Links

Living in the Past: Iron Age Reality

Yesterday I was linked to a BBC show on youtube that I found quite interesting. The video was a follow-up, thirty years after the filming of a show called Living in the past. The show itself was in effect a reality show, but not one designed on conflict, but the actual experience of a group living as a community in an iron age setting in England.

It’s quite interesting seeing a nice summary of their experiences, and how living a truly primitive lifestyle for 13 months changed the way they think.
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Preppers in the News

Recently there has been a nice uptick in news articles referencing prepper sites like ours. In just this past week, Reuters published an article about the “Subculture of preppers” that trended, especially after it was featured on the Drudge Report. The article did include well known prepper/survival resources such as James W. Rawles, editor of the oft-linked Survival Blog.

Adding to the news, our national affiliation APN (American Preppers Network) was one of the highlighted links in a Blaze article focusing on preppers as those “Stockpiling for disaster“.
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When to buy: Grocery Sale Cycles

Part of being a good prepper is not just buying extra food, but the art of learning how to buy right. Purchasing foods especially can be an art form for knowing when to get the best prices, and best quality. For instance, it’s usually a bad idea to buy a vegetable who’s harvest is about to happen, as you know that means you are getting what’s left from last year. Your food won’t taste as good, and it won’t store as long as it’s already got a year down. Grocery stores know this, so many frugal shoppers have studied the common grocery sale cycles to understand how the manufacturers and stores are working together to move their product most efficiently. (more…)

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How to survive a night without power

Just a quick post today. With the severe wind storms some people have found that they are not prepared for an emergency such as spending a single winter night without power. KSL posted an article this morning with some useful information on how your family can weather such an emergency.

Also, it might be a good time to refer to articles we’ve done about emergency kits, off-grid power, lighting, and heat.

Take a few minutes to read through it.

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Emergency kits for young school age children

Like most preppers my family has 72 hour kits for each member of our family. We try to keep the consumable items in them rotated, work to ensure that the spare clothes in them are seasonal and fit, etc. Since my children are too young to be in school right now, I haven’t spent too much time considering how I will handle a “get home”, “bug out” or 72 hour kit for each child once they are spending a significant amount of their day in a state run education center. I also need to consider the restrictive policies in place these days regarding what is “dangerous” per current school policies. This begs the question, as a prepper, how do you handle emergency kits for young school age children when they are away from the home?
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Backyard Chickens

Over the past year, I have noticed an increased interest in raising chickens arising all over the nation. Locally, KSL has published several articles recently about this phenomenon (see below) as has the Wall Street Journal (also below) and most prepper blogs. My family started keeping backyard chickens about four years ago and have had some good success. In this article we’ll summarize some of the benefits to raising chickens, what you’ll need to get started and some links to resources to help you out once you’ve got your flock.

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Gold Prospecting Course in Utah Valley

I was recently perusing Utah Valley University’s web site and found an interesting course on Gold Prospecting offered through the Community Continuing Education program. Given the current high price of gold and the fact that here in Utah we really don’t need to travel far to try finding it, this seems like a great course for a Utah Prepper.

Course Information

GOLD PROSPECTING FOR FUN OR PROFIT

Only 5 percent of the world’s gold has been discovered. With gold currently trading at over $1500 an ounce, panning for gold has made a real comeback. Learn new methods of panning gold that you can use 12 months of the year. Fee includes prospecting equipment you take home with you. No early registration discount. CEUs: 0.15 Hours: 1.50

At $39 this seems like a bargain for an evening of instruction on what could be a fun and profitable hobby. Here is a Link to the course. I hope to see you there!

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Saving Money By Storing Food Article

Money by AMagill, on Flickr

Looking back on my list of things that I’ve “meant to blog” for a long time, I found a link I needed to share.  A friend of mine, and longtime follower of this blog, Erin McNew wrote an article for Yahoo’s Associated Content site about food storage.  I will of course take this chance to tease her for cheating on me, and posting to a different site, especially one that won’t allow for me to repost the content.  However I may tease though, It’s a great article written to explain to people how storing food is a sensible way to save money.  Something that most “preppers” understand, especially people usually interested in this blog.  However oftentimes people who wouldn’t normally figure themselves to be preppers, can still at least get back to some of the basics of previous generations.

Check out Erin’s article Saving Money by Storing Food for a nice introduction that could be very helpful in getting friends/neighbors/family to think a little more about adding to their food storage plans.

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Utah survival example in the news

There is an interesting example of Winter survival in the news today courtesy of KSL.

While these young men made an initial mistake that got them lost, they managed to remain calm and focused on survival. Creating a snow cave, starting a fire, etc. are all useful skills and as this example clearly shows can help to keep you alive.

Another aspect of preparedness is learning from our mistakes and other’s examples. In this case, if they had their avalanche beacon and some other gear, (perhaps some EDC items, or an emergency kit)  they would have been located much sooner or not been lost in the first place, and been more comfortable while waiting for rescue.

Read the article and absorb any information you can so you can use that information if you ever find yourself in a similar situation.

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Utah Preppers Quoted in Mormon Times Article

A recent article in the Lifestyle section over at the Mormon Times titled “Food storage includes more than just food” includes some quotes taken from an interview conducted with me the other day.  While the newspaper is targeting members of the LDS faith, the article itself is applicable to anybody.  Many people get caught up in simply having a certain number of calories, and not thinking about the other aspects of preparedness. This article does a good job of addressing this and stresses adopting a well rounded approach to preparedness. Although our readers may have more of a prepper mindset than the audience of the Mormon Times, you still may find some good information there. Click the link above to read the article.

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A New Toy

I will never hide the fact that I am a geek, a gadget geek in the scope of this post.  I love playing with various “toys” and trying to find the perfect tools for whatever need I have.

Image Taken Straight From ThinkGeek

So this week, one of the shiny things to catch my attention is found over on the ThinkGeek Gadgets site, It’s a key-sized multi-tool, for a decent price.  Now I’ve checked out lots of ‘key’ tools the past few years.From constantly watching for a chance at picking up an Atwood Ti, to usually crappy quality key-tools that are way too clunky to want to carry on my limited keychain.  Previously I was leaning towards the Gerber Artifact (via ThinkGeek:
Gerber Artifact Pocket Keychain Tool) (Which I still wouldn’t mind, for sure).  It’s a nice tool, but still isn’t quite the same idea of this.  While the artifact tries to be another knife, this tool attempts to be all the various non-blade tools from your swiss-army knife.

This however beats out those crappy ones (not the atwoods though, of course).  It’s thin, not wider than a normal key.  Nor is it bulky, sticking out wrong.  It has several helpful functions which are actually labeled to help jog the memory.  It’s the perfect choice when I don’t want to carry my swiss army style knife, but would rather keep a single blade on me.  I don’t lose access to the common tools this way.  Hey, it’s probably safe to take on a plane too!.

Also well thought out, is that it actually wraps onto your existing keys, so it covers the sharper edges, and doesn’t rip up your pocket so much.

Link: Keychain Multi-Tool

Alternatives:
Utili-Key 6-in-1 ToolThese keys always seem like they would open up in my pocket at the wrong time :(

Gerber Artifact Pocket Keychain ToolThe artifact, cool, but not sure about that blade.  Like the pry-bar aspect.

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Preparedness on People’s Minds

Today’s edition of the Deseret News carries a story about the subject of preparedness being on people’s minds in increased fashion.

A recent poll of New York City residents found that about half are now thinking about preparedness, compared with 18 percent who were considering it in 2004. And increasingly there are associations of and websites for so-called “preppers.”

Earthquakes and economic meltdowns have made the need more “believable,” said Emergency Essentials co-owner Don Pectol, who has seen an uptick in interest in emergency preparedness.

The problem, Pectol notes, is that money and time are both tight. While desire is higher, it might not be as easy to accomplish in this economy. And those who are not at all prepared for an emergency feel like “they’re being asked to eat an elephant.”

It’s our hope at Utah Preppers that we can make the subject of preparedness easier, more affordable, and more realistic for those who understand its importance. It’s been a slow Spring around here since we’ve all been busy, but expect things to pick up over the next few weeks and months as we share some important information on how you and your family can better be prepared for the future.

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