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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Tags: Education, Gardening, Howto, Links, preparedness, Preppers, Survival, Video
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…)
Tags: Food, Food Storage, Howto, Links, planning, preparedness, preps, Shopping, Storing Systems
Have you ever wanted to get real Military training for Long Range Shooting? Â I did! Â So I went to Sniper School with DOA Tactical and within 3 days I was hitting targets 1200 yards away – and that was just Level 1 training! Â By far, the best $800.00 I’ve spent! Â When the long range practice started, I had a hard time hitting 500 yards out – so you can see the rapid improvement I had. Â Here’s how it went.
Another HAM class is being offered on November 19th 2011 if you missed the last class.
Here are the details from the instructor:
I must limit the size to 40 people so sign up early to reserve a spot. If you must cancel please let me know immediately so I can free up a slot for someone else. If you must cancel please do it as soon as you know you will not be coming to make room for someone else!!
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One Day Ham Radio Class for the Technician (entry level) license.
Saturday, Nov 19th, 2011 7:30am to 5pm (more…)
Tags: amateur radio, Education, HAM, Howto, preparedness
This is a follow up to my previous post on Suturing a Scalp.  At the Self Reliance Expo today, I spent the day with Dr. Bones of the Doom and Bloom Show and he just happened to be selling suture kits for a great price!  I showed him my post on suturing a scalp and he loved it, then he agreed to let us offer all of you his suture kits for his show price of $20.00!  Click the image on the right to see a much larger picture of it.
The kits come with a Needle Driver, forceps and a pair of scissors along with a sterile field, gloves and 2 sutures. Â They also come with the step by step pictorial guide that you can see in the picture. Â These are very nice kits and the price is fantastic! Â If you would like to order them, send an email to DrBonesClass@aol.com and let them know what you would like to order. Â There will be shipping on top of the cost, of course.
Tags: Group Buy, Howto, Medical, Medical Prep, preps
Suturing is an important skill to have. Â Knowing how to properly sew somebody shut isn’t something you need every day, but when you need it – you need it! Â Sure, right now we can just run to the doctor, but what if you’re way in the outback or things have collapsed and good medical care isn’t easily available. Â Suturing allows you to quickly close up a wound to help stop bleeding, help prevent infection and to lower the risk of damaging a wound while trying to get to better care – if needed. Â There are plenty of ways and places to get training in suturing without going through medical school. Â It’s easy to do once you learn, you just need to look around and find a class you can take.
Tags: First Aid, Howto, preparedness, Suture
These days, most of us drop our game off at the butcher on the way home and go back a few days later and pick it up in nice white butcher paper. That’s all fine and good for now, but what are we going to do if we have to hunt for survival and can’t just drop the animal off to let somebody else do all the work? I’ve done it myself before and I’m sure I could do it again without any real problems, but if you’re hunting for survival the last thing you want to do is ruin your meat by doing something stupid!
Tags: Books, butchering, Howto, Leatherwork, meat, tanning
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.
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!
Can a two hour DVD turn you into a self sufficient farmer, providing all the food for your family on your postage stamp sized yard? Of course not. (If you think this is possible, let me know. I have a unique business opportunity to discuss with you :D ) However, the Food Production Systems For a Backyard or Small Farm DVD Is a wealth of information on how one family managed to do just that (on a bit of acreage) through trial and error over a decade. A full review of the DVD after the jump.
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Tags: Education, Food, Gardening, Howto, Links, preparedness, Reviews, Water
Looking for a chance to get the family out into our delayed summer? Provo has a great event this weekend at their pioneer village (map). Â It’s a great chance to get demonstrations on some old skills such as spinning, blacksmithing and more. Â Bring the family even if only just to get a feel for the local history, but even better, hang around and talk shop with people experienced in their crafts. This is probably one of the better local opportunities to get together with people that can teach these crafts.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
And a nice video explaining things via the local newspaper, the Daily Herald
Tags: Community, Education, Event, Howto, meetup, Pioneer Skills, Pioneers, Preppers, rendezvous
When I moved to college in Idaho as a teenager, I had a really quick introduction into a new world of snow and ice. While the snow I grew up with was wet and heavy, and usually melted away pretty quick in the moderate temperature. Idaho however introduced me to the bitter hard-freeze that left our campus with an amazing array of forms of ice that were completely new to me. I, as with many of my fellow students, became intimately familiar with this ice while performing the splits, or landing on my back when trying to hurry between classes.
In that time, I saw a few people that had some nifty attachments for their shoes allowing them to get traction on the ice. Â Along the lines of higher end crampons used in ice-climbing, they strapped on over any shoes and allowed the user to dig into the ice a bit more. Â Over on one of my favorite sites (Instructables) there are some instructions for creating a simple version of these yourself.
Continuing my Heat and Light Series, today we’re going to look at an alternative way to start a fire – with Steel Wool and Batteries. Like I’ve said in previous posts in this series, this is probably something that every old Boy Scout and every long time Prepper already knows. The point of this series is to get back to basics and cover things that new Preppers will need to get up to speed on – and to remind some of you about the skills and knowledge you have that you may have forgotten. :) (more…)