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Garden Pics

RedneckContributor - April 28, 2023

Anyone else started their garden yet? So far I am harvesting asparagus and will be soon picking collard greens. My tomatoes are in and growing fast and today I planted my sweet corn. The blackberries are leafing out now and should bloom pretty soon. Down in the orchard the blueberries have finished blooming and most apple trees are in bloom. The muscadines are just now waking up.

This winter I setup the mesh trellis and will grow my pole beans there. I’ll be planting them on those 3 rows soon. Once it gets a bit warmer, I’m gonna grow red noodle beans on the old wire trellis. I’ve never grown them but they are supposed to love very hot weather. As our planet warms, I’m experimenting with varieties that can handle temps that stay up near 100. These beans are actually related to cowpeas, such as black eyed peas and purple hull peas, but their pods, which can grow 2 -3 feet long, are edible and have no strings. They go by lots of names, such as yard long beans, asparagus beans, etc.

Best safety practices for handling fallen power lines obstructing roads following an outage (power off)

Rearden - April 24, 2023

Standard advice (understandably) is never touch a power line, no matter the circumstances.

However, many people following big storms, like the ones in Northern California that downed a lot of lines just yesterday, do in fact handle dead lines to clear them from the road so they can get somewhere they need to go.

I imagine the best practice is to hold tight if possible and not attempt any handling, even if you feel certain the lines are dead.

But if there is an emergency, and a person did have to move/cut/etc dead (or live) power lines, are there any guides on best practices?

Both advice during outages where the lines are dead, as well as live wire situations, are welcome. Thanks.

Reminder – April 23rd 3pm (1500 local) Alert test by the UK government

Black Club - April 23, 2023

Reminder – April 23rd 3pm (1500 local)

Alert test by the UK government

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/65026368

https://www.gov.uk/alerts

Military surplus: Favorite online sources and items

Hans - April 20, 2023

Question for the group:

While I recognize that there are limitations to military surplus items (tend to be heavier, can attract unwanted attention, govt purchases from the lowest bidder, etc.), I’ve been considering them for longer-term preparedness. In other words, I have my premium/lightweight items for bugging out and my heavier more durable items for bugging-in/homestead cache, etc.. Military surplus seems to be a good mix of durable, inexpensive, and quality enough for the military to use them.

Any particular favorite online surplus stores and/or items that you all have added to your stash (or milsurp items that you AVOID)?

Advice

News for the week 2023-04-17

The Prepared Support - April 18, 2023

Make a top-level comment for a new story/topic. Discussions about the topic should be in the replies to the top-level comment. That way things stay organized and every main comment as you scroll down is a different piece of news.

News

News for the week 2023-04-10

The Prepared Support - April 12, 2023

News

Realistic knife defense against 100% resistance.

Danny Elenport - April 12, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxIyeFBmsOY

The video was approved and uploaded by the official Combat Sambo Federation:

When and where to not carry concealed firearms

My name is Megan - April 11, 2023

I sometimes see signs like this on the entrances of businesses and restaurants. Banks, hospitals, schools, and even The Cheesecake Factory prohibit firearms on their premises. Is it outright illegal to carry a gun in these places or just their company policy? Will disobeying these signs result in a felony, a misdemeanor, or just being asked to leave?

The bad guys who are going to shoot up a place are not going to care if there is a sign on the window or not and might even target these locations knowing that all the good people inside are going to be disarmed. Weighing the pros and cons, I am leaning more to conceal carrying in my purse and worst case scenario being asked to leave rather than be left vulnerable against an active shooter like what happened in the Brooklyn subway the other day.

It probably will depend on the state or city you are in, so there might not be one overall right answer, but if you have any thoughts I’d like to hear.

Advice

News for week of 2023-04-03

The Prepared Support - April 9, 2023

News

Should I stay in the military to be more stable against an economic collapse?

tropicsierra - April 7, 2023

Hello everyone.

Before I get to my question, a little bit about me for context.

I’m currently serving in the military, stationed in Colorado, and will separate from the Army pretty soon. I am a single soldier with no dependents living on base in the barracks.

I’m also a new prepper. I’ve been purchasing survival gear, 6 month supply of food, and a few tools for self defense. I’ve also been investing in gold, silver and bitcoin. What I’m prepping for is an economic collapse. I’m not very knowledgeable in the area of economics but for the past year I have been doing some research and consuming content of a few economic experts who have been watching the US economy’s path. Digesting all this information I’ve come to believe this crisis will happen some time this year or next year at the latest.

Which brings me to my question. Should I reenlist in the Army? I do want to go back to civilian life but I wonder if now would be a bad time to do so. Would it be easier to endure a crisis like this as a service member rather than a civilian? There are supposed to be systems in place for this kind of event and its seems there is a widespread belief is that things would start to get back to normal after 6 months of hardship. I have my doubts about it being so short and obviously “normal” is relative. Things wouldn’t be exactly as they were before. The Army always says it takes care of its soldiers and their families. I believe it, along with the government, would try but I have my doubts about that too. The coming crash is supposed to be REALLY bad. Will the government/military actually be able to pay/care for its service members during this time? I think back to what I know about the great depression. Before WW2 it had been going on for 10 years and had no end in sight due in large part the government trying to manage it but doing so poorly. I understand this isn’t the same country it was back them but it reminds of the saying “never underestimate how badly politicians can screw things up”.

So which would be better? Reenlist in the Army and rely on it to help me through or should I become a civilian and link up with the local prepper community for assistance? Thoughts?

Test your gear and run scenarios in advance of a real emergency

Steve Martin - April 7, 2023

I used the recent power outages as a dress rehearsal of sorts and it was a good thing. I have not yet had the proper electrical corrections installed for a direct hookup for the generator. Cost and time just hasn’t been there until now. So….I had to run extension cords to power the basic necessities. Ran into a couple of minor issues I’ll have to sort out but we had lights & refrigeration while most of my neighbors didn’t. For the new-to-prepping, don’t just assume that the stash of stuff in your basement/garage/shelter will do the trick when the time comes. PLAY WITH IT! Do those dry runs in advance. You may be surprised what you run into that hadn’t been considered during planning.

Advice

Checking/refilling my 5-gallon jugs

jgrif - April 7, 2023

Hey all. About ten months ago, I filled up a handful of 5-gallon Sceptor water jugs. This was my first foray into long-term water storage.

I was advised at the time that I should periodically empty and refill these jugs with fresh water. How often do you y’all do this? 6 months? A year?

Also, for the first time today, I tasted some of the water I’ve been storing. It has a very mild plastic-y flavor to it. Very drinkable otherwise. Is this normal? What should I be checking for to make sure that my first efforts to store water were “proper”? I’m trying to avoid a situation where the worst-case scenario happens and I only find out then that my preparations were bad.

If it’s helpful, here are the high-level steps I followed when I originally filled these last year:

– Rinsed them thoroughly inside with warm water and dish soap
– Filled each 5-gallon jug with water and about 1.5-2ml of bleach. Let sit for 15 minutes. Flip, let sit for 15 more.
– Dumped out the bleach water, rinsed it really good
– Filled with tap water
– Screwed on caps tightly. Stored in a cool, dark place

Would you recommend that when I empty the jugs to fill them fresh, I repeat all of the steps above? Or is a simpler process ok after the first time?

CERT Training

xyz - April 7, 2023

I went through CERT training in early 2019, but seems like folks went their separate ways afterwards and the local EMA sponsor lost interest. There’s a number of CERT teams in our area according to the FEMA CERT website, but a random phone call to the numbers listed result in either “no longer in service” or “we don’t do that anymore.”

If you’ve been through CERT training, what was your experience afterwards? Is your group still active?

How often do you run your portable generator?

Bigwig - April 3, 2023

For those who have portable generators, how often do you run them?

I have 2 generators that I run for 30 minutes once a month that coincides with the monthly siren test on the first Saturday of the month. I also run one of the generators to power the whole house for 30 minutes twice a year. I have an interlock setup versus a transfer switch so I can select which circuits I want to power.

AdviceGear

Survival movies

Steve Martin - April 2, 2023

Set out on a quest today…to watch a whole list of “survival movies”….movies where the end of the world has come or is threatened and people are trying to survive. I’ve seen “Panic is year zero” many years ago, not bad, “The Road” which was shot here locally, “On the Beach”, “Red Dawn” and a few others. Today’s movie was “No blade of grass”, a completely terrible 1970 movie shot in Great Britain on budget of about $8. In its day, it was controversial because it had an explicit and long rape scene. What a stinker! Wish someone would make a movie out of “Alas Babylon”. What’s your favorite prepper movie?

Prepper Chat Night – Friday March 17

Gideon ParkerStaff - April 2, 2023

March prepper chat nights are Friday, March 3rd and 17th at 6pm PST/9pm EST.

And as a reminder, Prepper Chat Nights are on the first and third Friday of every month on Discord by video or voice chat with other members of the community.

Recipes for cooking with only non-perishable food

Adriaan - April 2, 2023

I was wondering if anyone could share some recipes for cooking with only non-perishable ingredients? I’m thinking canned fish and chicken. Thanks in advance 🙂

Skills

Refrigerator / freezer alarm recommendations

Henry Tubbs - April 1, 2023

I want to get a fridge/freezer alarm for the two units I have and to get some kind of warning if the power were to be out and temperatures were heating up. That way I could have a little notice to do something about it like hook it up to a generator or pack it in ice to save the food I have in there.

While browsing through Amazon for such a product, I quickly noticed that many have all these fangled settings, displays, functions, and phone apps. I want a simple alarm to go off if the temperature rises above a certain amount, not some 12″X12″ display on my wall that tells the weather and a daily joke.

This one was promising and simple but but reading the reviews it says that the alarm is not very loud and only chirps for a few seconds before turning off. This is a deal breaker for me because I want a constant loud alarm to get my attention as soon as I come home from work and not risk missing it.

Does anyone have an alarm that they recommend?

Gear

Mr. Heater to the rescue again!

RedneckContributor - March 31, 2023

Once again, an ice storm moved in this week and I lost power for most of the night. It was late enough that I decided to not run the generator but the house was getting cold. So I brought out my 30,000 BTU LP portable heater, and set it on the hearth. It is ventless and has a carbon monoxide sensor but to be extra safe, I cracked open the flue. Last year, I posted about using this heater and my generator at my mother-in-law’s house. This year it was my turn. It has a thermostat and set on 2 out of 5, it kept the center of the house toasty warm and ran for about 3-4 minutes every 15 minutes. This Mr. Heater is probably the best prepper investment I’ve ever made… and I’ve made a lot. 🙂

So typical of a prepper, I had my generator ready to run if needed. I had both Humless solar generators in use. One was just running a few LED lights and recharging other lights. The other was beside my recliner, keeping my phone fully charged and powering my CPAP. I’m one of those that can not sleep without a CPAP anymore. Without it, I start snoring as soon as I fall asleep and the snoring now wakes me up. So if I’m gonna sleep, I have to power the CPAP. Having solar generators allows me to use such equipment without running the generator. I prefer to not run the generator overnight, while I’m sleeping.

Took this pic from the recliner.

What dry dog and cat food would you recommend?

Paul - March 30, 2023

What dry dog and cat food have a decent shelf life, and good quality that you would recommend? Not too concerned about canned food, which can last a few years.

Thanks in advance.

Advice

News for week of 2023-03-20

Carlotta SusannaStaff - March 28, 2023

News

News for week of 2023-03-27

Carlotta SusannaStaff - March 28, 2023

News

Sling bag for basic lightweight prepping equipment

Mathieu - March 28, 2023

Hi guys,

First things first, I am new to prepping and do find this website very useful and by far the most elaborated and well-structured on the topic. Thank you for making prepping easier for people like me. Having said that, I have travelled the world for 6 months with a single bag pack (I will come back on that) and I used to travel a lot for my work; a bit less nowadays. All this to say that I am use to travels and backpacking.

Now comes the interesting bit. The way I see things, my wife and I will keep our least compact and heaviest prepping hardware ready to take off, at home (most of the time) in our backpacks. I have a Kajka 65 – Fjallraven and she takes the Abisko Friluft 45 (both are Fjallraven – have a look at these, they are more mountain types backpack but worth considering for prepping). I had the 65 L Kajka for my 6 months travel and it never disappointed me nor let me down.

For our lightest gear, I would like to invest in one or two sling bags. This is not in line with The Prepared recommendations but we would not use these sling bags for long walks and travel. The idea is to have our lightest gear with us most of the time, to get used to it and try it when possible. We do a lot of offroad driving short walks to discover areas, look for mushrooms, etc. and a sling bag would be perfect to be able to quickly access knife, multitool, the equipment to make fire, water, etc. not shelter and night orientated but really day basic equipment and the gear we want to try to get to know how to use it when we really do not have other choice but to use them.

In terms of sling bag there is a variety of choice and, from what I could see, there is no real good article on the net comparing them against each other’s. I liked the idea of the messenger bag or the satchel near the hip but I think that will not work in the long term. Hence, the sling bag on the back with a secondary strap to maintain it in place (I think this is important). In terms of volume, I do not want nor need much. Again the idea is day trip with light and compact equipment. at the moment I am looking into the following bags and would appreciate any thoughts or guidance:

– Plan B from Hazard 4; it looks good; maybe a bit too big (visual at least).

– Paladin / SOTech Go Sling Bag; I liked this one a lot initially but got to understand that the main compartment is really not what I am looking for.

– Crosshatch Sling Pack from First Tactical; I like this one a lot but understood that the people were disappointed when receiving it, expecting higher grade/quality/finish.

– Sitka Maxpedition; this is also one of my favorite.

– Vanquest Javelin Sling, 2nd Gen; probably my favorite one at the moment.

As I said, I am new to prepping, gearing up gradually and following all the good advice I can get. I like spending time outside, best in the nature. So from all angles, prepping makes sense to me and I want to keep it fun and enjoyable.

Thank you all for reading me and looking forward to your feedbacks.

Cheers, Mathieu

AdviceGear

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