In my opinion, to truly become proficient at wilderness survival, you need to go out in the bush for at least 3-days; and go on these trips multiple times. It’s the first three days that are often the most difficult and really present you with the various challenges and difficulties that arise in a wilderness-survival situation.

On a 3-day trip your forced to build a shelter that keeps you dry and warm, collect and purify water, make a fire, and start finding food. A simple overnight will not provide this experience since you can last the night without water, fire, food, and sometimes even shelter.

The problem is our busy schedules and responsibilities make it difficult to find the time to go out in nature for an extended period of time to really practice these skills and that has been true for me as well. For example, since getting married and starting a family, I have not been able to take off for multiple days at a time like I did when I was in college. So I had to learn to work around this limitation through something I call “Progressive Backyard Survival”. In a nutshell, it allows you to spread a 3-day “survival trip” over an extended time period. Here’s the process:

Progressive Backyard Survival

When you are doing Progressive Backyard Survival, you’ll be practicing all of the major aspects of a survival situation: Shelter, Water, Fire and Food. But instead of it being covered in one extended survival trip, it will be broken up into smaller time frames over an extended period like a month for example.

Basically you fit it to your schedule and available time. It may take longer, but you’re still learning the necessary skills if you follow the process correctly. It’s important that each step is performed to completion before you attempt the next step. This will make it comparable to the steps you’d follow if you were in a survival situation. Take as much time as needed to finish each step before going on to the next one.

Step 1: Pick Your Training Ground

The first thing you’ll want to do is pick a spot where you’ll be practicing. Ideally this would be a place that is near your home, is accessible during both the day and night, and has the resources you need to practice the various survival skills. This will be your training ground.

Even if you can’t find a spot near your home, do not get discouraged. Your own backyard can be a great substitute. If you decide upon your backyard, for some of the exercises you’ll just need to bring the materials from other locations home with you.

Step 2: Setting up Shelter

Whether you live in an arid, temperate, or cold environment, exposure is often the first cause of death for those caught in a wilderness-survival situation. For this reason, shelter will be the first step you perform.

Choose your Shelter

If you’re new to wilderness survival, this step would be simply building a tent or setting up a tarp shelter. As you get comfortable with that you’ll want to move on to making a primitive shelter.

Since I cannot cover every shelter for every area of the globe, you’ll need to do some research in determining what type of shelter is best for your environment. The key factors are that it keeps you protected from the elements (dry when wet, shaded when hot, warm when cold, etc).

For example, I live in the Northeast — a place that abounds in trees and forest debris. My shelter of choice out here is the debris hut which is basically a framework of sticks that is stuffed inside and out with leaves or other natural debris for insulation. This will keep me both dry and warm without the need of a tarp or sleeping bag.

Build it

Once you’ve chosen your shelter, start building it. Again, this could be in one sitting (like setting up a tent) or if it requires normally an hour or two to build (like a primitive shelter) you can spread this over a few days as you have time available.

If you’re using your backyard and have the materials near you, use them. Otherwise you may need to bring them in from an outside location.

Test it

Knowing how to build the shelter is only half of the process. Sleeping in a shelter you built is really the best teacher.

It will teach you to overcome the fear of being alone, the dark, as well as sleeping in something other than your bed. In the case of a primitive shelter, it teaches you how best to insulate it, where to build it, what materials to use and so on.

If you don’t make it through the whole night, that’s fine. Take note of what needs to improve and use that for the next step:

Refine it and Retest

Now that you’ve tried it for a night, make the improvements to the shelter and when you have time, try it again. If you used a tent, this part might include buying a better sleeping bag or realizing you need to use a ground mat and so on.

Remember, do not continue to the next step until you’ve finished the shelter section.

Step 3: Finding, Collecting and Purifying Water

Dehydration is a major concern in not just arid environments but in cold environments as well. Since most publications say we cannot go for much longer than 3 days without water, this will be the next skill you will practice.

Finding Water and Collecting Water

The first part of this step is to find a source of water. This could be morning dew (in which case it is already purified), ice or snow, a body of water, a dried out river bed, setting up a solar still and so on.

Once you’ve found your water source, you’ll want to practice different means of collecting it such as soaking it up with a cotton shirt, long grasses, discarded bottles or cans that you find lying around and so on. In the beginning, use your own containers and as your skill grows you can practice making your own or finding field expedient ones.

Purifying Water

If the water you collected requires purifying then you’ll need to practice how to do that. This could be practicing using a commercial filter, Polar Pure iodine crystals, water-purification tablets, or fire which takes us to our next step:

Step 4: Making Fire

Fire making is one of the most popular skills that people practice, and for good reason. Fire increases moral, keeps us warm, cooks our food and purifies our water. In a primitive survival situation it helps us to make tools and crafts which are used in so many other survival applications.

For this step you’ll want to practice setting up and building a complete fire from scratch. Again, if you’re a newbie, this step might be using matches or a lighter with some Vaseline-soaked cotton balls. As your skills progresses try using a firesteel or flint and steel or for even more of a challenge try a primitive fire-making skill like the bowdrill, handdrill or fire saw.

In order to complete this step, you’ll need to get a fully mature fire going. That is, one that has burned long and strong enough to produce coals that you can cook on, purify your water from, and make other tools (if you’re practicing primitive survival).

Step 5: Finding and Preparing Food

Most of the time you spend doing Progressive Backyard Survival is taken up in this step. If you’re a beginner, you’ll skip finding food and just practice outdoor food preparation and cooking over a fire.

For everyone else, you’ll practice gathering and preparing wild edibles, procuring meat through trapping, fishing, hunting and so on. It also includes gutting, skinning, cleaning and preparing the animal, cooking it, and of course, eating it.

Using a trapping example, you might spend an hour one day buying or making a set of snares or building primitive traps. Then when you have some time, you’ll set them up (be sure you have the necessary permits) and check on them regularly to see if you caught anything. If you don’t succeed, take note of any improvements you can make (different bait, different location etc) and make those changes the next time you have availability.

When you do catch or hunt something, you’ll be practicing skinning, cleaning, and preparing the animal to be eaten. Since you’ve already made fire on a previous day, for this step you can simply cook it in your home, or if you have time, set up a fire outside and cook it that way.

Although a lot of time can be spent on this step, to complete a Progressive Backyard Survival session you’ll want to have procured (skip this if newbie), prepared, and eaten at least one meal (be it plant or animal).

Conclusion

This progressive survival training process is perfect for those with limited time. Although the time is more spread out than say a 3-day survival trip, you will learn the same skills and perform them in the same order as you would if you were out there for those 3 days. It may take longer but you are still learning the skills and getting experience. You can also add other steps if you want such as signaling for rescue or navigation to get yourself home.

There are also many other applications. Although the steps may be different than for wilderness survival situation, this step-by-step progressive process can be applied to other types of survival situations. For example, you could apply it to an urban survival situation where you’re caught in a city, a shelter-in-place situation where you’re in your home without utilities, or a bug-out situation where you’re on the go.

Since I have quite a bit of wheat grain stored away, and given the fact that I don’t want to use the two-stone technique that my hunter/gatherer ancestors had used, I knew I would be needing a way of turning all that wheat into flour without an electric appliance.

Which brings us to today’s post. I thought I’d take a moment to share with you guys my review of two popular hand-powered wheat grinders that I purchased: the Back to Basics (also known as the Victorio) Grain Mill and the Wondermill Junior Grain Mill.

Back to Basics Grain Mill Review

Overall Construction and Setup

The quality of the Back to Basics grain mill is very good. The plastic hopper fits snugly into the metal housing, and the auger, handle, milling cone and shaft make for a solid working unit. Overall it is sturdy and well put together. Also, given it’s small size, it can easily fit into a kitchen drawer or be stored away without much trouble.

Setting up the mill is a simple process. It easily mounts to a counter top or table with the included clamp screw and I had no issues with it shifting or moving around as I turned the handle to grind up my wheat.

Function and Use

Although the quality is good and it has had no problems doing its job, after using it for some time the main beef I have with it is how long it takes to grind wheat. It’s small size — while good for storage — leads to slow (and low) milling output. For example, to grind a cup of wheat (which makes about 1 1/4 cups of flour) takes around 5 minutes (it took me 4:51 without rest and at a good pace)!

This is fine for an occasional loaf or two, but when you start making bread regularly it quickly becomes a hassle. Remember, an average loaf of bread is around 4-5 cups of flour. Multiply that by 5 minutes and you have more than 20 minutes of wheat grinding (probably longer since at some point you’ll need to take a break) — by hand, per loaf! Not something you want if your going to be living off of your long-term food storage.

Price

Since the Back to Basics Grain Mill was the first hand-powered grain mill that I purchased (around 2 years ago), the first thing that attracted me to it was the price; At around $60 it was cheaper than most other hand-powered grain mills out there and the reviews seemed fairly positive so I took a chance and bought it.

Wondermill Jr. Grain Mill Review

Overall Construction and Setup

If the Back to Basics mill is built strong then the Wondermill Jr. is built like a tank. The housing, hopper and body is a solid metal uni-body construction that has a thick powder coat finish that resists scratching and chipping.

The Wondermill Jr. also has a large hopper that holds slightly more than a quart. While that’s great and all, from my perspective hopper size is not that important in a hand-powered mill since you’re right there operating the thing and refilling as you’re going along is not an issue. This would be more important in an electric version where you’d leave it to let it do its thing.

The handle is around 10″ long giving you the leverage to easily and quickly grind most grains without too much exertion. It also comes with two stone heads for grinding hard dry seeds. If you purchase the Deluxe version it also comes with stainless-steel burr grinders which allow you to grind up oily nuts and seeds to make things like nut butter. Pretty cool I guess but not that practical for my purposes.

For the setup side of things, the Wondermill Jr. is more of a hassle than the Back to Basics mill. Since I didn’t buy the Wondermill Jr. Deluxe that comes with an adjustable mounting clamp (which would make it just as easy to set up as the Back to Basics mill) I will have to mount the base to a table with wood screws, making it a permanent fixture. As a temporary solution, you can see in my picture that I jury rigged it by using vice clamps. If you want more mobility, another option would be to mount it to a board which you could vice clamp to a number of platforms.

Function and Use

The Wondermill Jr. is a pleasure to use. It’s long handle and large stones make wheat grinding a cinch and it’s fast! Just to compare, I was able to make around 1 1/4 cup of flour in about a minute — 5 times faster than the Back to Basics mill.

Price

The cost of the Wondermill Jr. is around $165 dollars. The Deluxe version, which includes the adjustable clamp and stainless-steel heads, will cost you around $220. And by the way, you can always purchase the additional heads as well as the clamp at a future time if desired.

Back to Basics / Wondermill Jr. Summary and Comparison

Back to Basics Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Stainless steel cone-shaped burrs for grinding
• Small size as well as parts fit nicely together for ease of storage
• Good quality build
• Affordable Price
• Can be used when the power is out

Cons:

• On “Fine” setting, ground flour is still coarse.
• It’s slow as all get out…unless you’re looking for a good workout (1 1/4 cups of flour in 5 minutes)
• Although it appears to be built well, my gut feeling is that it is not designed to be a high-output grain mill and over time it will break down with much use (this is obviously not confirmed by testing, it’s just a general feeling)

Wondermill Jr. Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Built like a tank and built to last a life-time
• Mills flour extremely fine which makes for great bread as well as pastries
• With stainless steel heads, it can make nut butters if desired
• Powder coated for protection and easy clean up
• Mills flour pretty fast for a manual mill (about 1 1/4 cups in a minute)
• Can be used when the power is out

Cons

• Flour spews out the sides of the grinding stones requiring a fairly large receptacle (note: the latest models come with a flour guide that fixes this issue that can also be purchased for about $10 if your model is older).
• Cost is more expensive than the Back to Basics mill but worth it given the efficiency and quality.
• Non-deluxe model requires you to bolt the mill to a table since it doesn’t come with a clamp (this also can be purchased at a later time if desired)

Comparing the Two

Overall the Back to Basics mill will do the job, and if you’re only interested in a back up and price is an issue, then it’s a pretty good mill.

On the other hand, the Wondermill Jr. is leaps and bounds over the Back to Basics mill. But realize that the cost is substantially more (about $100+ more), so you’re paying for the upgrade. However, if I could go back in time, I would have not purchased the Back to Basics mill, although it’s nice to have the extra mill for redundancy or future trading reasons.

For me, one of the biggest reasons — besides the speed of output — is the quality and “fineness” of the flour. The Back to Basics mill makes a pretty coarse flour (even on its finest setting) whereas the Wonder Mill Jr. makes a very fine flour. The finer the flour, the better the bread (in my opinion) and you have the option of making things that require fine flour like pastries and pie crusts.

Here’s a photo showing the difference in consistency of the flour between the Wondermill Jr. (left) and the Back to Basics (right).

Whether it does or not, I thought this would be a good time to introduce an excellent resource for those interested in how to prepare for nuclear as well as many other disasters.

This brings me to The Survival Mom who had a great guest post written earlier today by Janet and Bill Liebsch (authors of It’s a Disaster). In the article they lay out some quick tips on what to do if the nuclear situation got bad enough that warranted action on our part.

I thought I’d piggy-back on that by pointing you to the two free, downloadable resources they referenced which go into detail on how to prepare yourselves for nuclear disaster:

• What are YOU gonna do about …A Nuclear Power Plant Emergency? (this is an excerpt from their excellent book called It’s a Disaster.
• What are YOU gonna do about prepping for a nuke?

As a side note, I recommend purchasing their book It’s a Disaster. This 268-page paperback provides quick-reference instructional bullets on how to deal with many different types of disaster and is perfect to keep in a bug-out bag, car, home, or office. Here are just a handful of the subjects it covers (for a complete list check out the table of contents ):

• Family Emergency Plan, Kits & Shelter
• Disaster Preparedness & Prevention
• What to do in case of…
• Avalanches
• Earthquake
• Wildfires
• Flood
• Nuclear Power Plant Emergency
• Terrorism
• and more…

At just $14.00 this comes much cheaper than many of the other preparedness books out there and the eBook (in PDF format ) version is a steal at only $2.50, allowing you to download and have it instantly. Check it out!

As we go about meeting our prepping goals, one aspect that rarely gets covered is the entertainment side of things. We get so focused on food storage, ammo, fuel, water and so on that when it comes down to it, prepping for fun things gets forgotten.

The thing is, during an end-of-the-world type situation, it’s going to be miserable. And life, for your whole family, is going to be turned upside down. Depending on how bad it really is, the stress caused by the change in lifestyle will be quite daunting so having something that can increase morale and give your family something else to focus on is very important.

Here is a list of items that you’ll want to consider as part of your preps:

• Board Games: Board games like Monopoly and Scrabble were a family favorite during the Great Depression and are sure to be the same for troubled times ahead.
• Card Games: A deck of cards is one of those things that can be used to play a myriad of games. If you don’t know many card games, be sure to buy a book like The Penguin Book of Card Games.
• Toys: If you have little ones, its a good idea to pick up a few toys for their coming years so that they have something to grow into. In an end-of-the-world type situation, toy stores might not be around and if they are, you might not have the money to pay for them. Yard sales, Craigslist etc, are a fantastic source for toys at cheap prices. Stock up now.
• Fiction Books: I’ve talked about the importance of having a survival library (books on gardening, hunting, outdoor skills etc). Let me add that having some light reading (fiction books) will also be an important escape for those dealing with the pressures of survival.
• Spiritual Books: Although not exactly “entertainment”, spiritual books like the Bible provide hope, improve morale, and uplift the depressed soul.
• DVDs and Other Media: Even in an extended grid-down situation, watching your DVDs and listening to your iPod is still a possibility. Laptops, DVD players, iPods and other similar electronics do not require a huge amount of wattage and can be run off of solar power. If you don’t have a solar setup for your residence, consider purchasing a portable solar charger like Brunton’s 26 Watt Foldable Solar Array. Although you won’t be able to run your laptop off of it in real time (your iPod can be), you can use it to charge the battery in time for family movie night.
• Sports Equipment: In an extended grid-down situation, your kids may no longer be able to play the Nintendo Wii, but having a few balls, a bat, and other simple sports gear is more than enough to get you and them outside and enjoying themselves. Not only that, they’ll actually be doing some real exercise (sorry you Wii Fit fans).
• Musical Instruments: Like spiritual books, music has a way of lifting the soul from the darkest of places. If you don’t know how to play then now is the time to get some lessons (or at least get some books that teach you how).

Don’t Forget the Bug-Out Bag

As you are putting together gear and provisions for your bug-out bag (or if you’ve already put it together), don’t forget to add something for entertainment as well. A deck of cards, a harmonica, or a small paperback book will go a long way in passing the time if you and your loved ones are required to bug out for a few days.

Just as in stockpiling goods, in a long-term crisis the more knowledge and skills that you have about how to deal with a wide variety of situations and challenges the better off you’ll be. However, unlike stockpiling. knowledge cannot be purchased. It’s gained through study, learning, and practice.

You may be saying,”Well, I have a bunch of books on how to deal with every type of situation, and if I can read it, I can learn it”. Although I do highly recommend having a Survival Library, having only books on hand — while helpful — is not ideal. You don’t want your family to be dependent upon you learning a skill for the first time in the midst of a crisis and some skills take years to develop.

With that in mind, here’s a Bucket List of skills you may want to consider. This is in no way exhaustive or in order of importance but should get you started:

• Sewing, Clothes Making and Repair: Learn how to quilt, crochet, knit, sew, spin, weave, and how to make clothes from basic patterns. It might be a good idea to pick up an antique manual pedal driven sewing machine. Many of them sell for quite cheap through Craigslist.
• Auto Mechanics and Engine Repair: Learn how to change oil, fix brakes, tune up engines, repair common issues (replacing water pump, alternator, etc) and so on. Included in this subject is small-engine repair/tuneups like chainsaws, generators etc.
• Animal Husbandry: Learn how to raise rabbits, chickens, goats and other animals provided you have the space and your zoning laws allow.
• Soap and Candle Making: This includes homemade oil lamps as well.
• Butter, Cheese and Yogurt Making: Be sure any needed ingredients are part of your food storage.
• Martial Arts: This could be boxing, ground fighting, knife fighting, stick fighting, and other forms of armed and unarmed hand-to-hand combat skills.
• Marksmanship and Defensive Shooting: There are many excellent top-rate schools that teach marksmanship as well as personal and home defense with firearms. For excellent marksmanship training, I highly recommend The Appleseed Project events that are held nationwide.
• Wilderness Survival and Primitive Skills: This includes local plant identification and use (edible, medicinal, and utilitarian); shelter building; water collection, storage and purification; fire making (using primitive and modern methods); animal snares; fishing; and much more
• Outdoor Skills: Separate from wilderness survival (but related) is basic outdoor skills such as knot-tying, navigation, hunting, trapping, mountaineering, tracking and so on.
• Medical Training: This should really go beyond first aid. Ideally you’ll want to take EMT or paramedic courses.
• Radio Communication: This includes small-band, CB and other forms of radio communication. Ideally you’ll want to get your Ham operating license.
• Metal-Working Skills: Learn welding, casting, blacksmithing. Also included in this subject is machining and other fabrication methods.
• Food Preservation: Here’s where you’ll want to learn canning, smoking, pickling, dehydrating, and curing.
• Food Preparation: Learn how to use all that bulk-stored food you’ve got squirreled away. Also included in this subject is food preparation off the grid — using wood/charcoal stoves, fire pit cooking, solar ovens etc.
• Gardening: This is one of those skill you can’t simply pull a book off your shelf, read it, and expect to be very successful at. You’ll want to learn this now to fully understand how to work with your particular climate and soil type. It also takes a bit of time to work up your soil to be its most productive.
• Bartering: This will be a very useful skill in an extended crisis situation. There are many flea markets and other local venues where you can practice this skill.
• Entertainment: Learn to play an instrument, sing, or learn other performing art skills . During tough times, moral is low. Entertainment can otherwise lighten a heavy heart.
• Home Repair and Maintenance: Learn the basics of carpentry, electrical wiring, painting, plumbing, masonry and so on. If you live in a remote area then being able to drill wells, clear land, surveying, and home construction techniques are also ideal.

Looking at this list you’re probably thinking that even a few of these areas would take a lifetime to really learn well — and you’re right. Don’t be so concerned about learning them all yourself. That’s the importance of community. As my friend Kevin Reeve says, “Training trumps gear, but community trumps training”. The more knowledgeable people you can gather in your circle of close friends, the better off you’ll all be. 

As far as not having enough time, start now by turning off the television. Or quit waisting time golfing and get out there and practice some skills that can really be of benefit to you and others. Many of these skills can be practiced as a family. If it’s important to you, you’ll find the time. 

Although there are always cheaper options with regards to gear, unfortunately as the saying goes, “you get what you pay for” — and you don’t want to have to depend on poorly-made cheap gear for the welfare and safety of your loved ones.

Buying Top Quality Gear for Dirt Cheap Prices

So how can you still get quality, dependable gear without breaking the bank? Well, there is a place where you can buy barely used, and in some cases brand spanking new, quality gear for often more than half off the price you would pay in a store. I’m sure you’ve all heard of it by now: Craigslist.

I know what you’re thinking, “Come on Erich, when I check I rarely find anything good, and when I do it’s usually been already taken.” Well for most people that’s true. But not for me. I’ve been able to purchase top quality sleeping bags, camping hammocks (Hennessy Hammocks), camping stoves, compound bows, radios, a 4-season tent and other gear for more than half off the list price. What’s my secret? It’s setting up Craigslist notifications.

How to Set Up Craigslist Notifications

The benefit of setting up notifications with Craigslist listings is that you can have them sent to your email, IM, or phone. This way you get an instant alert when a specific item you’re looking for becomes available, giving you a much greater chance of getting that long sought after piece of gear.

My favorite tool for getting instant notifications to my phone via sms (text message), my email, and instant messenger is a free utility called Notify.me. It’s very simple to use and best of all it costs nothing. Here’s a demo on how it can be used (substitute his search for Toyota Prius with your needed survival gear  ):

There are many other similar tools (most aren’t free) available online that provide similar services. However, this is the best tool I’ve found available. Happy hunting! And be sure to let me know if you’ve made out on some killer deals as a result of this.

Given the right conditions, it could get bad enough that food becomes more valuable than gold or silver. In times like these, having a backup of seeds that can be planted as a “crisis garden” to supplement or support the needs of your family will be worth more than its weight in gold.

What Types of Seeds Should I Store?

The most important types of seed you’ll want to store are seeds that consistently put out the same type of plant/fruit generation after generation. In other words, if you were to plant the seeds of the parent then the fruit/vegetable that is produced by those seeds would maintain the characteristics of the parent plant.

For the beginning gardener this includes purchasing open-pollinated seeds instead of the typical hybrid seeds found in your garden center. As a general rule (there are exceptions), hybrid seeds are first-generation seeds and if you were to use the seeds produced by one of these plants they will be sterile or more likely fail to breed – not a good option if next year’s crop is dependent upon the seeds produced by this year’s. This also requires a yearly visit to the garden center — a dependency that’s great for the seed dealers but not so great for the survivalist.

Heirloom seeds are a type of open-pollinated seed that have been conserved by repeatedly growing them out again and again over the years. These are perfect for seed storage.

Where Can I Buy Them?

With all the seed sellers out there here are the companies where I recommend you purchase your open-pollinated and heirloom seeds. I’ve broken them down based upon the climate where the seeds are produced and tested. This will ensure the greatest success of germination and production in your area. (Be sure to order the open-pollinated or heirloom seeds as these companies also sell hybrids).

Short Season Climates (northern U.S. and Canada)

• Johnny’s Selected Seeds
• William Dam Seeds
• Veseys Seeds

Moderate Climates (middle-American states)

• Johnny’s Selected Seeds
• Harris Seeds

Maritime Climates (Cascadia)

• Territorial Seeds

Other Sellers
These companies I’m not sure where they are best grown but I’ve heard good reviews nonetheless (both deal exclusively in non-hybrid open-pollinated seeds):

• Bountiful Gardens
• Everlasting Seeds

How Do I Store Them?

Now that you’ve grown your open-pollinated seeds and have fruits and vegetables that are producing their own seeds, you’ll now want to be able to store those seeds for the next year. If seeds are stored properly, they can last for years (10+ or more).

The three big killers when it comes to seed storage are temperature, moisture, and oxygen with the most important being temperature and moisture. For the ideal temperature, store them in an area that is 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below (refrigerator or freezer) and to combat moisture, the best process is to dry them to 8 percent moisture or less by drying them at 100 degrees F for six hours.

You can do this by drying your seeds in the sun, with a food dehydrator, or by using a conventional oven (never use a microwave oven):

• Sun Drying: Spread the seed out in the sunlight and try to obtain 100 degree temperature for 6 hours. Longer times are expected if the temperature is less.
• Food dehydrator: Set the dehydrator to 100 degrees F. Dry for six hours.
• Conventional oven:Keep the oven door open several inches, and make sure the seed is not heated to more than 100 degrees for 6 hours.

Seed Moisture Tests:

Here are 2 methods that are a easy way to tell if the seeds have been dried to a proper moisture level of around 8 percent or less:

1. Longer seeds should snap smartly and cleanly in half when bent.
2. Wheat, beans, peas, corn and other large seeds should shatter and turn to powder when hit with the head of a hammer.

Once your seeds are dry, you’ll want to place them in an airtight moisture-proof storage containers. Be sure to mark the containers with the seed names and date of packaging, then store them in a cool dark place (again a refrigerator or freezer are ideal for this purpose).

All-In One Solutions

If you would rather have an all-in-one solution that takes the guess-work out of choosing what types of vegetables and fruit seed to buy, dries and stores them to last for years and packs them in a container that can be stored for years then I would check out the following resources:

• Survival Seed Bank: They also provide a book that describes in detail how to plant your seeds, cultivate them as well as how to gather and store your seeds for the next growing season.
• Heirloom Organics: These guys provide multiple “seed packs” based on the size of your family and needs.

Resources

•  http://www.icrisat.org/Journal/volume5/Groundnut/gn4.pdf

 – A great study on moisture, temperature and o2 effects.

• http://www.savingourseed.org/pdf/SeedProcessingandStorageVer_1pt3.pdf – In depth look into the process of saving your own seeds.
• Garden Web Seed Saving Forums – This forum/thread has some good dialogue on the process behind saving your own seeds.

Storing your important information online need not be risky. Today I’ll be going into detail on how you can create secure digital copies of your important documents and where to store them online.

The Benefits of Online Storage

With the onset of the internet, people began to see the huge potential for commerce and information sharing that “cyberspace” offered. This resulted in the creation of large businesses dependent upon the internet for their livelihood.

To prevent against data loss in the event that their data center is destroyed (by natural disaster or otherwise), large companies like Google or Microsoft will build multiple data centers far away, in different ‘threat zones’. This provides a seamless disaster-recovery option to protect the integrity of data so crucial to their business.

By piggy-backing on these large businesses’ multiple data centers, you can have a cost-free storage option with practically no risk of losing your data. This of course is assuming the internet still exists (If it gets so bad that the internet dissapears, then you have a lot bigger problems than worrying about the loss of your drivers license or a medical card).

The Problem of Security

Now I know what you’re thinking. What about security? Couldn’t anyone just steal the file online and use it for their nefarious purposes? Sure, if it’s not secured. In the next section I’ll be detailing how you can create and secure your digital documents.

How to Create and Secure a Digital Emergency Document File

What You’ll Need

• a computer
• a scanner
• Bullzip (a free pdf creation program that you can download here)
• 7-Zip (a free compression/archiving program that you can download here)

Step 1: Scan Your Important Documents Into Your Computer

The first thing you’ll want to do is gather together your documents, passports, SS card etc and scan them in to your computer. Your scanning software should allow you to save them as individual images to be used in the next step.

Step 2: Convert Your Scan into a PDF File

To convert your scans into a pdf file, you’ll need to have a pdf conversion program like Bullzip. The benefit of Bullzip is that it acts as a print server — basically allowing you to open any document, webpage, or scanned image (as in our case) and “print” it into a pdf file.

Open your scanned image and print it as you would any other document. When the print form pops up select “Bullzip PDF Printer” as your printer and print.

Select 'Bullzip PDF Printer' as your printer and print

A new form will pop up. On this form you’ll want to select PDF as your format, indicate the filename/destination and click “Save”:

Select PDF as your format, indicate the filename/destination and click 'Save'

Step 3: Merge the Remaining Documents into one File

For this step you’ll repeat what you did in the last step but this time instead of saving the scanned document into a new PDF, you”ll merge it with the previous one you made in step 2.

To do this, follow step 2 again but this time when the Bullzip form comes up, select the “Merge” tab. Under the Append PDF section look up the PDF file you made in Step 2 (this will be the file you’ll merge into) then click “Save”:

Under the Append PDF section look up the PDF file you made in Step 2 (this will be the file you'll merge into) then click 'Save'

This will create a new pdf file with the two images merged. Continue steps 2 and 3 with the remaining scanned images until you are left with one PDF that contains all the images.

Step 4: Securing Your PDF

The final step is to encrypt your pdf file. To do this I would recommend using an archiving software like WinZIP or, what I’ll use in this example, 7-Zip.

After installing 7-Zip, right click your merged PDF file and select ’7-Zip’ -> ‘Add to Archive’:

select '7-Zip' -> 'Add to Archive'.

When the ‘Add to Archive’ form pops up, set your Archive format to “Zip”, enter a password, and select “AES-256″ as your encryption method:

Click “OK” to create your .zip file and delete the original pdf. You now have a secure, password protected file that can be opened with 7-zip or any other standard archiving software (WinZIP etc) provided you supply the proper password.

As a side note, AES-256 is a very secure encryption cipher that has been approved by the U.S. Government for Top Secret documents — more than enough for your personal documents.

Uploading Your Emergency Document to the Web

Now that your document has been encrypted, you are safe to transfer your .zip file to the web.

Here’s where I stress the importance of redundancy. The more locations/servers you have the file located on the less likely you would be to lose it. Here are the servers I recommend :

• Google Docs – This is one of my favorite places to create and store documents.
• Gmail – I would recommend creating a draft email and attaching the file to it. This way it won’t accidentally get deleted or buried in your mailbox.
• Hotmail (same advice as GMail)
• AOL mail (same advice as GMail)
• Windows SkyDrive – Allows up to 25 GB of data!

As mentioned above, the benefit of storing your important documents on large company storage is that you take advantage of their disaster recovery data centers.

Other Helpful Tips

Another benefit of using Bullzip is that you can always add or delete pages from your PDF file. To add, just use your Emergency Document PDF as the source file used in Step 3 above.

To remove unwanted pages from your document, just open your latest PDF file in Acrobat Reader, select Print (selecting Bullzip as your printer) and in the Page Range section specify what pages you want to print. Bullzip will then create an updated PDF file using only those pages you specify.

Katrina is a perfect example. Many families who were otherwise prepared failed to follow this advice and ran into a host of issues.

When the waters receded, some residents tried to return to their homes. The national guard and police, who were guarding against looting, prevented people from entering their homes unless they could provide proper identification and proof of ownership.

There were also difficulties in getting families back together after becoming separated following the disaster. Children were often put in a secure location and would only be released to parents/guardians if they could prove their identities.

Even trying to file insurance claims were frustrating since most did not have their policy numbers available.

Having access to your important documents is absolutely essential if you were required to rebuild your life following a disaster.

What Documents Should You Have Backups Of?

Here’s a list of documents that you should have a copy of for each family member (where applicable):

• drivers license (front and back)
• passports
• insurance cards
• social security cards
• credit cards (front and back)
• proof of ownership or lease of your residence
• vehicle, boats etc. proof of ownership (copy of title, bill of sale etc)
• bank account numbers and other financial information
• legal documents and wills
• a recent family photo with names
• phone and address information for in and out-of-state emergency contacts
• birth, death, marriage, divorce certificates
• important business documents
• photos of valuables for documentation of insurance claims
• medical records (immunization etc.)

Where You Should Store These Backups?

Having more than one backup for these important documents is essential. For example, if you choose to put your emergency docs only in your bug-out bag, it may be that a disaster prevents you from getting to that bag.

Here are some options for you:

In Your Bug-Out Bag

Besides food, water and gear, your bug-out bags (72 hour kits) should also contain these important documents. I prefer to put them in Ziplock brand (they’re more durable) freezer bags. This keeps them completely waterproof and prevents damage.

With Trusted Friends/Family

Another option where you can store your emergency documents is with a trusted friend or relative who lives outside of your area. This provides another failsafe in case your area is completely destroyed. You obviously don’t want these documents to fall in the wrong hands so it’s of primary importance that you can trust that individual and that they take the necessary precautions.

Safe-Deposit Box

For around $15-$20 a year you can store copies of your important documents in a safe deposit box. Again, I would recommend keeping them in a bank outside your immediate area. If your a customer of a national bank this gives you many options.

Keeping Electronic Copies

This is one of my favorite methods. Basically you create digital copies of your important documents and then upload them to a remote server (like Gmail, Google Docs, or Hotmail). By keeping a copy on various remote servers you benefit from the fact that your document is safe from disaster. Many large companies like Google and Microsoft have disaster-recovery servers that if one server location were to be completely destroyed another would take its place without any data loss.

As a graduate of computer science I am well aware of the importance and vulnerabilities of digital security. But transferring digital files across the net and keeping digital copies need not be risky. In my next article, I’ll be sharing with you how you can securely keep copies of these documents on the web. Read it here.

Efforts to prevent looters from entering neighborhoods after Chile's disaster include barricades like this one in Concepcion

In the wake of the earthquake, hundreds of Chilean survivors are forming organized neighborhood watch groups, arming themselves and barricading streets to protect their homes from looters.

The groups have taken over the role of security since the police were overwhelmed by looting and soldiers were not able to restore order quick enough after the disaster.

What this Means

Looting seems to be a common theme in natural disasters. When the grid goes down for a period of time and the first responders become overextended, 1) the less savory people of society see it as a free for all and go on a looting spree, and 2) when people become desperate enough due to lack of food and supplies they often resort to looting as well.

This is especially problematic in an extended grid-down situation.

To reduce inventory and the associated carrying costs, modern grocery stores receive their inventory “just in time” for the next day’s demand. When that supply line gets held up for whatever reason, those who are dependent upon the goods in that store go without.

These Just in Time (JIT) supply strategies allow for no extended stock of food and supplies — which is why we see the shelves become empty prior to impending storms. The longer the supply is gone the more desperate people become.

How Does it Effect You?

A neighbor guards his block from looters in Lota, Chile, on Wednesday. (Aliosha Marquez / AP)

Think again, it happened in Louisiana after the Katrina disaster and if another major disaster comes — economic or otherwise — it will happen again.

There are a number of lessons to be learned from this:

1. You must be prepared: Food (and water) storage is absolutely essential. A minimum of 3 months but ideally one year’s worth or more. For more info on how to get started with food storage be sure to read my Food Storage Basics article series.
2. Get to know your neighbors: Similar to these Chileans, banding together provides safety and security and besides, you can’t expect to man a 24/7 watch all by yourself.

   Get to know your neighbors now, before disaster strikes. If possible, come up with neighborhood disaster plans and discuss the possibility of how the neighborhood would respond to looters.

3. Arm yourself: When the law is not around and the lawless run amok, you are the last line of defense for your family.

   Just having firearms is not enough. Be sure to get the proper training. There are numerous civilian training schools around the country that teach personal defense with a firearm.

4. Beef up the security of your residence: Having a secure home is a good idea even without a mob of looters running around. Now’s the time to increase the security of your residence before the zombies come a’knocking.

Resources

This is by far THE best book out there for building a secure home. 700 pages of hard-core information (no fluff):

The Secure Home (by Joel Skousen)

• Chilean survivors arm selves against looters
• Chile earthquake: Why do people loot? – A look into the psychological reasons people loot.