Some garden to grow pretty flowers. Others to harvest prize-winning tomatoes. Some just need something to do. I garden for survival, and with supplies in the United States being shakier than they ever have been, at least in my lifetime, that’s starting to look like a smart life decision. If you’re a survival gardener, you
Margit Burmeister and Ari Allyn-Feuer both contributed to this report: If you’ve suffered from COVID-19 and were hoping to get an immunity passport proving you can’t get the virus or spread it ever again, it’s been a bad week for you. This week brought strong clinical evidence that it’s possible for the same person to
Welcome to the newly revamped Key Developments, now twice weekly and with non-COVID news. Right now, it’s actually still just COVID news, but we’ll be slowly morphing it into something broader as we go. There are over 13.4 million global cases. The rate of global case growth is increasing. There have been over 580,000 deaths
It’s mid-July, but if you’re tracking COVID cases, it might feel like we’re back in April. Worse, the official response resembles the COVID denial we saw back in February. We’re caught in a COVID time warp. All the horror of April is happening again, now. After preventing the outbreak from going Level 5 in the
When you think of preparedness footwear, you probably imagine some sort of boots. Combat boots, hiking boots, maybe even cowboy boots. But there’s another sort of footwear that you might consider for your prepping supplies: Crocs. Specifically, the Crocs Classic Clog. Yes, the ugly shoes with holes in them. Several of us on staff wear
Fire season is upon us, and with wildfires comes rolling blackouts. Last year, California and other states saw widespread, rolling blackouts due to the wildfires. Now is the time to ensure you’re prepared to meet the challenges of fire season, whether that’s an extended blackout or an evacuation. The kits in this post are meant
This morning, I hit a lockdown low point. I considered going to the salon for a haircut. It’s one of those things I cancelled in March and delayed until sometime far away. I made an appointment for a date that felt, back then, frighteningly distant and put the haircut out of my mind. But today
This fall, Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, will reopen. Yes, students will be wearing masks, and yes, there will be social distancing and lots of rules about physical contact, but students will be on campus. How could that be, when Harvard is moving most of its classes online and only bringing 40% of students back
Update 07/2022: The Sawyer bucket kit is no longer sold publicly and you need to contact Sawyer directly to purchase one. The $125-140 Sawyer SP191 Point ZeroTwo Bucket Kit is a unique product that sits somewhere between portable water filters and home countertop water filters. The kit combines what would normally be a standalone portable
Welcome to the newly revamped Key Developments, now twice weekly and with non-COVID news. Right now, it’s actually still just COVID news, but we’ll be slowly morphing it into something broader as we go. The world has over 12.3 million cases. Cases have grown globally by over 1.4 million in the last week. The US
If there’s one or two products you’ve been trying to get your hands on, but they’re either always out-of-stock or going for sky-high markups, know this: it’s not just you. It’s also not just some random thing you’re trying to get your hands on. The global supply chain is broken (still). From air conditioners to
Health care workers and restaurant servers seem to be wearing face shields to avoid contracting COVID-19. So should we all be wearing them, too? The bottom line: face shields add extra protection for people who need it—but only if worn and cleaned correctly. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, spreads most commonly through droplets that
Thinking about home-schooling in the fall for the very first time? You’re not alone—so many families have been trying to sign up for home school in North Carolina that the website crashed. COVID-19 cases are still rising, and reopening schools sounds riskier every day. But first you have to figure out how to teach your
Welcome to the newly revamped Key Developments, now twice weekly and with non-COVID news. Right now, it’s actually still just COVID news, but we’ll be slowly morphing it into something broader as we go. There are over 11.9 million global cases. Cases continue to grow by more than one million per week. There have been
This is the first blog post of many we’re working on about back-to-school in the COVID-19 era. On staff at The Prepared, we have former and current educators, homeschooling parents, and future homeschoolers. It’s summer! And we’re all tucked away inside (most of us on this website, at least). Whomp, whomp. Now, as SARS-CoV-2 cases
