The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities, our buildings, roads, power supplies, waterways and the like needed for the operation of our country are in continual need of upgrade and repair. Some of the critical systems we rely upon to ensure clean drinking water are over one-hundred years old. Bridges that aren’t maintained or retrofitted with modern technological advances will eventually fall. Levees and dams we rely upon to keep us safe, require constant maintenance, repair, and reinforcement. At any given time, we can look out upon the American landscape and see a never ending to-do list. Like a homeowner, we can either get to all the things on our list or postpone them and pray that our roof won’t leak or our AC won’t suddenly stop during a heatwave. Now, with the SARS-COV-2’s crippling economic effect, massively decreased local, state, and federal tax revenue decreases, millions unemployed, and massive, emergency reallocation of funding away from long term projects like infrastructure, it is safe to say, like that homeowner, America has postponed much of its regular maintenance and repairs to critical infrastructure. Are we, like that homeowner, simply praying our infrastructure doesn’t collapse before we can get to it? Are we nearing a collapse right now? Here are five infrastructure systems teetering on the edge and what you can do to protect yourself from their collapse.1- Roads & BridgesWith stay at home orders and millions of American’s unemployed, much of traffic is light. Currently, interest rates are low, and people need jobs. It would seem like a perfect time to fast-track construction on our crumbling cracked and potholed roads and our cracked and crumbling bridges, but America is stuck until Congress or the President acts. According to one study, out of the 614,387 bridges in the US, more than two-hundred-thousand are more than fifty years old. About thirty-two percent of urban roads and fourteen percent of rural roads are in poor condition. In fact, there’s a eight-hundred-thirty-six billion dollar backlog of unmet capital needed to fix the highways and bridges in the US, according to a report by the US Department of Transportation.Given the recent public health emergencies, the reallocation of funds to bail out businesses and citizens, and a continual onslaught of our regular natural disasters: wildfires, hurricanes, and even a derecho in Ohio, it is safe to say that many bridge and road repair projects have stopped and had their funding suspended and diverted. Kicking the can down the road on these critical projects creates more real problems later on. When America does return to work and fills the roadways, will the roads and bridges hold?2- SchoolsSchools have opened, closed, rapidly moved to online environments, and are left largely abandoned and unmaintained this school year. We don’t really know if this current health emergency will forever change the way students go to schools and colleges. As a result, school construction, and maintenance projects in many areas have been suspended indefinitely. Even before the current national health crisis, schools in the US were not getting the funding they needed to maintain public school buildings. About twenty-four percent of these buildings are rated in fair or poor condition.Now, money is being routed away from repairing buildings and into online classes, servers, and tech training for teachers. When and if students do return to physical schools, they will be returning to the same unmaintained buildings in need of repair. Will they really be returning to the same education system? Many parents have opted for online learning, homeschooling, or charter schools. We really don’t know how many kids will be returning to physical classrooms, and we don’t know the true effects of this national health crisis on the American education system.
3- Dams & Levees
While poorly maintained roads, bridges, or schools in disrepair may not on their own lead to large scale loss of life and property, the dams and levee systems in America could catastrophically collapse. Levees play a critical role in protecting communities from floodwaters, but they aren’t currently receiving the critical attention they need. During the next ten years, there’s a need for 80 billion dollars to improve these structures. There were fifteen-thousand-five-hundred high-hazard dams in the US in 2016. Hurricanes and storms continually threaten these critical water barriers even further. What happens to the nation’s infrastructure when one or more of these critical systems fail? What’s worse is that while a bridge collapsing impacts those immediately in the vicinity, the failure of a dam or levee system may lead to an increase in the loads on other dam and levee systems. The associated domino effect may strongly influence the risk of flooding. This was evidenced recently after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and most recently in May of this year when the Edenville dam failure led to the Smallwood Lake Dam overflow and Sanford Dam failure. Although no deaths were reported, the disaster forced eleven-thousand people to evacuate and buried mid-Michigan under billions of gallons of floodwater. Still, two thirds of the state’s dams have outlived their fifty-year lifespan, and eighty-five dams in the state are still considered to be a significant high-risk. Michigan isn’t the exception. It’s the norm across America. A catastrophic, cascading collapse of these critical water protection measures could follow any natural disaster which brings copious amounts of rain. Do you know what is upstream from you? Will you be ready to evacuate if you need to? Will your town and city be ready to receive millions of evacuees?4- Wastewater & Drinking WaterIt is the circulatory system of our country. The drinking water and wastewater systems keep our drinking water safe and carry away and treat our human waste. One is the artery system bringing life. The other is the vein system, carrying away and filtering out waste. They function as a somewhat closed system. In America’s system, though, some of those arteries and veins are like a person’s over one hundred years old. It is estimated that one million pipes have been in use for almost one hundred years, and some even longer than that. The aging system makes water breaks more prevalent, which means there are about two trillion gallons of treated water lost each year. Many in Flint, Michigan still don’t have clean drinking water, and Flint may just be the tip of the iceberg.Add to this that the US is estimated to need 532 new systems wastewater treatment facilities by 2032 just to keep pace with demand, and we have a recipe for a water disaster. Clean water in America has been a rising crisis, and it will likely only become worse as infrastructure projects continue to be delayed, postponed, or cancelled. One natural disaster causing waste water or groundwater to wash into clean drinking supplies could create a disaster that would take years to correct.Water is one of the cornerstones of prepping. Without an adequate supply, you’re desperate in hours and dead in days. In addition to the water storage solutions we’ve recommended on some of my other videos, we highly recommend some type of rapid water boiling system. If you are forced to evacuate, you probably won’t be able to take fifty gallons of water with you. That’s four-hundred and seventeen pounds. A solution is a portable means to rapidly boil undrinkable water and make it safe for consumption. We have Kelly Kettle’s available at the cityprepping.com website right now because they can provide you safe, clean, drinkable water in minutes.5- EnergyWe take for granted that when we flip a switch or turn a dial the lights come on or the burners on our stovetop light. We worry more about our smartphone’s charge than we do about the supply of energy we will need to charge it. Though not as old as America’s water systems, the majority of the country’s electrical transmission and distribution lines were built in the mid-twentieth century and had a life expectancy of about fifty years. Most are already outdated. The infrastructure that supports electricity, like power plants and power lines is already failing in devastating ways. Aging systems in California have already led to deadly and destructive wildfires, and rolling blackouts occur through every heatwave. The 2018 California fire called The CampFire was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. It caused eighty-five fatalities and wiped out whole communities within the first few hours. The towns of Paradise and Concow were almost completely destroyed, each losing about ninety-five percent of structures in town. What caused the fire? It wasn’t a lightning strike or some other random natural occurrence, it was ignited by a faulty electric transmission line.If big power suppliers continue to avoid investments in infrastructure, it will only get worse. In southern CA there have been fifty-four days from June through August where temperatures were in the nineties or over one-hundred degrees, and the power company’s response has been throttling back services through rolling blackouts. Frequent high winds result in the same rolling blackouts. All across America, our aging power supply lines are teetering on the edge of failure. Will you have the power you need to keep the heat on through the winter or the lights on in the darkness to stay safe and secure in your own home? Try to live a day without power in your home and figure out how to survive should you find yourself without this critical resource. Prepare accordingly.ConclusionAmerica’s infrastructure is more than just the five systems we mention in this video, but we have focused on these five because they are the most glaringly obvious failures occurring right now. When one system fails, it can cascade throughout that system and affect other systems. When levees break, drinking water systems can become contaminated. When power fails, wildfires can ravage the country. When roads or bridges fail, critical escape routes in the event of a natural disaster disappear. Even something as seemingly innocuous as crumbling empty school buildings can have a lasting impact on our education system and the United States’ standing in the world. Be aware of how these systems overlap for you in your area. What’s your plan for fresh drinking water? What’s your plan for waste disposal? What’s your plan for a fire, flood, or earthquake. Now is the time to prepare because if even one of these systems fails in one place, it can have a ripple effect across America.If you found this blog informative and helpful, please feel free to like and share it with your friends, family, and community.As always, please stay safe out there.
In this blog, we’ll take a look at the Kelly Kettle Rocket Stove. We recently did a blog on our website regarding rocket stoves. This particular setup is different and has some unique features we’ll go over in this blog. We’ll break this blog up into 3 parts:
Part 1: We’ll discuss the 4 main advantages rocket stoves offer during an emergency.
Part 2: We’ll show you how Kelly Kettles work by boiling water and allowing you to cook on the top of it.
Part 3: Final thoughts
So let’s jump in!
Part 1: The 4 Advantages of Rocket Stoves
#4 – They produce very little smoke
Rocket stoves are known for their ability to efficiently burn both small amounts of fuel and produce little smoke once they get heated up. This is great for OPSEC which is short for Operational Security. After an emergency that may cause people to lose their electricity or propane going into their house, most people will be cooking over an open fire which will signal others in their vicinity that they have a fire which will draw unwanted attention. With a rocket stove, you sharply reduce the amount of smoke you produce.
#3 – It uses an assortment of biomass
Most people either can’t store large amounts of cut wood due to space limitations and if the power grid goes down, being able to find usable fuel sources that could actually be used to cook would not be easy. With a rocket stove, it actually works best with very small sticks and other combustible material you can find laying around.
#2 – It’s easy to transport
This particular unit weighs a little over 2 pounds. It’s light enough to actually strap onto a bug out bag and can easily be tossed into your vehicle if an emergency requires you to bug out during an emergency.
#1 – They’re efficient
Just a handful of fuel can cook an entire meal. It uses a lot less fuel than an open fire, actually it uses less than 1/10th the wood required by an open cooking fire or wood burning stove. There’s no need to store large supplies of wood, scavenge, harvest or process a lot of wood to cook your food if cooking with propane or electricity is not an option.
Part 2: Kelly Kettle features
In this part of the blog, we’ll take a look at the features that make Kelly Kettles so unique.
The first feature is the ability to quickly boil water.
A Kelly Kettle has a double-walled water chamber with a stove in the middle. You start the fire at the base and allow the smoke to escape out of the chimney.
Simply fill with water to about half an inch below the water spout. Then lightly press the green whistle gently into the water spout of the kettle making sure the arrow is pointing down.
Boil your water as normal. Once done, using your two hands to grip the wire handle and hold it an angle of 90 degrees to the main body of the kettle. Then lift the kettle clear of the base.
Use the handle and chain for pouring.
Other unique features are the ability to use it to cook.
This can be done in 2 ways. The first method is by adding the grate on top and cook over the heat that comes out of the chimney. Also, you can add a small pot on the top and cook in it as well.
The second way is by turning the Kelly Kettle base into a wood fired camp stove with a seperate Hobo Stove.
Part 3: Final Thoughts
Some of the items in our emergency preparedness inventory are very specific for emergencies, but items like these are great for camping as well, so they kind of serve 2 functions. We just like the idea of having something that is portable, efficient, and requires very preparation to use, in this case just grab some twigs and dry leaves off the ground and you quickly have the ability to heat up water and cook food. When we go camping, we typically take freeze dried meals because we don’t like to deal with the preparation and clean up so having the ability to quickly and easily boil water comes in handy. As always, stay safe out there.
The US dollar is the preferred currency around the world and has been for many years, but it’s been a rocky road for the dollar lately. Some experts are predicting that the pressures facing the dollar could drive it’s value down against other world currencies. This could lead to the emergence of a new, preferred currency for global transactions. What does this mean to the future of the US economy? Do we need to prepare for the dollar’s potential collapse? Could the world’s shift away from the dollar bring about America’s economic implosion?In this blog, we will examine the five biggest threats facing the US dollar. Our comforts, our employment, our very way of life is tied to the world’s view of the strength of the dollar. Just as we prepare for whatever disaster we face, it’s necessary to do, from time-to-time, a threat assessment of the range of disasters we could face in the future. What are the indicators on the horizon that the dollar may lose its vaulted status as the reserve currency of the world, its value to buy goods and services, or even lead our nation’s decline into a deep economic depression? Should you be preparing to live without your greenbacks? Here are the five biggest threats to the US dollar…
1) The Federal Reserve Devaluing the Dollar
The Federal Reserve continues to devalue the dollar more and more. While this is often referred to as printing more money, what the Federal Reserve really does with a few clicks of the keyboard is issue government securities. Think of it as taking out a loan every month when new bills arrive in your mail. That strategy will not work if you try it with your home finances. It may convince others that you have money and you are creditworthy, but in the long run, the bills will come due.This strategy of creating more money is dependent upon a future of work, a future of productivity. So, while the US debt is in excess of twenty-six trillion dollars– the equivalent of eight-hundred-sixty-four thousand dollars for every tax payer in the United States, the Fed keeps issuing securities to pay for bailout programs and everything else it needs. This borrowing against future productivity is dependent upon a future of growth and a continually thriving economy. Assuming a major devaluation of the dollar, American workers will be impoverished first for their dollars buying fewer goods and services. But it won’t stop there. All production anywhere is a consequence of global cooperation among producers. Fully aware of the dollar’s reduced exchangeability, producers around the world will demand more dollars in return for the inputs that enable U.S.-based production. Even worse, producers around the world could seek payment in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Why, for instance, would Australia or Japan or Britain buy goods from Asia with the dollar weakening against their own currency? Fully a third of our US debt is owned by China and Japan. Were China or Japan to suddenly unload its reserve holdings, its currency’s exchange rate would rise, making Chinese and Japanese exports more expensive in foreign markets, unless they also chose to transact in a currency other than the US dollar. But, as China, in particular, inks deals with other countries to find new ports for its products because of a prolonged trade war with the U.S., what’s to keep it from cashing in its American debt chips? What does it have to lose when the U.S. consumer market is already dried up and the exports have slowed? Will foreign countries continue to want to buy US government securities, allowing the U.S. to continue to recklessly borrow and spend, if the U.S. credit worthiness drops again or the economy continues to slip into a depression? The possibility of China or Japan or both countries cashing out its thirty-three-point-eight percent of all U.S. debt to save their own economies is a real and ongoing threat to the U.S. dollar.
2) Gross Domestic Product Underwater
The second real, immediate threat to the U.S. dollar is the depth at which Gross Domestic Product in the U.S. and globally has plummeted. All that borrowing depends on future productivity, and the U.S. GDP has plummeted a staggering thirty-two point nine percent. Thirty-three percent! This is an index which historically moves in less than five percent increments. A loss of this magnitude hasn’t been seen since the Great Depression, yet the stock market soars. Economists are already starting to prognosticate a collapse and point to similarities between the stock market’s current vertical rise and earlier bubbles.The fact is that there isn’t anything good for the dollar when the GDP sinks so low so fast. Unless a recovery is swift and most of those thirty-five million unemployed get back to work this quarter, and exports start to rise again, continued declines are imminent. With one-point-one million jobless claims filed this week costing over a trillion dollars, we are not on a good track to get the nation back to work. A prolonged negative GDP erodes the US economy’s creditworthiness and credibility around the globe. As other countries also suffer from an economic downturn resulting from the pandemic, it’s safe to assume that they will look for other means of generating value for their production. Other countries will recover from the pandemic lockdown faster. This may result in turning to their own fiat currencies and reducing their imports from foreign countries. This could compound problems for the dollar.
3) Trade Wars and Tariffs
The third threat to the U.S. dollar is a continued trade war. While tariffs and trade wars may be necessary equalizers in a thriving global economy, they backfire when productivity and imports and exports drop. The U.S. is manufacturing less, selling less, exporting less, and importing less. The cost of imported goods is going up. The cost to export goods is going up. That all equals fewer transactions and more costly transactions. That’s bad news for the dollar, as the dollar’s strength is partly derived from its transactional speed.The global economy has slowed considerably and has become more localized. Countries are relying upon their own production means to supply their citizens as imports from other nations decrease. If you want to see this in real-time in the United States, go try and buy a bicycle or fishing supplies. The demand for these items, largely manufactured and imported from China, has outstripped supply as people seek activities to fill their time during a pandemic; but there are also slow to no imports to replenish supplies as trade slows and, in some cases, grinds to a halt.With economic uncertainty looming over the American consumer, they are more likely to postpone purchases. This results in a lower demand for imported goods, which, because of the trade war, are more expensive to the consumer anyways. During a time of economic decline, trade lines should be throttled open to encourage transactions, but a trade war and tariffs do the opposite of that, further complicating economies and markets.Add to this that the U.S. isn’t the only consumer in the world. Already, China’s response to the U.S. trade war has been to ink new deals with Australia and Brazil and others. The U.S. isn’t the only customer in the global store, so what happens when other countries simply find other consuming countries. Why would they then need to transact in U.S. dollars?
4) Chinese Cryptocurrency?
The fourth threat is a rumored one. With an ongoing trade war and other pressures eroding confidence in the U.S. dollar around the world, there have been rumors that China is looking to release its own cryptocurrency pegged to the Yuan and backed by gold. China’s efforts to release a cryptocurrency pegged to the Yuan becomes a shiny new option, and a new alternative to transactions in the U.S. dollar which take verifications from banks and a host of middlemen. Already, China conducts around sixteen percent of its transactions in electronic currencies. When goods and services built around the dollar no longer need lengthy contracts and teams of lawyers and bankers for verification, the dollar sheds some of its intrinsic value to instant transactions that do not require layer upon layer of verification and run on smart contracts.Cryptocurrencies are a bit of an unregulated wild-wild west right now, so many may turn to a stable government regulated and gold backed crypto currency, even if that government is China. If the dollar is perceived as weak or feckless, it is reasonable to assume people will want to bailout of it with as much value as they can get. Were the U.S. government to try and slow the ditching of the dollar by stalling transactions or imposing banking regulations, people with capital may turn to crypto currencies. This will drive their price up, for sure, but right now there is only two-hundred-fifty-one billion dollars in crypto currency available. Remember, the U.S. isn’t the only consumer in the global store. As such, it may not be able to maintain the rules of transactions by requiring its currency when so many other more viable options are out there. A new gold backed Chinese crypto currency, if the rumors are true, could deal a fatal blow to the U.S. dollar and cause a global monetary paradigm shift. These are just rumors right now. If true, the only things holding China back from proceeding with their plans were America’s dependence on consuming chinese exports, which has been eroded by a trade war and a global slowdown of purchases and the inking of alternate trade deals. When America no longer is one of China’s best customers, why would they receive the “best customer” treatment. Why would they continue to transact in U.S. dollars?
5) Election Year Uncertainties
The fifth threat to the U.S. dollars standing in the world is the fact that we are in an election year. This election is the most divisive and contentious election in years. One party defines the other as actually evil. One party defines the other as totalitarian. We have never seen such deep divisions in our lifetime. Maybe we will be just fine, and maybe there will be rioting in the streets. We don’t know. What the rest of the world sees, however, is that America is too tumultuous to risk investing in.Every administration, whether new or bolstered with the confidence of a second term, brings with it dramatic policy shifts. These shifts in policy ripple across economies, so the natural reaction to the possibility of policy shifts is to hold off on investments until the waters settle. After a brutal third quarter and during an already hemorrhaging fourth quarter, the last thing America needs is the rest of the world holding off on investing or making deals with the U.S.As it appears now, we may not really have any stability of vision until after inauguration day or slightly beyond. That’s around one hundred days of a global continual loss of confidence and delayed investing in the U.S. dollar at a time when the economy really needs to be chugging into a recovery with all hands on deck. As the rest of the world suffers similar global declines, though in many cases not as badly, will they seek to recover in more confident transactional currencies like the British Pound Sterling or the Japanese Yen?The days and weeks after November third will be watched closely by people around the world and may determine the longevity of the U.S. dollar.
Conclusion
In conclusion, do we in the prepping community need to anticipate a world where the U.S. greenback is no longer king– a world where transactions are no longer conducted in dollars? Maybe. The dollar derives much of its strength from the confidence of consumers around the world. When your own currency isn’t great because your government is teetering on the edge of collapse, people have turned to the strength and stability of the US dollar. There is now no doubt that, despite a soaring stock market, America is at the doorstep of a deepening recession, with historically high unemployment, a slowing economy, and looming evictions. Are we on the cusp of another Great Depression? The perception of stability comes from the perception of quiet and calm strength and confidence, but when citizens are pouring into the streets or the validity of elections is in question, that confidence disappears. This could lead many to seek a financial foothold in another country’s currency— one that is perceived as less tumultuous and calmer. Never before have we lived in a time where the movement away from one currency and into another could so instantaneously be achieved. If a massive wave out of the US dollar begins, the Federal Reserve and the President may not have the means to stop the tsunami of an exodus out of the dollar. None of that points to a bright future for the U.S. dollar at a time when other currencies may appear to have more value on a global stage.As always, stay safe out there.
Scenario Two: Joe Biden Clearly Wins the Popular & Electoral College Votes
Scenario Three: Donald Trump Wins Electoral Vote But Again Loses the Popular Vote
Scenario Four: Joe Biden Wins Electoral & Popular Votes By Narrow Margins
Scenario Five: Donald J. Trump Wins Electoral & Popular Votes By Narrow Margins
Recently we’ve been getting a lot of comments asking our thoughts about how the Presidential election will play out this year. So after doing research in preparation for this blog, we found an interesting bipartisan report which we think does a solid job of outlining various scenarios that will likely play out. In June twenty-twenty, the Transition Integrity Project convened a bipartisan group of over one hundred current and former senior government and campaign leaders and other experts in a series of twenty-twenty election crisis scenario planning exercises. These roughly one hundred individuals game roomed five main scenarios just like the Pentagon does in its war rooms. The results of all four table-top exercises were alarming. They concluded that there was an extremely high degree of likelihood that November’s elections will be marked by a chaotic legal and political landscape, violence in the streets, and a Constitutional crisis like we’ve never faced in our country before. The days between November third and, at a minimum, to inauguration day on January twentieth could be the most challenging days our nation will ever face.In some scenarios, the unraveling of the United States completely and a power struggle is a real possibility. Will the seventy-eight days between election night and inauguration day be America’s last days? In this video, we will look at the five scenarios explored by this bipartisan group and explore ways we can prepare ourselves to survive through the chaos.Why There is A Problem?The concept of “election night” is no longer accurate. The space between the casting of the first votes actually in mid-September through to inauguration day on January twentieth, was always to allow for an accurate and thorough counting of votes and to allow any newly appointed president enough time to travel from their state and transition to their duties in Washington, D.C. Though many think a clear winner is projected on election night, that isn’t always the case. In fact, it has become increasingly unlikely. This year state lockdowns might hamper access to polling places. Mail-in voting will be more widespread than ever due to the pandemic and might suffer from fraud. Foreign governments might try to hack into state electoral systems or even try to clandestinely start riots in cities to dissuade turnout. In addition, votes might prove so close that reliable and accurate recounts cannot occur in time. Under the Constitution, Congress sets the date of the election — November third of this year. The Constitution also establishes the deadline for states to send in their electoral votes, which is December fourteenth of this year.Even with a landslide clear projected winner, the disruption between any peaceful transition of power or the continuation of power of the current administration already looks to not be guaranteed. Seventy-eight days is a long time for chicanery, chaos, executive orders, media narratives, political leaders encouraging supporters to take up arms, congressional acts, court cases, accusations, blame games, and protests that are met with heavy-handed federal responses. If there is a crisis, events will unfold quickly, and sleep-deprived leaders will be asked to make consequential decisions quickly.With that being said, let’s examine five possible scenarios and outcomes that may play out beginning November third.Scenario One: No Clear Winner in the MorningThe worst possible scenario of the five covered here is that there isn’t a clear projected winner on the morning of November fourth. The power of congress to navigate such a crisis might be compounded by its own uncertainty of which party will assume power. Typically, new congressional members are sworn in within the first ten days of January as outlined in the constitution, but in a close congressional outcome and in the days following an election where both presidential candidates claim power, the smooth transition of government isn’t guaranteed.In the event of a close race that’s unclear in the morning, there will be calls for recounts in some states; there will be efforts to halt the counting of mail-in ballots or efforts to stop the counting of ballots and declare a winner; either party may seek to misrepresent the facts and cast aspersions on the process; there will be efforts to turn out the party’s base to the streets; there will be media spin echoing and amplifying the chaos and forcing the American population to pressure leadership to take action and deliver an outcome; there could be organized work strikes and stoppages; there may be actions by the federal government to quell violence, force outcomes, or even seize mail in ballots to ensure State officials stop counting ballots.In a time where chaos boils over into the streets in the hours after some events, what will seventy-eight days of uncertainty and anger bring? You have to prepare now for a possible long term lockdown of at least these eleven weeks. If the streets are not safe, food supply lines are stymied, stores may be looted by opportunistic individuals taking advantage of the chaos for their own gain. Fire and police services may be occupied and engaged elsewhere when you need them. Water and power might even be knocked offline for a long period of time.Scenario Two: Joe Biden Clearly Wins the Popular & Electoral College VotesIn the event of a clear margin win of both the popular and electoral college votes by Joseph Biden, America may still be spun into an extended period of chaos. While, traditionally, a transition team is formed and works with the outgoing administration to effect a peaceful, constructive, and informed transition of power, there is no guarantee that the current president will accept the results of a Joe Biden victory.The current administration could use its seventy-eight remaining days in office to contest election results, ignore election results, or even adopt some type of poison pill strategy to completely prevent the possibility of a transition of power. Already, from allegations of voter suppression to claims of voter fraud the seeds of chaos are being planted by both sides.A Joseph Biden win could pave the way for inquiries into the actions of the Trump administration, possible further litigation and judgements. Donald J. Trump would assuredly use his position for the remaining seventy-eight days to guarantee himself immunity from further investigations or prosecution. What measures might he take, and what repercussions might those efforts have? Is a peaceful transition of power guaranteed in a clear Joseph Biden victory given what we have already witnessed today?Scenario Three: Donald Trump Wins Electoral Vote But Again Loses the Popular VoteSimilar to the twenty-sixteen election and the two-thousand election, it’s an increasing probability that a candidate can lose the popular vote and still win an electoral vote. In two-thousand we saw some courthouses overrun and some small pockets of chaos. In twenty-sixteen we saw post election protests of thousands and thousands of people taking to the streets. What would twenty-twenty bring in an already conflicted and tumultuous environment?In the previous two elections where this scenario played out, we also didn’t have riots, looting, or armed civilians in the streets. Now, some elements of the armed Right are taking to the streets to face protestors. Some on the Left see this election as the last chance to stop a rapid and potentially irreversible US decline into authoritarianism and unbridled nativism and have also taken to the streets. Amid these two very divergent sides, opportunistic fometers of chaos on both sides are advocating for the destruction of the US government establishment all together. The result has been looting, riots, arson, and altercations that seem to get worse and worse, more deadly and destructive everyday. Absent a call for unity, could a spark by either side detonate a powder keg of death and destruction across America?An election by the electoral college without the results matching the popular vote, could be such a spark. It is far from a guarantee of a peaceful outcome. A conflict between these votes could create the atmosphere to further contest election results or processes; and, again, these conflicts could boil over into cities and towns across America. States with distinct party control could choose to stop vote counting or forcibly continue vote counting against the Federal government’s mandates. As states rebel from federal will is another Civil War possible? At the very least, these conflicts and altercations could lead to constitutional crises, judicial rulings, and congressional battles. They could result in eleven or more weeks of chaos swirling around your and in your peaceful neighborhoods.Scenario Four: Joe Biden Wins Electoral & Popular Votes By Narrow MarginsA Joseph Biden victory but with narrow margins would assuredly result in significant spin and push back from the current administration. The current administration has floated the idea that any close race may not be accepted. And, we have all seen how the mainstream media and fringe news outlets can sew division and stoke the fires of confusion.A narrow margin win, really, by either candidate would lead to chaos and could lead to violence. There is a significant possibility of simultaneous street mobilizations by both Trump and Biden supporters, in which case the possibility for violence will increase significantly, and the actions of law enforcement will become critical. Significant opportunities for government overreach and seizure of your power as a citizen can be done in the name of “restoring order” or “protecting property.”Given a narrow Biden victory, would the Trump administration focus on their own self-preservation, quickly rush to pardon everyone by resigning early and letting the vice president hastily pardon everyone, or even spark a foreign conflict to divert attention away from contested results? Would an outgoing administration destroy potentially incriminating evidence or seek to disrupt the transition process? Nobody can really know with any certainty how either parties will act in a narrow margin victory. Nobody has a crystal ball for this one, but studied experts with far more experience than you or I with these matters are unanimously concluding that we’re in for a very, very rocky road.Scenario Five: Donald J. Trump Wins Electoral & Popular Votes By Narrow MarginsThough there are many scenarios that we can’t fully cover in this video, another probable outcome is a Donald J. Trump win of both the electoral and popular votes. Though a landslide might also be possible, if there is any validity at all to any polls, a win would likely be more by narrow margins, so that’s what we’ll look at here.After the twenty-sixteen election, thousands of citizens poured out into the streets upset that their popular vote did not coincide with the electoral vote. Even with a clear win of both votes, it would be reasonable to assume that the same outpouring of citizenry would occur. The difference this year, however, is that there already are protests in the streets. Unemployment is at an all time high and benefits are expiring while rents and mortgages are becoming increasingly overdue. Government is still quite divisive, but in twenty-twenty parties seem to have stopped trying to work together at all and the people are more disillusioned and apt to anger. What happens when an angry, hungry, and poor population pours out into the streets and is met by a president who ran on a platform of “law and order” countering with heavily armed federal forces? Also in twenty-twenty, we have already witnessed a president who feels comfortable pulling federal funding, if he believes it necessary, from Democratically governed States. If states held up vote counting or refused to stop vote counting at the hest of the Department of Justice and the president, is it possible that the president might halt the flow of federal funding to these states? Could these states then retaliate by halting the flow of money into the federal coffers. This scenario with just two states could reveal an even greater conflict. The Democratically run states of California and New York makeup twenty-two-point-seven percent of gross domestic product and eighteen percent of the United States’ population. Are we at a point where the federal government will trounce state autonomy or state’s will toy with the idea of succession? We don’t really know, but if twenty-twenty taught us anything it is to expect that anything can happen, so I don’t think we can rule the possibility out.ConclusionThere are far more possibilities and scenarios than the five discussed here. The possibility of a hostile foreign country or terrorist organization detonating explosives and leaving both political parties pointing the finger of blame at each other but keeping people away from the polls wasn’t explored here, but foreign agitators remain a possibility. Our nation’s enemies aren’t taking a break to let us have a peaceful vote. Voting machine hacking, the intentional destruction of ballots, or people intentionally voting both by mail and in-person wasn’t explored here. In a different time, voting twice would have resulted in criminal charges and the invalidation of both votes; however, we live in a time where the president of the United States has just suggested, or joked, or whatever you want to call it that the people of North Carolina do just that– vote twice. We live in a time where the attorney general followed up by saying he wasn’t sure if voting twice would be illegal. There are countless scenarios and we have only explored five likely possibilities here. None of them really end well, so you need to be aware of how this can jeopardize your safety and threaten your survival in the immediate future. If voting is important to you and you don’t trust the mail system right now, consider completing a ballot and taking it in-person to your county election office days before November third. This will keep you safe from any chaos in the streets on election day.Do plan for a contested election right up to and possibly even after January twentieth. There likely will not be an election night winner, and neither party is going into this election willing to accept defeat. The seventy-eight days between election night and inauguration could undo over two-hundred and forty years of America’s nation building. Before food supply lines and distribution methods are jeopardized, make sure your supplies are in order. Make sure you have a means to store and purify drinking water. Make sure you have a means to produce heat for winter if you live in colder climates. Prepare now for what is shaping up to be the most volatile election of our lifetimes.If you found this blog informative and helpful, please feel free to like and share it with your friends, family, and community. As always, please stay safe out there.
The prepping community can feel a little overwhelming to newcomers. There are thousands of eventualities that people prepare for and an endless supply list. Everyone has an opinion about what you need for any given situation. So, what’s essential to you in your situation? Where do you start to begin to prepare for the disasters or events that could threaten your survival? Perhaps you are getting prepared for when a natural disaster strikes or you see something more ominous on your horizon. Regardless of the reason you started prepping, you need to know that every disaster, manmade or natural, has a timeframe. The time leading up to the disaster will determine how well you can weather it. And, your chances of survival when a disaster strikes will depend on your understanding of how disasters unfold, how people react, and how you should react. Do you know what you should be prepping? Do you really have what you need to survive?In this blog we will look at the five things you need to do now in your prepping to increase your real chances of survival in any crisis or disaster situation. There are a number of videos on this channel where you can find greater detail about the points in this video, so I want to encourage those new to the prepping community to explore this channel further. For those who have been prepping for a while, we think you’ll find this blog as a checklist to keep your plans for preparedness on track and in-line with the current threats we face. Here are the five things you should do now because when a disaster or crisis situation does strike, you will quickly lose the opportunity to prepare.
1) Secure Your Essentials
Of course, the first thing you need to do before a disaster strikes or in the immediate moments after a disaster strikes, is to secure your essentials. Food, water, shelter, and your personal security should all be top priorities to you. You should have food stored that you know how to prepare, and while there are different opinions on how much you should have stored up, much will depend on the type of disaster you face. Having a year’s supply of food does little good if you are forced to bug out of your once safe location because of rising flood waters or fire. Bulky cans and bags of beans are not impossible to carry, but may become problematic if speed is of the essence. We have other blogs on foods to store, but consider the weight of your food and the caloric value of it as well as how much you and every member of your family unit will need to survive at least a minimum of three weeks. Dehydrated and freeze dried foods are lighter in weight, but they need water to rehydrate themWater is the other essential you should secure in the time before disaster strikes and in the moments immediately when the disaster strikes. Your water supply may seem to be operational now, but it depends on a working, functional infrastructure to deliver it to your home or apartment. Unmonitored municipal water supplies can become contaminated with chemicals and sewage. When disaster strikes, immediately fill any containers you have, including your bathtub. Take a moment to hydrate yourself too. If your water supplies are threatened, you will be glad you took that moment. Filling containers and your bathtub, will greatly support your existing water supply. A fifty-five gallon drum of water can sit for years at the side of a garage, unseen and unused until you critically need it. A personal water filter or filtration straw, like we recommend, can provide an individual with one hundred thousand gallons of clean water for under twenty bucks. Just having a mini Sawyer makes you better prepared for disaster than everyone else, and because of its pocket size you can quickly grab it and go if you are forced to flee. Above all else, secure your food and water supply.Finally, secure your shelter. Before disaster or civil unrest strikes and endangers your safety, make sure that your doors and windows lock. Make sure your location is secure. Consider a home security system. Make sure that your personal safety is considered. There are many methods for personal security ranging from a simple knife or can of mace up to and beyond a complete weapons cache and a ton of ammo. You need to assess what you feel you need to keep yourself and your loved ones safe in the crisis and situations you might face. Think of your shelter as your person as well. Is your body protected? Are you safe? What can you do to increase your personal security and the safety of your shelter?
2) Diversify Your Resources
The second thing you need to know is to diversify your resources–energy, food, and assets. As mentioned earlier, if all your food supplies were in bulky cans, you’re in trouble if you have to bugout. As you prepare for disasters or civil unrest, diversify the types of supplies you have. Don’t rely upon any single thing.Make sure that you have multiple sources of power. Batteries won’t last forever and losing power in a disaster is a common occurrence. Portable solar cell batteries and chargers have significantly dropped in price over the years. Having a means to recharge rechargeable batteries with solar generated energy increases your energy independence. It diversifies your energy sources. In an extended crisis, you might also find it a valuable resource you can barter with. What would it be worth to a person to get their batteries recharged when the power is out for a long period of time?Diversify your food resources as well. Make sure that you have alternate means to stretch and replenish your stored food supplies. Know how to forage. Know what you can grow. Know whom you can trade with. In any crisis, food is better than gold. It’s the first thing people will look for. It’s the first thing people will wish they had more of. You can only store so much, though. There is always the possibility that the crisis may outlast your stored supplies, so whether supplementing your food with food you can grow or learning to forage in your environment, you need to learn how to diversify your food supplies.Diversify your assets with a similar mindset. Having even a couple of hundred dollars in cryptocurrency or silver, could be a smart move if the dollar collapses or the economy slips from a recession to a depression. Spread any financial assets into a diversified mix that improves liquidity and access while reducing risk exposure to single dependence on the US dollar. We are not a financial consultant and my videos are purely educational, but it makes sense that your ability to survive through a prolonged downturn may rely upon your ability to keep financially afloat. That will mean you will have to have a range of fiscal resources at your disposal as well as a sense of their value and an ability to barter.
3) Sell, sell, sell. Buy, buy, buy.
When a disaster or crisis strikes you may still have some time. In fact, if you are thinking like a prepper already, you are anticipating the possibilities. If the pandemic taught anyone anything, it’s that runs on essentials like food and toilet paper happen pretty rapidly as soon as the general population begins to sense the looming catastrophe. You don’t even need a disaster to strike. You just need the herd of people to believe a threat is looming. When disaster strikes or is about to strike, your time is limited to sell things you will not need in the long haul if a prolonged economic decline, for instance, is really at your doorstep. Have you been considering whether you need that second car, for instance? If you don’t, someone might be wanting it, but a week from the point of the downturn, it will be hard to sell anything. If we are on a cusp of an economic depression, now might be the best time to refinance your house or reallocate your savings. In the months after the lockdowns from the pandemic, the purchase of big-ticket items slowed. The price and sales of used trailers, fishing equipment, emergency supplies, and fishing and hunting supplies skyrocketed. Demand was high for these items, but many held off on the purchase of that new but not very practical new car. Even now, eight months into a pandemic, we were shocked to discover that we couldn’t buy a fishing rod and reel at some sporting goods stores. Whether that is because people sense a looming threat, whether supplies of product from China has ground to a halt in a worsening trade war, or whether people are just looking for a cheap way to entertain themselves during a pandemic, we don’t know. It doesn’t matter to the fact that fishing supplies are sparse right now. Take a holistic look at your prepping supplies. Are you prepared for a variety of disasters? Do you have the things you would deem essential? We never encourage people to go out and max out their credit cards or increase their debt for a disaster that may never befall you, but do make a list of the items you feel are essential. Start slowly and incrementally making those purchases. Over time, you will find that you have what you need hopefully before you truly need it. Even simply saving jars and filling them with rice or dried beans over several weeks can lead to an adequate supply of food when disaster strikes. Think incrementally now. Whatever decisions you make regarding what you should sell or what you should buy, give those decisions their due thought right now rather than wait for the time when decisions must be made in desperation.
4) Stock Your Skills
The greatest resources you have to survive any disaster or crisis are your skills and knowledge, but you cannot simply wait to develop those skills and knowledge when or after a disaster or crisis occurs. Don’t put off to that day what you should be learning today. We recently posted a blog on ten skills you can develop now to survive an economic depression, so you may want to take a look at that.Do you anticipate that you may be fishing a local lake or river to supplement your food sources or to sell or trade fish. Is fishing one of your skills? When was the last time you actually worked on that skill? What do your tackle and supplies look like? Assuming you can’t just run to the local store, do you have what you need?Do you anticipate needing to repair or make your own clothes? What do your supplies look like? Do you have the bolts of fabric you will need to make enough garments for your own needs and to have products to sell? Do you have enough durable rather than dainty fabrics? When was the last time you actually made an article of clothing from scratch? Are your skills where they need to be?Are you going to garden or cook or forage for food? Do you have the essentials you’ll need like seeds or flour or plant identification books to get you through an extended economic collapse? Whatever your skill is, beef up your supplies now. Runs on stores in the days leading up to and following an economic collapse or disaster will deplete store shelves and it will be too late. You will constantly be looking for what you need, like the majority of desperate people, and likely not finding it. Again, don’t feel like you need to max out your credit cards. We feel strongly that you can effectively prep incrementally, a little each week.
5) Location, location, location
The fifth thing you should do now to prepare yourself is to know your locations. If you’re prepping in an urban environment, do you have bug-out locations with other people? Can you go across town to a friend’s house if your location is no longer safe? Likewise, does your friend know they can come to your location? These pacts amongst friends and family will provide you a network of safe locations should you be driven from or forced to flee your home or apartment. Is there a rural or suburban family member in your network you can bug out to?During the Great Depression, people were forced to move to find work or food. Natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes can leave large swaths of land uninhabitable. Today, we are more spread out from our families and often separated by thousands of miles. Have an option B and an option C. Run possible scenarios through your head and make some loose plans for where you can go when things become untenable where you are at.Of course, if you are already in a rural location, you probably don’t need a bug-out location. But having a pact among your neighbors can still keep you safer in a drawn out crisis. For the urban and suburban prepper, having a remote bug-out location or two is always a solid bet. It allows you options, and so much of survival is centered around not running out of options. Do realize that bugging-out has many challenges. It can be difficult and dangerous to leave your bug-in location and travel to your bug-out location. Consider making a dry run to test the route you’ll take and maybe return on an alternate route. Just as a commuter after several years has multiple. possible routes should one route become congested, you too should have multiple routes to your safer locations.
Conclusion
It’s easy to have a tremendous amount of built up anxiety about what is happening in the world today and what might possibly happen in our immediate future. Prepping provides you a means to calm those anxieties and replace those feelings with the confidence that you have prepared where you can and can face the challenges. Develop an incremental approach to your preparedness. Cover the major concerns first and then start ticking away bit-by-bit on the smaller, long term survival needs. In the times before and the moments immediately after a disaster strikes, you may still be able to make some long term preparations. Don’t waste this relatively calm time now. Secure your essentials first. Look to diversify your resources. Make the transactions now of the items you don’t really need for what you still need. Stock up on your skills, and know your locations. You can be ready when you need to be by starting slowly and methodically now.Have you been prepping for a long time? What’s your best advice for new preppers? We would love for you to share it in the comments below. We learn a tremendous amount from you as well, and together we stay prepared for whatever the world throws at us. As always, stay safe out there.
What to Grow in Your Apartment to Survive a CollapseIf you are ever forced to spend a prolonged period in your apartment, either in lockdown or quarantine, or you ever have to in the future, you’ll quickly realize that while you can, technically, survive on your cupboard, stored foods, dehydrated foods, beans, and rice, nothing beats fresh vegetables and plants for their essential nutrition and their psychological boost. So much prepper information is out there about high protein, high starch, calorically dense food you should have in your supplies, and there’s plenty of information about starting your micro-farm if you’re fortunate enough to have a sliver or parcel of land. If you’re prepping in an apartment environment, you shouldn’t just be prepping to bug-out. That may not be an option all the time. You need to prepare for bugging-in, and that means, to survive an extended bug-in, you will need to grow enough rich plant foods to help you survive an extended period in doors. This is the second blog in this series 15 through 25 along with my tip for a bigger harvest at the end. If you’re watching this blog but missed the first one, you will want to read that one for information on creating your growing space in your apartment and the first 15 best plants to grow to supplement your nutrition during an extended lockdown.
Mushrooms. It used to be really hard to get the conditions just perfect to grow mushrooms in your home. Add to that the very unappealing fact that you’re growing a fungus in your home, and even today the mushroom is overlooked. Now, though, there are so many kits on the market and so much more material out there on how to grow them that they’re a great option. This edible fungi is rich in vitamin B, phosphorus, potassium and copper. If you set them in the sun for 15 minutes before using them, they’ll carry a good dose of vitamin D along with them. The real plus for mushrooms is the fact that they grow so fast, continue to produce and usually can grow just fine in total darkness. That makes them essential to your apartment garden in a grid down situation. Consider having a dry kit stored in your prepper supplies.
Carrots. Carrots need a deeper area to grow, but they will grow very well and very long in a 5 gallon pail from your local hardware store. In addition to having a decent nutrition density, you can eat the entire plant. Harvest some of the green tops while the root grows out. You can add them to salads or even make a pesto out of them.
Potatoes. Until this season, we thought you needed a decent sized area to grow potatoes. This season, however, we’re easily growing them in a 5 gallon, plastic pail. One potato that turns a little green or has a lot of eyes because it’s past its prime, can be planted in a pail and yield you many more. Many will remember a recent Hollywood blockbuster where Matt Damon survives for months on potatoes. They’re a good source of starches and carbohydrates. Originating in South America, there are well over 4,000 different types of potatoes, 200 of which are sold in the United States. The ancestors of the Incans thrived on them over 10,000 years ago. Whatever you grow in the tuber family, don’t eat the leaves or any green fruits, as there is a toxin in them.
Sweet Potatoes. Along with the potato, the sweet potato gets a solid mention. It has a slightly higher nutritional value than the average potato. It also is loaded with beta-carotene. The sweet potato is also easy to grow with the pail method, so having one type of tuber plant is a real plus. Tubers will keep for a long time if you keep them dry and out of direct sunlight. Don’t wash them when you harvest. Only wash them when you’re ready to prepare them to eat.
Yams. Yams are not sweet potatoes, though many don’t know the distinction. For all the reasons tubers are good in your garden, Yams are right there too. The terms yam and sweet potato are often used interchangeably in grocery stores. But they are two different starchy vegetables that deliver different nutrient profiles. In most cases, the “yams” sold in grocery stores are actually orange-coloured sweet potatoes. Whatever you call your yams, know that they’re loaded with nutrients you need and easy to grow.
Dandelion. Another weed makes my list of 25 here. The dandelion was once a staple food in the American diet. People actually cultivated them right out of their lawns. They are loaded with vitamins a, k, and the mineral iron. It grows like a weed so it will easily grow in your apartment garden. The flowers, leaves, roots, the whole plant can be eaten and there are a number of recipes online from salad greens, to roasted for a coffee substitute, to dandelion wine.
Chamomile. While not a nutritional powerhouse, chamomile is easy to grow. In fact, it’s said the rougher you are with the plant the better it tends to grow, so you don’t have to treat it with kid gloves. While not devoid of nutrition, it is known for its calming effects, so it’s worthy of this list.
Sunflowers. If you can handle the height requirements of sunflowers, they grow easily on porches. The entire plant from root to flower is edible. Typically, we only think of the seeds. The seeds are a very good source of fats and proteins. Sunflowers can also serve as trellising for your beans and peas.
Peppers. In the interest of time, we won’t list out all your options in the pepper category. There are too many. Whether you grow a smoky and sweet Marconi or bird pepper variety it doesn’t matter. Peppers are loaded with carbohydrates, vitamin c, b6, a, k, e, potassium, and folate. The indoor or apartment gardener has an advantage over the outdoor gardener with pepper plants. Insects love to eat pepper plants, but they have a much harder time getting to your third floor balcony. Peppers are a great patio container plant with a very high yield and great nutrient density.
Kale. Kale grows very well and can be harvested slowly over an entire growing season. It deserves a spot on the list for that reason and because it has a good nutrient density score and it is easy to grow. I could have just as easily put mustard greens in here for the same reasons. One big advantage for the urban gardener for this plant is your growing area, even if out on your balcony, will likely not have slugs or too many insects that would feast on these plants in your typical garden.
Turnips, beets, and radishes. I’ll finish our list of 25 with these three root vegetables. Turnips, beets, and radishes grow easily and you can eat the entire plant. They have a high nutrition value, so they deserve consideration for your micro survival garden. You can easily harvest the leaves throughout the season, so you can eat the whole plant over a long period of time.
Conclusion
There are so many possibilities for your apartment prepper garden. We could have listed a couple of hundred plants, we think, and it was hard to limit the list to just 25. We’d love to hear what you’re growing in the comments section. If you recall from the beginning of the blog we said that we would have a tip for pollinating your plants down here at the end. For plants that produce a flower, then fruit, you will want to plant at least two and use a Q-tip to pollinate them since you likely won’t have many insects to help you do the job. To do this, rub the Q-tip in the flower and continue that process until all the flowers have been gently rubbed. This mimics what a bee would do with the pollen in nature.For greater detail on the garden itself, check out my earlier video; but we will leave you with two more pieces of advice. While a micro-garden may not be enough to sustain you through a crisis, it can easily stretch out dwindling supplies for much, much longer. It can provide you with minerals you aren’t likely to get on a survival diet. To take full advantage of an urban prepper garden, you have to start now. You can’t wait until a crisis hits and hope to plant some seeds. You also should look into methods of fermentation and a countertop dehydrator. Don’t let one bit of your plant go to waste. Start now to learn how to cook, preserve, and eat the plants you grow. When a crisis does befall you and you find yourself sheltering in place or quarantined, you’ll be able to easily ramp up your system and make full utilization of it instead of having to wait 60-90 days.Many of the vegetables we buy in grocery stores can be easily grown in our own home. Onions, lettuce, beetroot greens, and celery don’t even need soil to regrow. It is important to remember not to expect high yield from your vegetable garden. They will likely only act as a supplement, albeit an essential one, to your food supply, providing additional flavor and nutritional value to the food you eat. Plants give us a psychological boost. Sure, they produce oxygen and provide some physiological benefit to us, but the psychological benefit of being around growing things and the psychological benefit of caring for another living thing cannot be understated. This can provide a small boost to you when you are bugging-in for an extended period of time. This can make your time locked inside feel less like a prison sentence. Having a positive mental attitude and an attitude of survival is one of the most critical aspects of determining whether a person really will survive or perish. Plants can greatly contribute to our clarity and positivity.If you found this blog informative and helpful, please feel free to like and share it with your friends, family, and community. We at City Prepping would love to hear what you’re growing, your success stories and your failures. As always, please stay safe out there.
What to Grow in Your Apartment to Survive a Collapse
Spaces, Light, Water, & Air
What to Grow & Why We Chose What We Chose
The List & Why
If you are ever forced to spend a prolonged period in your apartment, either in lockdown or quarantine, or you ever have to in the future, you’ll quickly realize that while you can, technically, survive on your cupboard, stored foods, dehydrated foods, beans, and rice, nothing beats fresh vegetables and plants for their essential nutrition and their psychological boost. So much prepper information is out there about high protein, high starch, calorically dense food you should have in your supplies, and there’s plenty of information about starting your micro-farm if you’re fortunate enough to have a sliver or parcel of land. If you’re prepping in an apartment environment, you shouldn’t just be prepping to bug-out. That may not be an option all the time. You need to prepare for bugging-in, and that means, to survive an extended bug-in, you will need to grow enough rich plant foods to help you survive an extended period in doors. In a previous blog, we covered the essential elements of the apartment micro-farm, and we received so many questions seeking more specifics about what, specifically, to grow. There’s a lot of information out there, but much of it isn’t really practical for the urban prepper. In this blog, we’ll look at the essentials for the urban prepping gardener, why we chose the 25 plants we’re recommending here, and then a list of the 25 plants we suggest you grow and why we chose them. At the end we’ll give you a tip for pollinating your plants, since some plants will need this to produce fruit, and we’re assuming you don’t have a beehive in your house. So, let’s get to it.1- Spaces, Light, Water, & AirIn our earlier blog we go more in-depth into the 3 essential elements your plants need: space, light, water, and air. Check that blog out for a deeper dive, but a quick summary of each of these: First, you need to assess your growing spaces. Windowsills, porches, counter space, vertical planting on walls and windows, and even grow tents are all options. It is possible to place LED grow lights under a kitchen cabinet and convert counter space into your own growing area. Be creative, but assess the amount of space, light and air your grow spaces have to understand how you might need to supplement.Second, light: If you have a full sun balcony you’re in great shape, but that’s not typically the setup of an urban apartment. Fortunately, grow lights have dropped from hundreds of dollars to under $100, with many options under $20. Light supplementation will take a sallow plant to a high producing, thriving plant. LED grow light strips are easy to use and install under cabinets, and grow light bulbs are under $10 and will easily convert any old table lamp to your plant’s best friend. Long exposure to UV light can be dangerous, but your typical small wattage bulbs like these are low heat and a very low dose of the UVC wavelength. They can often be used in conjunction with a timer, so you can run them when you are away or not in the room. If you have them come on at night, place your cellphone and money in a tray near to the light for an easy way to sanitize them while you sleep. The third essential is water. You don’t want to water your plants over hydrating yourself, but remember that plants can use water that is unfit for you to drink. Any balcony rainwater collection system is highly encouraged. Collecting water from your shower and using it to water your plants is another effective way to keep your plants watered properly. Plants in direct sunlight will need more water, and many plants will welcome a mister from time to time. Know which ones though. You should avoid ever getting the leaves of tomatoes or squash wet, as this can easily result in powdery mildew, especially in areas with challenged direct sunlight. We have found that one of the keys to a decent garden is to water on a schedule and consistently. Forgetting or skipping the schedule can cause the plant to stress and will decrease your harvest.The fourth essential element is air. Don’t forget that your plants are breathing in carbon dioxide through the stomata plant cells in their leaves. A plant can easily absorb all the available carbon dioxide around it in an hour. That’s great for you, because it’s putting out oxygen in your environment; but you need to make sure that your plants are getting enough oxygen. Even a USB fan circulating air is enough to allow your plants to breathe.Space, light, water, and air. You need all four for a successful indoor apartment micro-farm. If your plants aren’t doing well, you are probably missing one of those vital elements. A final thought on this, to truly be prepared you should consider how you will supplement these vital elements in a grid down situation. We already mentioned collecting rainwater, but consider some type of small, portable solar panel sufficient enough to run some low wattage LED grow lights. This will create a more self-sufficient independence for your grow space.
2- What to Grow & Why We Chose What We Chose
The American diet is horribly dependent upon the big 3: corn, soy, and wheat. In fact, our dependence on these big 3 foods is at the expense of our health. Many people are coming down with allergies to soy and wheat, and alone they don’t have enough of the nutrients we need to stay healthy. Go into any grocery store and outside the periphery of the meats, dairy and vegetable sections, it’s mainly foods that are all heavily processed corn, wheat, or soy. We’ve moved away from eating the abundance of foods that easily grow and require very little processing before finding their way onto our plates. Don’t even think about growing corn in your apartment garden. While you can easily do it, we think for the space it takes versus the yield, it isn’t worth it. That being said, having the seeds in your supplies is a good thing. So much of prepping, as we mentioned earlier, focuses on high protein, high starch, calorically dense food, and these are important; however, your apartment garden plants should focus on nutritional density, medicinal and physiological fortification, and minerals and vitamins. While your beans, rice and pasta can provide the bulk of your proteins and starches, your plants can fill-in all the gaps to make you not only survive but thrive.So, the plants we chose here may not be things you find in your large grocery store. They may not be plants you ever thought you could eat. The plants in the list were chosen because of some combination of ease to grow, nutrient density, or their medicinal profile or their effects on our physiology. For each plant we will emphasize one of these aspects.
3- The List & Why
So here are the 25 plants for your prepper apartment survival garden. They are in no particular ranking because what you choose to grow is going to depend heavily upon your growing space and what you need to supplement your stored foods.
Sprouts. Whether alfalfa, mung bean, clover, broccoli, or Adzuka. Sprouts are not only easy, but they typically produce at a 7 to 1 ratio. One large mason jar of seeds stored in your supplies can, potentially, produce 950 grams fat, 3230 grams of protein, and the same amount of fiber. As they only require water and a windowsill’s worth of light, and can easily be stored in dry seed form, sprouts can be an amazing survival food. Sprouts and microgreen sprouting have become very popular, so there’s an abundance of products and writing on the subject. The key with sprouts is that you can harvest nutrient-dense foods in around a week. Most plants you will have to wait over 60 days before you can harvest. This makes sprouts a good emergency food as well. They’re easy, nutrient dense, and with such a balanced high protein and fiber profile, you could survive on sprouts for a long period of time. When you rinse your sprouts, reserve the water for your other plants.
Tomatoes. With over 10,000 known cultivars of tomatoes, you’re almost guaranteed that there is one that will thrive in your apartment garden. From the pea-sized currant tomato to, cherry, to styles specifically meant for small porch pots, a handful of tomatoes can provide you with essential calcium, potassium, vitamin C, and almost 1,500 IUs of vitamin A. You can grow varieties in window sills, small pots, and even as a hanging plant. Even if you don’t grow them, having them in dried form in your food stores. They can easily be hydrated or powdered and added to foods. They retain their nutrients better than most plants.
Chives. We’ll cover several herbs, but the chive definitely stands out as a powerhouse in your home garden. It’s, essentially, a grass type plant, so it grows really well once you get it in the right 4 elements. Chives are a nutrient-dense food. This means that they are low in calories but high in beneficial nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. They are in the Allium genus, which also includes garlic, onions, and leeks. A potentially positive relationship between Allium plants and certain health conditions such as heart disease, inflammation, and high blood sugar. These plants may also have antitumor and antimicrobial effects. The CDC gives it a nutrient density score of 54.8. That’s an indicator of the bioavailability of the vitamins and minerals, their density and amounts. That’s also higher than a lemon, sweet potato, tomato, even a pumpkin. In addition to giving a mild onion flavor, it can easily be dried, stored and powdered right over your food. Like the tomato, chives will retain their nutritional profile. It’s one of the best and easiest herbs to grow.
Parsley. The only other herb we’ll mention here, though there are many more, is Parsley. Parsley is very easy to grow and has a nutrient density 0f 65.59. It is loaded with iron, a, c, and k vitamins. It’s so easy to grow and can easily be harvested and dried for later use, that it earns a spot on this list.
Scallions. If you don’t throw out the bottom inch or two of your store bought green onions, you can easily regrow them to full length in a coffee cup of water. To think, you’ve wasted all that money buying them when you could have been growing them in your window sill. Also a member of the Allium genus, the CDC gives it a nutrient density score of 27.83.
Garlic. If left too long on the counter, that clove of garlic will probably begin to sprout. That’s how badly this plant wants to grow. That’s how easily it grows. Put that clove in a little water for a few days, then transfer to a small pot of dirt, and you can harvest the green tops and flowers for consumption and a brand new head of garlic at the end of your grow season. While you can’t eat tons of garlic, nor survive solely on garlic, it does have a really good profile of amino acids, minerals, and nutrients. As part of the Allium family, as well, it can help fortify your physiology and has strong antimicrobial properties.
Lettuce. Don’t throw out that bottom two inches of your romaine lettuce head. Like the green onions, you can regrow this easily in your window sill with some water. Transplant it to a small pot and grow it even bigger. Lettuce has a reputation for being a filler that provides little nutrient value, but that’s actually a myth. Leaf lettuce actually has a CDC nutrient density score of 70.73. It contains a decent amount of vitamin A and potassium. It’s nutritional value and ease of growing scores it a place on the list.
Watercress is a bit more challenging to grow because it’s essentially an aquatic plant. If you have an aquarium you’re not using, this plant will grow easily. It will grow in well hydrated soil, as well, and doesn’t require a lot of direct sunlight. The main reason to grow it is that the CDC nutrient density score for it is 100. It’s a powerhouse of vitamins and nutrients that your body can easily access.
Purslane. If you’ve never heard of it, we wouldn’t be surprised. Purslane is a leafy vegetable that most likely originated in the Mediterranean region. It is widely eaten throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. It is an annual succulent with a slightly sour and salty taste, making it an interesting addition to the plate and palate. It mainly grows as a weed in the American yard, which means you can forage for it in areas you know aren’t sprayed with weed killers or pesticides. In traditional Chinese medicine, purslane was widely used to treat everything from diarrhea and intestinal bleeding to hemorrhoids and dysentery. It’s loaded with omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins A & C. Purslane likes a lot of sun.
Strawberry. Strawberries don’t have a great nutrition density score, but they have a decent amount of vitamin C, manganese, and folate. They’re also easy to grow in a pot or flat. They can provide you needed sugars, they love water and direct sun, but can grow in a variety of environments. You can eat them fresh or dry them to save for later, as they retain their nutrition when dried and can easily be hydrated.
Beans. We know, you have those dried pinto beans in your supplies. If you run low, you can grow more by sprouting them. A bean is the seed of one of several genera of the flowering plant family Fabaceae. It is one of the oldest cultivated plants. There’s a reason for this, it grows easily and will thrive when trellised on just one patio wall. The protein and carbohydrate properties of beans makes it another food you can easily survive on. There are so many varieties that we will only mention a few that you can easily grow, starting with the soybean. Put a few soybeans in soil with water and light and you’re on your way. They grow amazingly well and can give you a wall of green leaves. After you harvest the beans and throughout the plant’s life, you can also eat the leaves. We bet you didn’t know that. With any leaf from any plant you are planning to eat, check multiple sources to make sure it is edible. Some leaves of some plants contain toxins that can cause nausea, paralysis, even death, though the plant’s fruit is fine to eat..
Green Beans. This is another great plant. Green beans are the unripe, young fruit and protective pods of various cultivars of the common bean. The leaves are fully edible, as well. They grow very well and can give you a wall of shade. There are a number of varieties, so you have many to choose from.
Lentils. Much of the world would starve were it not for the lentil, but you would be surprised how few people eat them in America. Lentils are a significant source of protein, dietary fiber, carbohydrates and dietary minerals. Mature plants will grow well when trellised and you can harvest them in about 80 days from planting.
Peas. Peas have to get a mention in this category. Like the rest of the Fabaceae family, they’re easy to grow and solid producers. The Fabaceeae family of plants is definitely a choice for your micro-apartment garden, but there are really too many options to list. Hopefully, the one’s I have listed will help you decide what’s right for your space.
So as to not create a blog that is too long and too large of size, we’ve created a part 2 video which contains plants 15 through 25 along with my tip for a bigger harvest at the end. As always, please stay safe out there.
Don’t Leave Me Behind (img: cute puppy and cat pic)
Identify Your Pet
Plan to bug-in and plan to bug-out
Gear Up
Medicines
Know Where to Go & When to Let Go
Pets make great companions. They’re always there for us. Dogs greet us at the door. Cats, at least it seems like, tolerate us and occasionally let us pet them. Snakes, lizards, gerbils, even pot bellied pigs, these animals become part of our family. But when disaster strikes, most people, even those who have a plan for their family, don’t have a plan for their animal friends. In the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, it is estimated that over six-hundred-thousand animals were killed or stranded. As the flood waters rose six to fifteen feet, people fled for their lives or were lifted off rooftops by helicopter, and all they could do was hope for their pets and animals that they had to leave behind. Prepping is about creating options for yourself, so you can avoid and stave off the ultimate choice of having to abandon your pet.We think every blog we have done, we get at least one request for this topic, so in this blog, we will look at prepping for your pet. What can you do to increase your pet’s chances of survival? What can you do now to prepare for bugging-in or bugging-out with your animals. After any disaster, your pets can become frightened, confused, and disoriented. More than ever, they will need your support and will look to you for comfort and reassurance.1- Identify Your PetHaving a means to identify your pet should you need to prove ownership, vaccinations, or simply find them after a disaster is critical if you become separated or your animal is lost in the chaos of a crisis. Microchipping your animal is a good method, but scanning systems may not be available. Collars and tags are still the most reliable means, but these can be ripped off if the animal becomes snagged on debris or while fleeing to safety. Having a recent photo of you with your animal is a good way to prove ownership.Often, after a disaster, animals are sheltered for only a short time and then euthanized. This is especially true if ownership and shot records cannot be proven for the animal. After many natural disasters, it’s a race against the clock to prevent diseases, and animals can create sanitation problems. Being able to solidly identify your animal and prove that they are healthy and pose no ongoing health threats is the first step of any emergency plan for your animals.2-Bug-in and bug-out food and waterJust like you have a plan to bug-in and a plan to bug-out, you should have one for your pets as well. The safest option for you is always to bug-in, but in the case of a rising indefensible threat, rising flood waters, fires burning out of control, and more, sometimes bugging-out is your only option. If you have a bug-out location and can get out early enough, you will want to take your animals with you if possible. But whether you need to bug-in or bug-out, you will need some essential items for your animal.Dried food that is vacuum sealed in your supplies will stay dry, insect free, and last longer. Unlike humans, animals can eat food that is unfit for human consumption. The same is true for water. Water that would make a human sick from a puddle in the street, will likely have little ill effect on an animal. This isn’t one hundred percent true all the time. Animals can and do get sick from food and water, but they do have a higher tolerance for pathogens then we humans do. Ideally, you should have stored for your animals a month’s worth of food for a bug-in situation and two to three weeks worth of grab and go food for a bug-out situation.Water being essential to survival should also be stored for your animal and calculated as part of your overall supply. Consider some type of water bladder for larger animals to store water for a bug-out situation. They can be filled quickly and can supply a basic amount of water in a survival situation.3-Gear UpIn addition to food and water, medium to large dogs can be trained to be comfortable with a pack. Many dogs are actually working breeds, so they won’t mind carrying some essential survival items, their own food, and their own water. Basically, a pack with large secure pockets and a handle to carry and help your animal over rugged terrain, will be helpful in a bug-out situation. You should not wait until disaster strikes before you try these items out. Animals have an adjustment period so you may want to lightly load the pack and take your animal on walks until they have grown accustomed to the feel and the added weight.On that note, a hiking leash and protective shoes for paw protection are also essential in a bug-out situation. A rugged hiking leash of 10 feet will give you a safe range to allow your animal to lead or fall slightly behind as they navigate difficult terrain. A hiking leash will be more rugged than your typical leash, but in a true disaster, a length of rope will suffice if you have to get out in a hurry. Many animals have adapted to the easy lifestyle of home and apartment dwelling. While they may get a walk now and then, even daily, long treks can hurt their paws. They really have to have an opportunity to get used to wearing these shoes, though. For some, they may never be able to. Others, it may just take an occasional walk around the block for them to adapt. These anti-slip protectors became popularized by search dogs in the debris after 9-11 and other disasters. Now, there are a range of low price options available. Finally, some small animals will never make it under their own strength. For them, you may want to gear up with a small to midsize animal carrier. This will reduce your ability to carry items you need, but if you absolutely must bug-out with your pet, this may be your only safe means to do so. When you are fleeing from a disaster, you should not allow yourself to be slowed down by a slow or helplessly panicking animal.4- MedicinesMost animals will not fare well in a bug-out situation. Like their soft, out-of-shape human counterparts, they may have grown accustomed to regular meals, treats, and nap times. The risk of your animal becoming injured, scratched up, banged-up or chaffed from the added gear and the need to move over rough terrain is very high. Any medicines your animal relies upon should be well stocked as an extra in your prepping supplies, but also make sure you have gauze bandages, antibiotic ointment, and an ointment specially formulated for skin like Bag Balm.For high energy and easily frightened animals, you may want to have some natural anti-anxiety solutions like CBD or something prescribed by a veterinarian. Think of your animal’s mental toughness and resilience as its likelihood of survival.Whatever you decide is right for your animal, make sure you construct a first aid kit specifically for them as part of your emergency supplies. In this way, they will have their potential needs met without drawing upon you and your family’s necessary and critical resources.5-Know Where to Go & When to Let GoIf you become separated from your animals or you are forced to leave them behind, know in advance where the shelters are. That will be your starting point for reuniting with your pets. Pets displaced by a disaster are frequently kept in shelters and by organizations in the State where the disaster occurred. Contact your local humane society, animal welfare organization, County or State Animal Response Team to locate the shelters or organizations near you. And, finally, know when to let go. If your beloved pet labrador is 11 years old and strains to make it around the block on walks, he’s not going to make it in a late bug-out. If that’s a consideration for you when a hurricane is coming, you may want to pre-emptively bug-out while the roads are clear and all the foods and medicines your lab requires can be transported in your vehicle. If you instead wait it out and you have to be evacuated by the Coast Guard, you may have to leave what you can behind and hope for the best. It’s not uncommon for farmers to release their herds and animals when they can’t get them all to safety. Even the most domesticated of animals can find a way to survive the most hostile of circumstances. Once the scent confusion and disruption has passed, your animal will likely try to find its way home. That’s where you should look for them again if you get the chance. Though your pet may have been a great companion throughout your life, you cannot sacrifice yours or another family member’s life for them. Think of the selfless love the animal has given you and take solace in knowing that your beloved pet would gladly sacrifice themselves for their master. It’s horribly sad but completely true.ConclusionWe would love to hear from you what precautions you have made or what you plan to prep for your animals. Please put any suggestions, tips, or information you have in the comment section below. If you have any comments or anything you would like to share, please feel free to leave a comment in the section below. We learn a tremendous amount from you as well, and together we stay prepared for whatever the world throws at us. As always, please stay safe out there.
In this blog, we’ll take a look at what is referred to as a rocket stove. A rocket stove offers a lot of advantages during an emergency situation where fuel may be limited and you need to cook food or boil water and we’ll break down the 5 advantages these offer over a conventional open fire. So stick around.If an emergency struck and the conventional ways of cooking such as using propane or electricity are not an option and you needed a way of cooking on an open flame but have a limited supply of fuel and don’t want to draw attention to yourself, you might want to consider a rocket stove. This technology has been around for a while and it makes the process of cooking or heating water much more efficient. In this blog, we’ll discuss 5 advantages so let’s jump in.Here are the top 5 reasons you should get a rocket stove as a critical part of your emergency preparedness gear. After we discuss the 5 reasons, we’ll take a deeper look at this particular model.
#5 – They produce very little smoke
Once they get started, they burn very efficiently and produce little smoke which is great for OPSEC. OPSEC stands for operational security. If you start cooking on an open flame after an emergency has struck your area and people find themselves unprepared or unable to cook food, you’ll draw attention to yourself with a fire that produces a lot of smoke. Having the ability to keep smoke to a minimum will prevent you from drawing unwanted attention. It does this with a fully insulated vertical combustion chamber that forces gases to mix with flames when in use. Also the flame is contained within the stove and is not very visible.
#4 – It uses an assortment of biomass
If disaster strikes in your area, typically it’s not too hard to find wood, twigs, leaves, or other forms of biomass laying around. If you don’t have wood stored up in advance, being able to scavenge around your area for small pieces of fuel will allow you to cook with these devices. They take flammable biomass and efficiently burn them.
#3 – It’s easy to transport
While this is not something you would carry in a backpack if you had to quickly leave your home due to an emergency that forced you out, it is small enough to easily pack into a vehicle and their compact design allows you to quickly grab it and go along with your other gear you have ready should an emergency arise.
#2 – They’re durable
This particular model, the Minuteman rocket stove, is built in the United States with internal ceramic insulation allowing it to reach temperatures in excess of 1200 degrees.
Be careful with DIY rocket stoves as you’ll see many on YouTube. Unless you specifically have cinder blocks designed for fire, they’ll easily disintegrate which can present a fire hazard.
#1 – They’re efficient
Just a handful of fuel can cook an entire meal. It uses a lot less fuel than an open fire, actually, it uses less than 1/10th the wood required by an open cooking fire or wood-burning stove. There’s no need to store large supplies of wood, scavenge, harvest or process a lot of wood to cook your food if cooking with propane or electricity is not an option.
Demonstration
The way a rocket stove works is that it has an air chamber at the bottom, a refractory metal combustion chamber above where you add the fuel, and a vertical combustion chamber which helps to efficiently and cleanly burn the fuel. It has lightweight ceramic insulation which helps cut the weight and keeps you from burning your hands if touching the sides.
We played around with the stove today and to start with, we wanted to see how quickly we could heat up 4 cups of water with a minimal amount of fuel. We added 4 cups of water to the pot and wanted to see how much fuel we would need to bring the water to a boil. Just use about 4 small sticks, we were able to bring the water to boil within a little over 8 minutes. Again, with a rocket stove, you get a much more efficient burn so less fuel is needed.
Next, using a cast-iron skillet, we were able to cook some eggs very quickly as well. The heat was evenly distributed across the skillet which is one of the great things about using a cast-iron skillet. If you’re going to pick up a rocket stove, I highly recommend you have a cast-iron skillet or dutch oven as well.
Overview of the minuteman rocket stoveSo now that we’ve talked about the advantages that rocket stoves offer, let’s go over this particular model.To set it up, simply open the lid, add the chimney on top, and you’re ready to go. It really is that simple.When you purchase this off our website, it will come with Maya fire sticks for free. Simply shave off some pieces, or use any other flammable material, to help get the fire started.Next, load the chimney with flammable material, and you’ll have a fire start up quickly.Simply feed the fire with small pieces of wood being careful not to overstuff it and you’ll have a very efficient fire that will produce a very hot flame at the top of the chimney. (let’s show clips of me adding more wood and smoke that comes out).Once you are done cooking, dump out the coals, let it cool down (10 minutes), reattach the lid and the Minuteman is ready to travel. The lid has a rubber seal. No smell or soot will get inside your vehicle.Hopefully, this blog gave you enough information to help you decide whether a rocket stove would be a valuable item to add to your prepper inventory. These would come in handy in an emergency situation where fuel may be limited and you don’t want to draw attention to yourself. As always, stay safe out there.
What is it and where did it come from? 3 Theories.
It’s just the flu!
What Will the Coming Months Bring?
Do Masks and Social Distancing Work?
Cut Through The Noise
Was COVID cooked in a lab? Is it part of a global plot to control the populous? There are so many voices telling us we should listen to this source and not that one, but what should we really be doing? Whom should we be listening to? This is going to be a very long blog. We’re just warning you now. But we’ve got a lot of important information to cover. There is quite a significant amount of misinformation floating around online COVID-19 and in this blog, we’re going to try to compress this information based on my attempt to try and find as much independent information as we could locate, and we will include links below for you to read and study on your own. We will look at the possible origins of the SARS-COV-2 virus, what we should be listening to and whom we should be listening to, and what we might expect in the next 4 months leading up to the election in the United States. How safe are we? How prepared should we be? Who is telling the truth, and what part of the truth actually matters to us?So let’s jump into the research. We realize a lot of people are going to be offended by a lot of these talking points, but we’ve done all we can through research to avoid the political narratives about this pathogen and dig up information that will hopefully provide us with useful information.Let us give you one word of warning. When we become stuck on an idea or belief, it’s hard to listen to any opposing view that clashes with our worldview and ideas. Let us say this again: we’ve done all we can through hours of research to get to just the facts. Facts are so critical right now as we’re facing an event in our country the likes of which we haven’t seen in several generations and this pathogen does not care in the least bit about political narratives. It will do what nature just does: find a way to survive and reproduce. And we have a unique moment as a country to address this problem. If we do nothing and dismiss it, it will be to our own detriment. Life and death literally hang in the balance.We’ll talk about sources and credibility later in this blog. We will also tell you, we’re going to cite from a full spectrum of resources out there. Left, right, middle of the road, peer-reviewed, and speculative. We are fully aware that there are times when we read sources we don’t agree with, but we’ve tried to include even those that run against my own views if they support what is being consistently observed.Alright, let’s do this.
Point number 1 –SARS-CoV-2. What is it and where did it come from?
SARS-CoV-2 is the name of the virus–Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2. COVID-19 is the sickness it causes, but we commonly refer to it by just COVID. For the purpose of this blog, we will call it by its correct name–SARS-CoV-2. So, where did SARS-CoV-2 come from? There are three prevailing stances on this. First, some maintain that it’s a novel virus naturally released. They maintain that it was because of natural exposure at an exotic wet market in Wuhan. When humans are in close proximity to animals, zoonotic diseases eventually jump from animal to human. That is what zoonotic means, they move from animal to human or human to animal. You may have heard of a few zoonotic diseases like rabies and Lyme disease. Others, like MERS, SARS, Zika, rabbit fever, anthrax, and bird flu are less well known but sometimes more fatal.The world has suffered from pandemics before. The most memorable within about a century was the Spanish flu. This flu killed more U.S. soldiers during WW1 than actually died in combat. In a year’s time, it infected five hundred million people worldwide, killed somewhere between twenty and fifty million people, including six hundred seventy-five thousand Americans. Citizens were ordered to wear masks, schools, theaters, and businesses were shuttered and bodies piled up in makeshift morgues before the virus ended its deadly global march. Why do we tell you all this? Because that 1918 pandemic never really went away. As Dr. Taubenberger, Senior Investigator in NIAID’s Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, pointed out in a paper published by the National Institute of health, “All human-adapted influenza A viruses of today — both seasonal variations and those that caused more dramatic pandemics — are descendants, direct or indirect, of that founding virus” You are still, today, being infected by some strain of the original Spanish flu when you test positive for Influenza at the doctor’s. And, even though the Coronavirus is different from the Influenza virus, if we hope to have a vaccine or herd immunity to make this all go away, we might want to rethink our hopes and expectations. The final aspect of these natural viruses is that they continually mutate. Being an RNA based virus, it can mutate to become more deadly or even less infectious. So could the virus come from nature? Absolutely. The second theory of its origin is that it was cooked up in a lab in Wuhan. There have been tests of scalability in the past where we try to make a virus stronger to determine how to beat it in the future. The United States, under previous administrations, recognized the danger of that approach and banned it. We have to assume, though, that it still goes on throughout labs around the world. A lab in Wuhan, the accepted epicenter and point of origin, was performing research on bat viruses like SARS-CoV-2. But, according to a statement from Scripps Research, “If someone were seeking to engineer a new coronavirus as a pathogen, they would have constructed it from the backbone of a virus known to cause illness. But the scientists found that the SARS-CoV-2 backbone differed substantially from those of already known coronaviruses and mostly resembled related viruses found in bats and pangolins.” So the theory that it was purposefully created is diffused by the genuine novelty of the virus. Scientists aren’t that great at covering their tracks. That’s why we can trace radioactive isotopes back to their country of origin. Could it have been manufactured and engineered on purpose? That’s at least as plausible a theory as a natural occurrence, but the facts force us to stretch it a little thinner to make it true.If it wasn’t manufactured, maybe it was accidentally released, and that is the third prevalent theory. We do know that SARS-CoV-2 has a long asymptomatic period. What if, and indulge me here, there was a breach at the lab? Maybe the virus got out or someone was potentially exposed. Normal protocol would have locked them down for four to seven days in quarantine. What if they were still asymptomatic after that period and released? With an asymptomatic period of ten to fourteen days, this isn’t an unreasonable assumption; and several sources had indicated that the lab in Wuhan wasn’t exactly safe and following the best protocols for safety.In this way the virus could have been released into the wild, so to speak. Here’s the deal, though. Whichever origin story you subscribe to whether it comes from nature and likely a wet market in China, whether it was cooked in a lab and intentionally released to destroy the world’s economy, whether it was accidentally released through a lab mishap, or even some other theory…none of it, and hear me here…none of that matters. It is one for the historians to decipher because the facts are that this virus has a spreadability that we haven’t seen in a century or more, it has a pretty decent mortality rate, and it doesn’t appear to be going away.
Point number 2 –It’s just the flu!
Is it just the flu? If you do some quick math just on the mortality rate of this off-season virus…by offseason we mean we are not even in flu season and we’re seeing pretty astounding spread rates despite a much higher level of social distancing, testing, and quarantining that we don’t typically do during normal flu season…if we do some quick math we see that from January to June, again mostly the off-season for the flu which runs from October to April, it’s much stronger and more infectious.By the CDC’s calculations, and we really cannot fathom how they might have cooked this up years ago in some grand plot for today, flu illnesses range from thirty-nine million to fifty-six million. Those are from “cumulative in-season numbers of flu illnesses, medical visits, hospitalizations, and deaths in the United States.” The U.S has a population of roughly three hundred, twenty-nine million, so that is less than ten percent. Eighteen to twenty-six million of those people go to the doctors. Four hundred ten thousand to seven hundred and forty thousand of those people are hospitalized with complications, and twenty-four thousand to sixty-two thousand actually die from complications.When we look at the offseason total for SARS-CoV-2, we see in the U.S. an actual case rate of three and a half million. Deaths are a little over one hundred thirty-five thousand which is a four percent mortality rate. That is higher than the flu’s one point eight percent mortality rate. Let’s run the same percentages for the Influenza flu back as possible for SARS-CoV-2. The flu only has a hospitalization rate of point zero, zero, two with a max estimate of seven hundred forty thousand people, and a population of three hundred twenty-nine million. So, what we are seeing now with ICU hospital beds filling up is a number we still don’t fully grasp. In Houston, they are full up. In my county, Riverside, California, six of seventeen hospitals have exceeded their ICU bed capacity. Thirty percent of those are COVID-19 cases. This is greater than the flu. Even at the height of the flu season, you don’t see ICU occupancy rates like that. You won’t walk into an ICU and see thirty percent of the beds filled with Influenza cases. Do not dismiss the evidence of your eyes. Do not dismiss the refrigerator trucks filled with bodies in New York City or the spike in cases in Florida, Arizona, and other states. Do not accept that it’s false when it could very well be true. Yet, there are some who continue to maintain that the ICU beds filling up is a hoax. Somehow, every hospital in every county throughout the country, and the world for that matter, is unified in a great hoax and orchestrated deception. That theory just doesn’t hold water.The other aspect of this “It’s just the flu!” argument is that some people get it and have relatively mild symptoms, so some believe it is a minor illness. Here again, we have to look at what this coronavirus does versus what the Influenza virus does. We have, over time, developed better treatments for the Influenza virus than thirty milligrams of aspirin like we administered a hundred years ago during the Spanish flu. Also, we have developed, over a century of exposure, some antibodies. Antibodies are proteins that help fight off infections and can provide protection against getting that disease again, aka immunity. Antibodies are disease-specific. For example, measles antibodies will protect you from getting measles if you are exposed to it again, but they won’t protect you from getting mumps if you are exposed to mumps. This novel, meaning new, virus means our bodies have never had an opportunity, let alone over a century of time to build antibodies up against it. The result is that we’re more susceptible to infection.While the flu may attack the head and slightly the lungs. This SARS-CoV-2 attacks any weak points in the body it can infiltrate and leaves lasting pathologies in some cases. SARS-CoV-2 has been shown to attack the nervous system, kidneys, lungs, heart, liver, throat, blood clotting, eyes, skin, intestines, even toes. That is more intense than the regular flu. It can attack so many systems because our bodies have never seen it before and does not know how to handle it.Is it safe to say that SARS-CoV-2 is more fatal? Absolutely. Anyone telling you otherwise simply has not looked at the numbers or read the research. The people telling you otherwise are usually quoting one doctor or one nurse and definitely not lining up with the other 99% of the medical and scientific community. Maybe it’s part of our human nature to want to believe the outlier who provides us confirmation bias. Maybe it is our human nature to believe social commentary over our own evaluation and processing of facts. This is more deadly than the flu. A common issue with many is if they don’t witness it, first hand, they have a tendency to easily dismiss it as fake or not real. If someone they know hasn’t gotten it or they haven’t seen someone with it, they dismiss it as false. If someone they know maybe had it and got better, well, it must not be as bad as they’re making it out to be. They use anecdotal evidence which is a fallacy.
Point number 3 –What Will the Coming Months Bring?
Whether you dismiss it as a conspiracy cooked up by a global cabal or you agree with me that it is a virus we face right now spreading at an alarming rate, it really doesn’t matter either way. What matters is that you prepare accordingly. Even if you believe it’s all made up, you have to prepare for the other 90% of the population that will react to it.In the next four months, we will face the most contested election in the history of our country, a pandemic that may rise to or surpass the pandemic of nineteen eighteen, and our normal flu season. That, right there, maybe the greatest complication. And to top it off, more schools are shifting to online which will have an impact on our economy as parents will now be pulled away to help with the kids learning.We moved between phase 1 reopening and phase 2 reopening and then back to one, while we have people screaming that their rights and freedoms are being violated. As a constitutionalist, we would say that the government needs to provide for the common good, and that trumps individual rights. That’s how our forefathers defined it. Is this a grand conspiracy to keep us at home and controlled? A better way to control us would be to have us spend all our money in a thriving economy and stuff us full of corn syrup and FDC red food dye number whatever, so we don’t really buy into that argument.Expect over the next four months, more shutdowns, more mask orders with possible citations given out, more protests, and more civil unrest. How much of an impact will that have on our future, I don’t know, but it’s a good reason to prepare now for an extended bug-in.
Point number four –Do Masks and Social Distancing Work?
As far as we know and given what we do know about viruses, in general, certain things do work. If you keep a good distance from people, like 6 feet, you limit and reduce possible exposure. All possible exposure? No. If you wear a mask and the people you interact with wear a mask, you limit yours and their exposure. All exposure? No. If you want 100% certainty with a mask, get a CBRN gas mask. If you avoid going out and try to confine your journeys out to necessary trips, you limit your exposure. All exposure? No. Frequent hand washing does actually reduce our overall exposure to viruses. All exposure? No. Even makers of disinfectants and hand sanitizers state that their product is ninety nine percent effective. Because it’s one percent not effective, should we therefore not use it? If mutual mask-wearing is even ten percent effective, and there are many more studies that show this to be true than studies challenging this notion, wouldn’t you want that ten percent? If social distancing was fifteen percent effective, wouldn’t you want that? If contact tracing reduced a population’s exposure by forty percent, wouldn’t you want that? All combined that would give you sixty-five percent protection. That’s a lot better than zero percent.Do masks reduce oxygen levels? Not the ones you’re wearing. Add to that the very health-conscious doctors who wear masks in long twelve-hour surgeries where their hands and brain have to function at a high level or the ultra health-conscious Olympic athletes who practice hypoxic training, and I have to call B.S. on a person claiming to almost pass out because they wore a mask for fifteen minutes in a store.Here is where we see several people spinning conspiracy theories and misinformation. It is not in the interest of wealthy and powerful people to keep you at home, not working, not buying, not consuming, and scared. People in power want you to spend wildly. The more debt you are in the fatter their wallets continue to be. Becoming poor does not help them in the least bit.As a prepper, focus on what works. Continue to be a student of viruses and bacteria and any microorganism that could cause wide-scale infections. When available, stock up on Lysol, Isopropyl Alcohol, Hydrogen Peroxide, even a UVC bulb. Focus on what we know works. Again, you wouldn’t fail to prepare for a tornado, flood, or hurricane when you live in an area susceptible to those events under the false premise that one won’t strike that year. Here too, you need to prepare. If we’re wrong, and it’s some elaborate hoax, we may be out a few bucks and face some chagrin. If we are right, it may mean our very lives.
Point number five –Cut Through the Noise
We want to leave you with a thirty thousand foot view of analyzing sources. There is a tremendous amount of misinformation out there. The protests didn’t spread the virus any more than pool parties did on memorial day, or the fourth of July, or the early opening of businesses and beaches. Those with an agenda, however, will try to paint the opposition as the culprit, whether that opposition is the non-mask wearer, the protestor, the nonchalant beachgoer, the defiant churchgoer, Republican, Democrat, Chinese, or immigrant. The first sign that you may be getting some false information is when the source tries to label or blame another group for this. Having studied Aristotelian Logic and the hierarchy of debate in the past, the lowest forms of credible arguments from the bottom up are name-calling, ad hominem attacks of character, responding just to tone, or contradicting without supporting evidence. Is the source name-calling or blaming a group? If so, you should probably tune them out.Second, is the source’s information contrary to the majority of information out there? Here we suggest you understand Occam’s Razor principle that “the simplest answer is most often correct.” While it’s easy to wonder if there is some global, concerted effort, or some conspiracy by every member of the mainstream media, it isn’t really logical. We would more easily accept that a global cabal of hand sanitizer manufacturers was pulling the strings behind this virus than every reporter, most politicians, most countries, most scientists, most every health official, and so on and so on. Sometimes the simplest answer is the correct answer, and that simple answer is that we face a real virus and can only defeat it if we unite behind a strategy to defeat it.Finally, don’t completely dismiss or completely accept any one source. If you read something as fact, do a little more research and get additional confirmation of it. Don’t put all your faith in one person’s talking head social commentary. That goes for me too. This is why I’ve listed all the links below. If you disagree with one of my points, that’s fine, but you ought not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. One of my points could be wrong, but that doesn’t, as a result, invalidate all the other points. Keep an open mind and read, read, read. Then you’ll drill down to the truth.In conclusion, you may disagree with me or agree with me. You can get mad at us or applaud me for taking a stand here. You can label me, but we already talked about that. What matters to us, and what we take seriously, is our obligation to this community. We feel obligated to inform you of the threats you face and provide guidance to you on how to survive those threats. That, to us, is more important than either yours or our opinion. We hope you too share a concern for the well-being of others in the community.As always, please stay safe out there.
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With stay at home orders and millions of American’s unemployed, much of traffic is light. Currently, interest rates are low, and people need jobs. It would seem like a perfect time to fast-track construction on our crumbling cracked and potholed roads and our cracked and crumbling bridges, but America is stuck until Congress or the President acts. According to one study, out of the 614,387 bridges in the US, more than two-hundred-thousand are more than fifty years old. About thirty-two percent of urban roads and fourteen percent of rural roads are in poor condition. In fact, there’s a eight-hundred-thirty-six billion dollar backlog of unmet capital needed to fix the highways and bridges in the US, according to a report by the US Department of Transportation.
Given the recent public health emergencies, the reallocation of funds to bail out businesses and citizens, and a continual onslaught of our regular natural disasters: wildfires, hurricanes, and even a derecho in Ohio, it is safe to say that many bridge and road repair projects have stopped and had their funding suspended and diverted. Kicking the can down the road on these critical projects creates more real problems later on. When America does return to work and fills the roadways, will the roads and bridges hold?
2- Schools
Schools have opened, closed, rapidly moved to online environments, and are left largely abandoned and unmaintained this school year. We don’t really know if this current health emergency will forever change the way students go to schools and colleges. As a result, school construction, and maintenance projects in many areas have been suspended indefinitely. Even before the current national health crisis, schools in the US were not getting the funding they needed to maintain public school buildings. About twenty-four percent of these buildings are rated in fair or poor condition.
Now, money is being routed away from repairing buildings and into online classes, servers, and tech training for teachers. When and if students do return to physical schools, they will be returning to the same unmaintained buildings in need of repair. Will they really be returning to the same education system? Many parents have opted for online learning, homeschooling, or charter schools. We really don’t know how many kids will be returning to physical classrooms, and we don’t know the true effects of this national health crisis on the American education system.
While poorly maintained roads, bridges, or schools in disrepair may not on their own lead to large scale loss of life and property, the dams and levee systems in America could catastrophically collapse. Levees play a critical role in protecting communities from floodwaters, but they aren’t currently receiving the critical attention they need. During the next ten years, there’s a need for 80 billion dollars to improve these structures. There were fifteen-thousand-five-hundred high-hazard dams in the US in 2016. Hurricanes and storms continually threaten these critical water barriers even further. What happens to the nation’s infrastructure when one or more of these critical systems fail? What’s worse is that while a bridge collapsing impacts those immediately in the vicinity, the failure of a dam or levee system may lead to an increase in the loads on other dam and levee systems. The associated domino effect may strongly influence the risk of flooding. This was evidenced recently after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and most recently in May of this year when the Edenville dam failure led to the Smallwood Lake Dam overflow and Sanford Dam failure. Although no deaths were reported, the disaster forced eleven-thousand people to evacuate and buried mid-Michigan under billions of gallons of floodwater. Still, two thirds of the state’s dams have outlived their fifty-year lifespan, and eighty-five dams in the state are still considered to be a significant high-risk. Michigan isn’t the exception. It’s the norm across America. A catastrophic, cascading collapse of these critical water protection measures could follow any natural disaster which brings copious amounts of rain. Do you know what is upstream from you? Will you be ready to evacuate if you need to? Will your town and city be ready to receive millions of evacuees?
4- Wastewater & Drinking Water
It is the circulatory system of our country. The drinking water and wastewater systems keep our drinking water safe and carry away and treat our human waste. One is the artery system bringing life. The other is the vein system, carrying away and filtering out waste. They function as a somewhat closed system. In America’s system, though, some of those arteries and veins are like a person’s over one hundred years old. It is estimated that one million pipes have been in use for almost one hundred years, and some even longer than that. The aging system makes water breaks more prevalent, which means there are about two trillion gallons of treated water lost each year. Many in Flint, Michigan still don’t have clean drinking water, and Flint may just be the tip of the iceberg.
Add to this that the US is estimated to need 532 new systems wastewater treatment facilities by 2032 just to keep pace with demand, and we have a recipe for a water disaster. Clean water in America has been a rising crisis, and it will likely only become worse as infrastructure projects continue to be delayed, postponed, or cancelled. One natural disaster causing waste water or groundwater to wash into clean drinking supplies could create a disaster that would take years to correct.
Water is one of the cornerstones of prepping. Without an adequate supply, you’re desperate in hours and dead in days. In addition to the water storage solutions we’ve recommended on some of my other videos, we highly recommend some type of rapid water boiling system. If you are forced to evacuate, you probably won’t be able to take fifty gallons of water with you. That’s four-hundred and seventeen pounds. A solution is a portable means to rapidly boil undrinkable water and make it safe for consumption. We have Kelly Kettle’s available at the cityprepping.com website right now because they can provide you safe, clean, drinkable water in minutes.
5- Energy
We take for granted that when we flip a switch or turn a dial the lights come on or the burners on our stovetop light. We worry more about our smartphone’s charge than we do about the supply of energy we will need to charge it. Though not as old as America’s water systems, the majority of the country’s electrical transmission and distribution lines were built in the mid-twentieth century and had a life expectancy of about fifty years. Most are already outdated. The infrastructure that supports electricity, like power plants and power lines is already failing in devastating ways. Aging systems in California have already led to deadly and destructive wildfires, and rolling blackouts occur through every heatwave. The 2018 California fire called The CampFire was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. It caused eighty-five fatalities and wiped out whole communities within the first few hours. The towns of Paradise and Concow were almost completely destroyed, each losing about ninety-five percent of structures in town. What caused the fire? It wasn’t a lightning strike or some other random natural occurrence, it was ignited by a faulty electric transmission line.
If big power suppliers continue to avoid investments in infrastructure, it will only get worse. In southern CA there have been fifty-four days from June through August where temperatures were in the nineties or over one-hundred degrees, and the power company’s response has been throttling back services through rolling blackouts. Frequent high winds result in the same rolling blackouts. All across America, our aging power supply lines are teetering on the edge of failure. Will you have the power you need to keep the heat on through the winter or the lights on in the darkness to stay safe and secure in your own home? Try to live a day without power in your home and figure out how to survive should you find yourself without this critical resource. Prepare accordingly.
Conclusion
America’s infrastructure is more than just the five systems we mention in this video, but we have focused on these five because they are the most glaringly obvious failures occurring right now. When one system fails, it can cascade throughout that system and affect other systems. When levees break, drinking water systems can become contaminated. When power fails, wildfires can ravage the country. When roads or bridges fail, critical escape routes in the event of a natural disaster disappear. Even something as seemingly innocuous as crumbling empty school buildings can have a lasting impact on our education system and the United States’ standing in the world. Be aware of how these systems overlap for you in your area. What’s your plan for fresh drinking water? What’s your plan for waste disposal? What’s your plan for a fire, flood, or earthquake. Now is the time to prepare because if even one of these systems fails in one place, it can have a ripple effect across America.
If you found this blog informative and helpful, please feel free to like and share it with your friends, family, and community.
As always, please stay safe out there. 
The Federal Reserve continues to devalue the dollar more and more. While this is often referred to as printing more money, what the Federal Reserve really does with a few clicks of the keyboard is issue government securities. Think of it as taking out a loan every month when new bills arrive in your mail. That strategy will not work if you try it with your home finances. It may convince others that you have money and you are creditworthy, but in the long run, the bills will come due.
The second real, immediate threat to the U.S. dollar is the depth at which Gross Domestic Product in the U.S. and globally has plummeted. All that borrowing depends on future productivity, and the U.S. GDP has plummeted a staggering thirty-two point nine percent. Thirty-three percent! This is an index which historically moves in less than five percent increments. A loss of this magnitude hasn’t been seen since the Great Depression, yet the stock market soars. Economists are already starting to prognosticate a collapse and point to similarities between the stock market’s current vertical rise and earlier bubbles.
The third threat to the U.S. dollar is a continued trade war. While tariffs and trade wars may be necessary equalizers in a thriving global economy, they backfire when productivity and imports and exports drop. The U.S. is manufacturing less, selling less, exporting less, and importing less. The cost of imported goods is going up. The cost to export goods is going up. That all equals fewer transactions and more costly transactions. That’s bad news for the dollar, as the dollar’s strength is partly derived from its transactional speed.
The fourth threat is a rumored one. With an ongoing trade war and other pressures eroding confidence in the U.S. dollar around the world, there have been rumors that China is looking to release its own cryptocurrency pegged to the Yuan and backed by gold. 
The fifth threat to the U.S. dollars standing in the world is the fact that we are in an election year. This election is the most divisive and contentious election in years. One party defines the other as actually evil. One party defines the other as totalitarian. We have never seen such deep divisions in our lifetime. Maybe we will be just fine, and maybe there will be rioting in the streets. We don’t know. What the rest of the world sees, however, is that America is too tumultuous to risk investing in.
Just like you have a plan to bug-in and a plan to bug-out, you should have one for your pets as well. The safest option for you is always to bug-in, but in the case of a rising indefensible threat, rising flood waters, fires burning out of control, and more, sometimes bugging-out is your only option. If you have a bug-out location and can get out early enough, you will want to take your animals with you if possible. But whether you need to bug-in or bug-out, you will need some essential items for your animal.
In addition to food and water, medium to large dogs can be trained to be comfortable with a pack. Many dogs are actually working breeds, so they won’t mind carrying some essential survival items, their own food, and their own water. 
Most animals will not fare well in a bug-out situation. Like their soft, out-of-shape human counterparts, they may have grown accustomed to regular meals, treats, and nap times. The risk of your animal becoming injured, scratched up, banged-up or chaffed from the added gear and the need to move over rough terrain is very high. Any medicines your animal relies upon should be well stocked as an extra in your prepping supplies,
If you become separated from your animals or you are forced to leave them behind, know in advance where the shelters are. That will be your starting point for reuniting with your pets. Pets displaced by a disaster are frequently kept in shelters and by organizations in the State where the disaster occurred. Contact your local humane society, animal welfare organization, County or State Animal Response Team to locate the shelters or organizations near you. 
