One of our friends’ family members was grocery shopping recently at a nearby “big box”
market. She had just corralled her two small children for the walk from the parking lot to the store when she noticed a bumper sticker on the back of a nearby pick-up truck. The sticker read, “What luck for rulers that men don’t think.” The young mother was intrigued.

All along her walk across the parking lot she thought, “I wonder who said that?” and  – thinking about some of the bumper stickers she’d read in traffic recently – “ I wonder who would have a bumper sticker like that on their truck?”

All throughout her shopping experience her mind kept going back to the words on the sticker and wondering what the truck’s owner might be thinking in posting such a provocative comment.

She finally finished shopping, got back to her car and had just finished unloading her groceries and putting the kids in their car seats when she happened to look up to see a grandmotherly-looking woman in hospital scrubs putting several grocery bags in the bed of “bumper sticker” pick-up.

She couldn’t resist. “I was just noticing your bumper sticker and I wonder if you know who that quote was from?”, she asked. The woman smiled and said she did and began a conversation that included a number of interesting comments. Here are some of them as remembered:

• “You know that I’ve been around the block a few more times than you and with a young family like yours, you ought to begin storing up some extra food. I think in about three months or so we’re going to experience an attack right here in our own country.”
• “Stores like this one only have food for two days or so, even in good times.”
• “I’m now cooking with dried beans and rice from scratch. They’re especially good for you and they’re inexpensive.”
• “ Save and clean your used food jars because they’re great to store things like rice and dried beans.’
• “Start buying a little extra each shopping day and put it away for an emergency.”
• “People don’t know their history. History repeats itself and we’re about in the 1930’s.
• “About the quote; it was from Adolph Hitler. When I tell people that, they often think I’m supportive of him and/or his views but it’s just the opposite. However, the truth is the truth no matter who says it.”
• “We’re on the way to a one-world government now and a number of governments are involved in this effort.”
• “Imagine how you’d feed your family during a martial-law situation.”
• “Listen to what the people are saying.”

During the first telling of this little story, we were told that an especially spiritual member of the group listening speculated that the lady might be an angel. One of those with a more historical perspective noted that when a number of the German-Jewish survivors of the holocaust were asked how they could have missed the signs of its approach they said, “ … things happened so slowly.” And finally, a third speculated that the lady represented an example of the deep and growing dissatisfaction abroad in the country; along with a profound distrust in/of government.

Please feel free to draw your own conclusions.

Until next time; keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers changing fast.

An Apology: We have missed a full week “plus” of posts due to illness within our family. Our health concerns seem to be diminishing with this brief time in treatment and we hope to have all well and about soon.

We have just a couple of post’s planned for this week with a full schedule beginning the next week. Thank you for your understanding.

Continuing Book Review – “ ’Gardening When it Counts’ “ by Steve Solomon: Introduction/Chapter I-  con’t:

“The coming hard times”

• “We are soon going to base our civilization on something other than oil … or else we aren’t going to have much of a civilization left. Soon, everything made with oil is going to cost a lot more; gasoline, food, clothing, transportation, heating of houses, etc. And after that, if oil is still the basis for almost everything we do, then everything is going to cost even more.”
• “… those practicing raised-bed intensive methods will discover that intensive use of land requires large quantities of water, manure/compost, and fertilizer.’
• “Water has become scarce in many places. … watersheds are becoming ever more degraded, lessening the recharge of groundwater.”
• “Chemical fertilizers and many organic ones too, are made with petroleum or natural gas, so they are going to become more expensive.”
• “This book is for people who must have a good result.”
• “The successful home gardener must start with strong seeds and truly healthy transplants of varieties that are dependable and productive.”
• “Actually, to veggie garden successfully you only need a few hand tools, used properly.”

PH Comments: We agree with most of Mr. Solomon’s statements. We sincerely question his observations/conclusions however regarding the use of raised/intensive planting beds as requiring “large quantities“ (what are “large quantities” here and how does that square with these intensive techniques being taught/used successfully in some of the most difficult terrain, climate and poorest countries in the world? – Check out and follow up on some of this work being done via Bountiful Gardens catalog) of  “…water, manure/compost, and fertilizer.”

Again, we are going over Chapter I carefully to establish where Mr. Solomon is coming from in his observations and conclusions. There’s plenty of room, in our view, for honest yet differing opinions as to what might work well or best in particular situations. We have an open mind.

Until next time; keep your eyes on the horizon as the weather’s changing fast.

In “… an interview given by former Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh to the Sunday Times in which he said that if Iran were not further sanctioned by this Christmas Israel would attack the country. Sneh told the paper that if Israel were forced to attack the Islamic Republic on its own it would do so …”

PH – Focus: PrudentHome.com has mentioned the potential conflict between Israel and Iran several times in the past and has discussed some of the possible world-wide consequences stemming from such an event              (remember the closing of the Straits of Hormuz with its conveying forty percent of the world’s oil during a time of global recession/depression?) and we’re mentioning it again because time may be running out for a peaceful resolution of this conflict: less than ninety days.

No one can say with any certainty what the future of this or any difficulty will be, but what can be said is that now is an excellent time for the prudent family to focus. Focus on preparing for what appears to be an even more difficult and uncertain future in a host of different areas: continued (and perhaps worsening) economic downturn, influential regional/geo-political upheaval and/or war, climate change, resource depletion, population increases, and food availability concerns.

To name a few.

Focus on what your family can do to mitigate the effects of these or similar events on your family. Focus on developing greater independence from the existing economic system in a self-sustaining way. Focus on your family providing, for your family, more of what it needs to function in all the essential areas: shelter, food, water, medical care and security.

Focus on strengthening faith, family, friends, and neighbors.

Focus.

Conversations With ‘Pop’ Smith:

PH Question – Pop, there’s a lot of talk today about walk-out packs,  kits, ‘rucks’ etc., and they’re referred to as GOOD bags, BOB’s, WOB’s and a host of other acronyms. What a lot of folks are saying is that if things really break bad, they’ll just  “saddle up” and make for the woods. Any thoughts?

‘Pop’: Actually, that particular sentiment was more popular in “back in the day”. Today, it has less popularity because folks have been thinking-it-through a little more: there’s too many people, not enough woods, and a few have even tried to shoulder a forty to fifty pound pack for several rough-country  miles – a clarifying experience – and then just said, “mebbe not”.

Basically, a bag is to get you where you’re going and to provide for your needs (shelter, water, food, medicine, and security) along the way and/or for a relatively short while after. With great skill, health, conditioning, experience, and a good bit of luck, there are a very few individuals that could provide for themselves (survive) for quite some time. However, the “very few” aren’t taking along an aging parent, a child(ren) or a spouse with a chronic medical condition -  just to name a few additional concerns.

A bag is vital as a plan, or part of a plan ’B’ or ’C’. It’s for when your place is no longer viable, you need to get back to your place or someplace else; something like that. You must have one (several preferably, with each for a specific need/situation) as a part of any realistic preparation program but it’s probably not your first choice for a “home”.

Plastic, Liquid Medicine Dispenser: This dispenser is a single, contained unit consisting of a reservoir that holds about 2.5 ml (cc) of liquid medicine (originally) with an attached threaded dispensing nozzle and a screw-on top. Finally, a snap-on/off cap covers the nozzle and screw-on top.

This small, 2&1/4in. tall x 7/8in. wide x 3/4in. deep unit makes a great mini-oil dispenser after you expand the nozzle dropper’s opening and channel with your Swiss Army Knife’s leather punch blade (or similar tool). The foregoing procedure will let you get rid of any medicine residue by turning the unit upside down on a paper towel overnight and “load” the unit with a multi-purpose oil of your choice directly via oil can nozzle inserted into the nozzle of your new mini-oil dispenser.

This unit (formerly a dispenser for prescription liquid eye-drops) is now your field-kit oil dispenser that will deliver a surprisingly large number of discreet drops of oil to keep you moving parts moving and your metal surfaces from rusting.

Breath Mint/Candy Tins: We re-use our Altoid-type tins after wiping any residue from inside the now-empty tins with a small rag saturated with rubbing alcohol and letting air-dry. We use three sizes: a. 3/4in. deep x 2&½ in. wide x 3&3/4in. long (mints-type), b. 7/8in. deep x 1&1/2in. wide x 3&3/8in. long (chewing gum-type) and c. 5/8in. deep x 1&1/2in. wide x 2&1/2in. long (tiny-tin type).

Each type tin might find use as/in your mini-kits: fishing, first-aid, tool, survival, fire starting, or parts etc.

Please note that the ziploc-type pill pouches mentioned in Part II last week will fit nicely into tins a. and b. above and that your new mini-oil dispenser would fit well into a.

Plastic Test Tubes/”Tube Vaults”: These test tube shaped, screw capped containers are about 5.75in. tall x 1in in diameter. They will hold about 50ml (roughly 2 oz.) of liquid and are “…  made from food and pharmaceutical grade, crush resistant, polyethylene terephalate (PET).”

They are described as”Baby Soda Bottles” by one source (stevespenglerscience.com) and as “Tube Vaults” by another (countrycomm.com).

They appear to be nearly indestructible by crushing, dropping, etc and are light-weight. Their weakness seems to be that they are not flame proof and that extreme heat will melt them.

They would seem to have use as mini-cache tubes, food/ condiment containers for sealed foods/condiments for the back pack, or serviceable as almost any kit container. We just got a supply (15 for about $10 + postage) and are working them into our programs as we write this.

We’re mentioning them last because you’ll probably have to buy these as containers and not find them from re-use sources. We think they’re worth the bucks but take a look at the sources we’ve named, or kk.org/cooltools, and decide for yourselves.

Until next time, keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers moving fast.

The Planet’s Future: “The planet’s future: Climate change ‘will cause civilization to collapse’ “, an “Authoritative new study sets out a grim vision of shortages and violence …” is the title and ‘sub’ of the Jonathan Owen piece on 7/12/09 posted by the UK’s The Independent (independent.co.uk) on 7/13/09. Here are some of the highlights:

• “…the authors of the report, produced by the Millinium Project – a think tank formerly part of the World Federation of the United Nations Accociations- set out a number of emerging environmental security issues, “The scope and scale of the future effects of climate change – ranging from changes in weather patterns to the loss of livelihoods and disappearing states – has unprecedented implications for political and social stability.”
• “An effort on the scale of the Apollo mission that sent men to the Moon is needed if  humanity is to have a fighting chance of surviving the ravages of climate change.’
• “This is the stark warning from the biggest single report to look at the future of the planet – obtained by The Independent on Sunday ahead of its official publication next month. Backed by a diverse range of leading organizations such as Unesco, the World Bank, the Us Army, and the Rockefeller Foundation, the 2009 state of the Future report runs to 6,700 pages and draws on contributions from 2,700 experts around the globe.”
• “The impact of the global recession is a key theme, with researchers warning that global clean energy, food availability, poverty, and the growth of democracy around the world are at “risk of getting worse due to recession” …”.
• “The immediate problems are rising food and energy prices, shortages of water and increasing migrations ‘due to political, environmental and economic conditions”, which could plunge half the world onto social instability and violence.”
• “The effects of climate change are worsening – by 2025 there could be three billion people without adequate water as the population rises still further. And massive urbanization, increased encroachment on animal territory, and concentrated livestock production could trigger new pandemics.”

Home Garden Warning: From Reuter’s today we get “Potato famine disease striking home gardens in U.S” by Julie Steenhuysen. Here is some of the key information:

• “Late blight, which caused the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840’s and 1850’s, is killing potato ant tomato plants in home gardens from Maine to Ohio and threatening commercial and organic farms, U.S. plant scientists said on Friday.”
• “… the fungal disease spread by spores carried in the air, has made its way into the garden centers of large retail chains in the Northeastern United states.”
• “Wal-mart, Home Depot, Sears, Kmart, and Lowe’s are some of the stores the plants have been seen in …”

“What’s unique about this year is we have never seen plants affected in garden centers being sold to home gardeners …”

*PrudentHome Note: ALL of the above information should provide additional incentive for the home gardener and food producers to consider PrudentHome’s recommendation to have at least two gardens worth of seeds (open-pollinated, natural &/or organic) on hand always, and we now add; each of your garden seed collections/selections should come from at least two sources, preferably in different areas of the country. That and SAVE YOUR SEED.

A Valuable Source: You’ll find a link at PrudentHome to M.D. Creekmore’s “The Survivalist Blog” (thesurvivalistblog.blogspot.com).

You’ll want to put this site on your list as Mr. Creekmore’s perspective on survival is at once tactical and practical. He supports individual/family independence via economy, simplicity and reliability in preparation (as do we at PrudentHome) from his skills as a gunsmith, martial artist, and practitioner of independent living. He’s worth your read.

Until next time: keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers changing fast.

Swine Flu–Where We Are:Things are moving quickly though  the virus seems to be stabilizing. USA Today article “Alert nears pandemic level” gives us a pretty good ‘thumbnail’ of what’s currently going on

• regarding swine flu and here are some of the key points:
• “The World Health Organization raised its global alert level from phase 5, just one level below 6, or “global pandemic,” because the virus appears to be spreading easily person-to-person and cases are appearing that have no link to Mexico. That’s where the virus first began to hit broadly just a few weeks ago.”
• “A pandemic is a geographically widespread epidemic of a newly evolved disease for which there humans have no natural immunity.”
• “Flu pandemic rating system: Since Sunday, the World Health organization has raised its pandemic [global epidemic] alert twice.

Pandemic alert scale:

1 -New virus, no human cases, low risk

2 – New virus, no human cases, higher risk

3 – Very limited human-to-human spread

4 - Increased human-to-human spread

5 - Significant human-to-human spread in multiple locations

6 - Pandemic: human-to-human spread is efficient and sustained

Preparation: For family preparation in a pandemic we look to Kathy Harrison’s excellent book “Just In Case – How To Be Self-Sufficient When The Unexpected Happens” (our book review on her preparedness text should be posted at the end of this week). Ms. Harrison has a succinct chapter on Pandemic (CH 14) and from it we can glean a core of essential preparations and recommendations. Here is some of what she offers:

• “The Red Cross advises that if a pandemic were to strike the United States, we should be prepared to spend ten days confined to our homes. It also warns that we may be without essential services such as power, water, and trash pickup and that the banks will likely close, hospitals will be overwhelmed, and even mail service could be spotty.
• I am afraid that the estimate of ten days of confinement is pretty optimistic. A more likely scenario would be that going out in the public would be risky for at least a month, and there would certainly be viral outbreaks in previously unaffected populations for weeks beyond that. I also think that recovery from a breakdown in services would take considerable time, probably on the order of six to eight weeks. To be really safe, stockpiling a three-month supply of essential goods is not an unreasonable goal.”
• “…some steps you should take. …stay home. … avoid large public places such as shopping malls and supermarkets. I would opt to keep my children home from school.” Except for essential services, “… it might be safer for your family for you to remain there (home from work) until the crisis is over rather than infecting your loved ones.”
• “Hands should be washed a full three minutes …”.
• “Get vaccines or medications as soon as they become available.”
• Keep your body in peak shape through diet and rest.

Situation Monitoring: Latest swine flu updates are available at CDC swine flu (online).

Until next time; keep your eyes on the horizon as the weathers changing fast.

“Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is no prospect of a near term resolution to the crisis.

Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union.

THE ECONOMY/MCCOACH: From “The Hijacking of America” by Greg McCoach at www.321gold.com on 2/19/09 (thanks to survivalblog.com of 2/23/09 in the section “Items of the Economatrix”)

“Looking at the dismal record of fiat currencies throughout history, no country that has disconnected their currency from a gold or silver standard has ever made it past the 40^th year mark before inflationary panic and disaster unfolded. The United States is now in the 37^th year of it’s fiat currency experiment since Nixon took us off the gold standard in in 1972.”

THE ECONOMY/W.B. YEATS: From Yeats poem “The Second Coming”:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.

More accurately, the Yeats poem would perhaps reflect our general world condition and not just the narrow economic scene.

SOCIAL UNREST: “Britain faces summer of rage – police” is the article’s title in the UK’s guardian.co.uk/uk post on 2/23/09.

“Police are preparing for a ‘summer of rage’ as victims of the economic downturn take to the streets to demonstrate against financial institutions, the Guardian has learned.”

The article goes on to note that “…people who have lost their jobs, homes or savings”

are “…becoming ‘foot soldiers’ in a wave of potentially violent mass protests.” and that “…middle-class individuals who never have considered joining demonstrations may now seek to vent their anger through protests…”

‘COPING’: Two articles in Energy Bulletin (energybulletin.net, Food & Agriculture) on 2/20/09 deserve attention: the first is “UK allotments boom as thousands go to ground in recession” by Rebecca Smithers, The Guardian.

“…as recession bites, the growing enthusiasm for homegrown veg has seen more than 100,000 people join waiting lists for a patch of land as demand hits an all-time high.”

And second, “Portland, Maine allows backyard chickens” from Tom Bell, Portland Press Herald.

“…Portland City Council voted 7 -1 to remove its long standing ban on chickens and allow people to keep up to six hens within city limits.

“ …proponents of the measure…said the measure is part of a broader movement to create a situation in which food sources are found as close to home as possible.” and that “This brings us one step closer to sustainability …”

Until a little later in the week then, keep your eyes on the horizon. The weathers changing fast.

From a common man’s point of view, we’re in the same place we were last week: nobody really knows what to do but at least theye’ve done “something”. The something is a “bailout” that may not work and, if it should work, may not be big enough.

There seem to be some “unintended consequences” from last weeks bailout too. It appears that a number of states in the U.S. are lining up, along with major corporations, for some “bailout”. It’s not difficult to envision the “bailout” line getting longer and more diverse as time goes on.

Here’s a nagging question that keeps popping up relative to the banks in the U.S. having money to lend to each other but not being willing to lend it due to their mutual distrust of each others financial statements: if the banks don’t trust each other, why should we trust the banks?

Where we are now is kind of summed up by James Howard Kunstler in a 10/6 post on his website (I won’t repeat the name of this site but you’ll know it right off when you look under his name on the web) entitled “All Fall Down”:

“We’ve entered the realm of phase change where everything is slipping and nothing has settled.”

JUST A NOTE: newsmax.com is currently offering an article entitled “Britain to Spy on Every Call, E-mail and Text” that notes that the British Government’s “Goal is to “live-tap” every electronic communication in Britain.” Interesting.

NOW-DO IT NOW!: There’s no more time to begin. If you’ve been putting off beginning a food (& water) storage program or if you’ve let you’re preparation efforts slack-off for whatever reason: STOP. Get focused on having a stock of essentials: food, water and medicines (along with the means to use and keep them) for at least 30 days for your entire family. Don’t forget to include enough for a guest and your pets. Consider now how you would “keep” them in any period of civil unrest.

We’ll talk more later. Looking forward to presenting a book review this coming Friday: 10/11/08.

Until then, keep your eyes on the horizon.

Like the weather, economic, political, and environmental events are beyond our individual capabilities to control but like the weather too, we’re somewhat able to predict their coming and prepare. So what does the weather look like as it begins to move toward us just at the horizon ? Our economy thrives on cheap, available credit and fossil fuels (oil). Now, if credit is cheap it is certainly less than readily available while oil is not cheap and probably becoming less available.

Three major European banks and a major U. S. investment house are predicting a financial situation , in the U. S. and the world , during the coming months characterized by words like “crisis” and “catastrophic” . This while our own central bank, “ The Fed”, is described as an institution “ without credibility “.

World food stocks, primarily grains, are at a half-century-plus low with major countries preventing grain exports altogether or heavily discouraging those exports thru taxes. While world production is currently at a marginally adequate level, it is fragile. Any significant economic, climate, or geo-political interruption could spell famine on a large scale.(Note: Both China and Saudi Arabia are currently buying farmland in places like Africa and South America)

World oil production levels are nearly maximized though they are currently pretty stable. This stability however, exists in the face of an increasing world demand with it’s attendant price increases.

World fresh water stocks seem to be in about the same shape as food and oil : marginally adequate at current levels barring interruption.

Climate change (warmer, more variable and uncertain weather) brought about by, or significantly influenced by, human activities appears to be a generally accepted scientific position. This change could effect world food production in both the short and long term.

Geo-politically, the world seems to be stumbling along about as usual however, current potential conflicts in major oil producing areas of the middle-east and Africa cause special concerns regarding world oil production interruptions with their attendant price increases.

Now we come to the shy, retiring, 800 pound gorilla in the room…population . While critical world resources, though stretched thin , might be adequate in the short-term we’re adding a population to the world equal to that of the U. S. every 48 months!

What does all this mean to the family and the prudent home? In a word, PREPARATION. This is the same response the family and prudent home gives to any severe weather challenge.

More specific discussion about the “weather” and family responses to it will be found here next week on Tuesday, July 8.

Meanwhile, keep your eyes on the horizon.