the most important.......self-reliance...

When I was in Alaska I was impressed by the kids with their skills, self reliance and the best example of this is the "Junior Iditarod". These kids as young as 9 compete in a 125 mile out and back course which is a overnight run. They are out there alone in sub zero temps with their teams and they just take it in stride very naturally.

They know how to survive, hunt, fish, drive quads, snowmobiles, and avoid danger. It is second nature to them.

I have heard several parents say they want to shelter their children and I think this is the absolutely worst thing they can do to their children. Children can be an important asset to the retreat. They can tend livestock, gardens, food preparation, and depending on age and skill they can contribute to security.

Teach them now.....

Teach your children to use weapons, prepare food, fish..etc. Use this as family bonding time. Go camping, teach them to build fire, build shelter, fish, navigate, etc. It doesn't have to be gloom and doom it can be lasting fun family memories.

Valuable memories that can contribute to the retreat and maybe save their lives...

Be prepared, not sorry.

Economy Makeover

Please watch and chime in....

Gear And Knowledge

I think as preppers we are always looking for newest ideas in gear and of course more knowledge. But how do you sort through it all? I don't know about you but I am at times overwhelmed buy the opinions and sometimes contradictory information out there.

I have purchased gear that looks great in the pictures and someone says "this is a must have" and when I received the gear it had plastic parts that I know in a long term survival situation it will never last. Then you have people saying "you get what you pay for so you have to buy the most expensive to get the best". Well all I can say is I have to prep on a "budget" so huge purchases are out of the question. I will honestly say I have picked up gear and supplies at garage and estate sales.

There are also individuals that are conducting survival classes throughout the country that I would really love to attend but again I'm on a budget so that is really something that has to be saved for or I have to work on my own to gain that knowledge. So I would really like you to share your experiences with myself and the readers on

What gear, gadgets, and knowledge sources

You have used and were worth the money?

What wasn't worth the money?

What isn't out there now that needs to be?

Knowledge is power.

Be prepared, not sorry

Guns And Goddesses

This is a subject that that most women either are intimidated to approach or they are dependant on their men and feel they will leave it up to said partner. I can't stress this enough........

You are responsible for your safety and that of your offspring...

I lived in Alaska for a couple of years and there is nothing more pure or dangerous than a grizzly protecting her cubs. Her whole existence is to protect them and with her instincts, brute force, and.......NO FEAR.. she will defend them to her death.

I was raised with a father who was the Great White Hunter/Fisherman and three older brothers. My first experience shooting a gun I was 6 years old, standing on a bucket with a 12 gauge resting on a fence post with my father next to me. When I pulled that trigger it knocked me off that bucket and on my ass. As I lie there trying to regain the wind that had been knocked out of me my father came and stood over me and said...."Always respect what a gun can do"...and I always have.

Now living on the farm with said Great White Hunter there was a family of six to feed so we hunted. We hunted rabbits, squirrel, pheasant, turkey, and deer. I learned how to field dress a rabbit before I knew my times tables. I thought everyone ate that way until high school and a friend came over after to school and raided the refrigerator and ate what she thought was chicken and was squirrel and she informed me that "squirrel was something you fed in the park and not ate"....

Over the years I have come to embrace bow hunting. In Alaska I was even on a women's league and it really does give you the sense of empowerment. Every women needs to know how to use and be accurate with a weapon/weapons when it comes to prepping and when SHTF.

Take a hunters safety course or sign up for a shooting class at a local range because you need to be that mama grizzly that will protect herself and her family no matter what. Another piece of advise my father gave me which women have a hard time with and you MUST get over is..........

"If you point a weapon at another person you MUST be ready to kill them"

If it comes to the point of you or your family being harmed or killed and you have pointed that weapon there must be no hesitation or conscious wrestling to pull the trigger.

Be prepared, not sorry