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Lisa Bedford is what you'd imagine of a stereotypical soccer mom. She drives a white Tahoe SUV. An American flag flies outside her suburban Phoenix home. She sells Pampered Chef kitchen tools and likes to bake. Bedford and her husband have two young children, four dogs, and go to church on Sunday. But about a year ago, Bedford's homemaking skills went into overdrive. She began stockpiling canned food, and converted a spare bedroom into a giant storage facility. The trunk of each of her family's cars got its own 72-hour emergency kit—giant Tupperware containers full of iodine, beef jerky, emergency...

According to these reports, Obama’s fears of rebellion are due to the economic health of California (the United States largest State) after the 3rd largest US State, New York, declared a ‘fiscal emergency’ and refused to release to its cities and towns over $750 Million due them this past week with the Governor of New York, David Paterson, declaring “I can't say this enough: The state has run out of money.”Kremlin position papers presented to Prime Minister Putin today on his upcoming meeting with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen state that the European-US military alliance has authorized an ‘emergency...

Officials and Experts Warn of Crash-Induced Unrest Numerous high-level officials and experts warn that the economic crisis could lead to unrest world-wide - even in developed countries: Today, Moody's warned that future tax rises and spending cuts could trigger social unrest in a range of countries from the developing to the developed world, that in the coming years, evidence of social unrest and public tension may become just as important signs of whether a country will be able to adapt as traditional economic metrics, that a fiscal crisis remains a possibility for a leading economy, and that 2010 would be...

QUESTION: What mistakes do you think most people make preparing for what you and your countrymen have gone through? I wouldn’t call them “mistakes”, I don’t hold the SHTF Bible so all I can give is my humble advice which may be correct or not, so all I can tell you is “ I wouldn’t do that if I were you”, and depending on how sure I am , add a smartass grin smiley. There’s simply some preparations that make little sense if you think about it, others that I’ve seen that just wouldn’t work, in spite of all the...

I am making a list of emergency food storage items. Please tell me what you have stored or what you will be storing. Some of the things I have: powdered milk, flour, dried beans, rice, jerkey, water purification tabs.

We have had a number of open discussions here at FR for quite some time about the importance of personal emergency preparedness. Many of us have taken an interest in this subject for a long time, and have been working steadfastly toward being prepared for a real emergency, and this evening I thought I would share my progress on one phase of our plan, food. Anyone who knows anything about preparedness will tell you that the first thing you should do is make a plan that fits your personal needs. A bachelor has much different survival needs than a family...

Weekly Roundup - Living On Nothing Edition Category: Roundups | Comments(15) Did you hear about the guy that lives on nothing? No seriously, he lives on zero dollars a day. Meet Daniel Suelo, who lives in a cave outside Moab, Utah. Suelo has no mortgage, no car payment, no debt of any kind. He also has no home, no car, no television, and absolutely no “creature comforts.” But he does have a lot of creatures, as in the mice and bugs that scurry about the cave floor he’s called home for the last three years. To us, Suelo probably sounds...

I am a lifetime law-abiding gun owner and avid shooter. In my life I have had many occasions to buy firearms for sporting purposes. I have not had a need to own an AK-47 nor an opportunity to try one. I am told it is the finest assault rifle ever made. If I am in a situation wherein the AK-47 is the best choice, then I need to get one and I believe that I have that right guaranteed by the Second Amendment. Assuming that situation is in defense of my home or country, if an AK-47 makes the difference...

Many in the survivalist community like to focus on what I call the “Hollywood Disasters”. This includes things like a total economic collapse, an unstoppable virus, a biological weapons attack or perhaps a complete shut down of the electrical grid. Now please do not misunderstand me, each of these threats is real and honestly could happen. My question to you is how likely are any of them to occur in the next 30 days, how about the next 10 years? Now answer these questions for yourself… What is more likely to happen tomorrow morning, you lose your job or we...

If you’ve watched Survivorman, it’s hard to ignore the fact that Les Stroud, the star of the show, seems to starve during every episode. I don’t mean this as a criticism; Stroud is the real deal. But his hunger pangs raise a point: Boy Scout improv works better on the page than in the forest. If you want to bring down enough bacon to keep up your strength, you’re going to need bullets—and the more, the better. With this in mind, I recently tested two different approaches to the survival question. The Pocket Protector The Henry U.S. Survival firearm ($245;...

Somewhere West of the Rockies - -(AmmoLand.com)- AmmoLand.com’s featured Gun Blogger of the Month, for August 2009, is the SurvivalBlog.com. James Wesley, Rawles (JWR) is a survivalist author and lecturer. JWR is also the editor of www.SurvivalBlog.com. “I’m also a former U.S. Army intelligence officer, and now work as a full-time blogger and freelance writer. This blog reflects my interests. I’ve been an enthusiastic survivalist since my teenage years. I grew up in the Bomb Shelter era, and that mind set just never wore off” says James Wesley, Rawles. The first amazing thing about the SurvivalBlog.com is JWR has not...

I offer pure speculation. I wasn’t there. I don’t have the details. But much as others seem to believe the life experience that comes from being black qualifies them to opine without specific knowledge, surely my 30-some years as a police officer permits me to also guess at what happened when Cambridge, Mass., police officers arrived at the home of Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. Gates’ angst probably originated when he didn’t get the expected Harvard professor’s treatment, the absence of which he appears to have attributed to racism on the cop’s part. I’ll agree the cop probably...

CHICAGO (Reuters Life!) - Armed with pruning shears and a paper bag, Nance Klehm walks along a Chicago sidewalk, pointing out plants and weeds that can make a tasty salad or stir-fry. She snips stalks from a weed with downy leaves and white powder commonly called goosefoot or lamb's quarters. "I collect a lot of this," said Klehm, 43. "It's indistinguishable from spinach when you cook it. I never, never grow spinach or other greens except kale. Everything else I forage." Klehm is among a small group of urban foragers across the United States who collect weeds and plants from...

I'm looking into making expedient water filtration (i.e., with found materials) under emergency circumstances. Would crushed hardwood charcoal –– the real stuff, not "briquettes" like Kingsford –– make an acceptable filtration material, if one doesn't have access to activated charcoal? This assumes, of course, that other rules of water filtration are followed –– straining out debris, boiling after filtering, etc. I know there is a difference at the molecular level -- activated charcoal is highly porous, creating a huge surface area. But in an emergency, hardwood charcoal might be all that's available.

Some see the current economic downturn as tough — but temporary — times to be endured. But others see it as a harbinger of even grimmer days ahead. So they’re preparing for the worst by stockpiling food: piles and piles and piles of it. Call them “suburban survivalists,” or call them, well, a little goofy. But they’re dead serious about being ready for a big crash … by making sure they have a nice little nosh in case of a catastrophe. Across the country, there are people preparing for the possibility that we will not have access to food by...

It turns out that last fall when our financial system was near a collapse, the Bush administration and Congress had discussions about a potential breakdown of law and order in our country. They also talked about how the nation’s people would be fed and how long the food supply would last. Scary stuff in this article. We’re not crazy after all!!! A major economic collapse is one of the things we SurvivalMoms are preparing for. I hope this article confirms what you already know deep down inside: if your family is to survive and thrive, it will be because of...

The first 72 hours following any disaster are the most critical, but it's also during those intial hours that emergency services and personnel are stretched to the limit. With a system of carefully planned 72 Hour Kits, your family can be self-sufficient until help arrives. 72 Hour Kits, or Bug Out Bags, are those handy-dandy, all-in-one grab bags that, theoretically, could keep you and your family in good shape during a three day emergency. How well they do their job depends on how well-equipped they are for your family's particular needs. Think of your 72 Hour System as three layers...

Since 52% of American voters were foolish enough to buy the story that Barack Hussein Obama is some sort of "liberal messiah," I thought it would be interesting to compare the belief systems of America's father of liberalism and author of our Declaration of Independence, with the Marxist belief system of the false messiah. And since today's liberals have so much trouble properly interpreting our Founders' simple message to future generations, I am under no illusion that these facts will carry anymore weight with modern Marxists than Article II - Section I of the Constitution, which clearly states that Barack...

It's unanimous: We all want violence against women to stop. In fact, nine out of 10 women said that ending domestic violence and sexual assault should be the top priority for a new women's movement (according to the Center for the Advancement of Women) -- and also for every politician. There are ways you can make this happen -- for one woman, and for all.

A Virginia Republican's fierce call to resist President Obama's political agenda -- with bullets if necessary -- ignited an outcry on the Internet yesterday, and forced her to clarify that she was not looking to incite any violence. Appearing at a "Tea Party" rally on Wednesday to protest President Obama's expansion of government, Catherine Crabill, a political neophyte running for the House of Delegates in the Northern Neck, quoted from a March 1775 speech by Patrick Henry and then went further, calling on Americans to resist the course Obama has set for the country. "We have a chance to fight...

As a master zombie scholar it is my duty to fulfill the queries of the people, and I am happy to oblige. Mallory “Subsister” Morrow dropped me a line asking which is the superior weapon class for use in a zombie outbreak. An exhaustive number of factors must be taken into account when preparing for any life-threatening situation, and a war with the walking dead is no exception. First, some people hold to the notion that machine guns and shotguns will dominate when our fair planet is overrun. These pre-dead are notoriously difficult to persuade and must be denied entrance...

There are no layoffs, no furloughs and no signs of a recession at gun stores such as Barnwood Arms in Ripon. A spike in sales that began after Barack Obama won November's presidential election continued throughout the spring, with the FBI reporting dramatic monthly increases in the number of background checks it performed on would-be gun buyers. Although the Obama administration hasn't taken a strong stand on gun laws, customers are betting that a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic-controlled Congress will translate into stricter gun-control laws and perhaps the revival of a national assault rifle ban that...

President Barack Obama may never have fired a gun but he is turning out to be one of the best firearms salesmen in American history. I've sold probably four times as much in the last six months as I have in 20 years combined," said Cliff Hunter, owner of Tommy Bronson Sporting Goods in Memphis. "Hand guns and the tactical weapons, they're absolutely off the charts." Most of his gun sales used to be for hunting, or personal protection in a city riddled with crime. But just before the November election, anxiety that Mr Obama would win and enact a...

No matter how you approach it, summer grilling is a lose-lose situation for Mother Nature. Are you cookin’ veggie burgers over natural, low-impact lump charcoal that you fired up with a chimney starter? You’re still also cookin' up an ample amount of air pollution. Are you serving local veggie kabobs expertly grilled over a gas-powered flame? You’re generating less sooty particles but that gas, as you’re probably aware, is a nonrenewable resource. What about that free-range chicken cooked over an electric grill? If it's plugged in, you're generating greenhouse gases there, too. If you gotta grill, you gotta grill (but...

Recently I had a long lunch with an old friend. He sits on the board of one of the largest and most successful publicly traded regional banks in America. He got his seat when that regional bank acquired the very successful community bank he built from the ground up. I will not name him or this bank, but I will pass on a few things he said to me. He said, “Our bank’s leadership team and others I know at the local or regional level feel paralyzed and intimidated by the climate of fear created by the Obama administration. We...

Had a good turnout for the ultimate backwoods teaparty. It's raining right now in Indy and we had our teaparty/gun shoot yesterday. We knew it would be raining today so we had our event yesterday. Made some noise, shot some guns, set off some explosives in celebration of the the 4th at an undisclosed location in Indiana. Heard the news about Gov. Palin resigning, coupled with the Gov. Sanford self destruction, we feel there is no hope left. Powder is dry. For those who feel the need to point out that we are now on the DHS most wanted list...

HOLLYWOOD — Clearly the Obama administration needs to address the issue of teacher salaries and fast. On AMC's "Breaking Bad," Bryan Cranston is playing a science teacher making meth, and now we have Thomas Jane as Ray Drecker, a high-school basketball coach-turned-male prostitute in HBO's "Hung." Both are men of middle age who find themselves undone by fate — Cranston's Walter White has cancer, Ray's wife has left him and he's lost his home to fire — and a lack of ambition. Both are angry at a world that seems to have reneged on earlier promises so, with their personal...

We have accumulated probably 3-6 months worth of stuff thus far, a good chunk of it being dry and canned goods, but more and more I am eying that deep freeze and all the food in it, because although there have been discussions of a generator purchase, we still don’t have one and I am very wary of the possibility that a power loss will render most of it useless. Another motivation is the fact that dried food lasts for so much longer and loses far less nutrients than canning, and I would like to use or save every bit...

Have I told you about my Scarlett O’Hara moment? It was a couple of years ago when a hurricane was just hours away from coastal Florida. The news video showed a bewildered looking woman staring at empty grocery store shelves. At that moment I said, “As God is my witness, that will never be me!” I vowed to never be the woman on TV who hadn’t given a serious thought of preparing for a disaster and now stood, vulnerable, to whatever dangers lay ahead. Taking steps to be prepared for various emergency situations or a significant downturn in our economy...

Pat McHugh invented the Space Blanket, an amazing piece of survival gear that has changed the face of emergency care for decades. McHugh said millions of Space Blankets were sent to help victims of the Indonesian tsunami a couple of years ago. But such large-scale disasters form only part of the basis of survival and outdoors gear McHugh has designed and represented. One of my favorites is an MPI outdoors backpack with a single shoulder strap that allows shooting a rifle while wearing the pack. But, while he said hunters and fishermen usually possess all the gear they need to...

The never-ending rain may be wreaking havoc with everyone's weekend plans this summer, but at the White House Garden this week, it was hailed as the reason the crops were so lush and abundant. As fifth grade students picked 73 pounds of lettuce and 12 pounds of peas, assistant White House Chef Sam Kass noted that the garden had flourished quickly due to the downpours, the Washington Post reported. Besides the lettuce and peas, the 1,100-suare foot, L-shaped garden has also produced beans, kale, chard, collard greens and herbs, Kass told the paper. The White House kitchen has been turning...

While the credit crunch has caused life-changing hardships for many, some, believing the world is on the verge of a major depression, have taken to living off the land, regardless of how hard it is. Seven years ago, Viktor Sergienko felt life in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev had become too stressful. On top of that he had read several books that claim a big world crisis was imminent. The software engineer decided not to hesitate and prepared for the worse. In 2007 he bought a small house in the countryside. Last September Viktor was among the few who could...

Buying canned groceries and extra bags of flour and sugar have been the easiest part of food storage for me. Dehydrating my own food seemed to belong in the same category as spinning my own wool. Yes, it can be done, but why would I want to go through all the trouble??! I found out for myself that dehydrating my own food is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to stock up. Now, if I say it’s easy, you know. It’s easy! The foods are fresh with no additives of any kind, so I know exactly what my...

Let me be clear about two very important things before I continue in this article. 1. This is not going to be anything about how personal income tax is unconstitutional. While I actually believe it is, right now if you don’t pay it you get in a lot of trouble, you must pay all your legal tax obligations. 2. I am not a tax expert or a financial adviser. This article is more about exactly how to think about taxes then the specifics of how to reduce them. Cutting to the chase on this let me say when it comes...

Bryce sent me this great link to a very interesting study on women defending themselves from rape and the success rates of these methods. Huge hat tip to him as this is awesome. For those on dial up I will sum it up. Women who used non violent methods of resistance (crying, pleading, etc) were raped about 96% of the time. Women who used forceful verbal resistance (yelling, screaming) were raped about half the time. Running works better then yelling as the women who ran were raped about 15% of the time. Forceful physical resistance is slightly more successful than...

I don’t remember when I first become convinced that homeschooling was the only type of education I wanted for our children. I do know it was long before I ever became pregnant! Now that we’ve finished our fifth year of homeschooling and we’ve started taking “prepping” seriously, I’m more glad than ever that we chose this route for our family. Homeschooling provides a continuous flow of education in spite of changing circumstances. A dramatic decline in income might force a family to move to another neighborhood, city, or even to a different state. Other than losing some time in the...

Is it possible that you are prosperous and didn’t even know it? Do you know that you can think you have nothing and find that you have everything? We have a small home with small rooms, and no quiet space of peace. Every room I enter there are children talking, or laughing and sometimes crying. When I wish to make a call, I must first say, “Shhh…can’t you see I am on the phone?” I am so rich, because I have a family and they are all around me. We do not have extra money to buy our kids the...

I think as a boy my favorite stories were always about epic journeys or quests. I always saw myself as the lone hero; bravely making his way through a barren landscape overcoming impossible obstacles and having fantastic adventures along the way. As preppers I think many of us still believe that WTSHTF our trip to “Get out of Dodge” will be an adventure such as those we read in books. I’m afraid however; the reality will be much grimmer than we can imagine. I fear that it will be more like The Road by Cormac McCarthy or the recent novel...

The old woman walked into a Leesburg gun shop two months ago and explained her situation. She was 80-something and wore the scars of the Great Depression. It had crippled her family, she told store owner Gordon Schorer, wiping out their savings in a bank failure. Now, near the end of her life, she worried the U.S. was headed down the same road, and she wasn't going to make that trip — not without a fight. She had stockpiled more than a year's worth of food, put most of her money in precious metals and today was looking for a...

Have you heard of a Bug out bag (BOB)? If you have read even a few articles on urban survival then you have heard of this mysterious thing. Loosely defined, it is a bag packed with supplies and equipment for a few days to a week. It is intended to be something handy to grab, if you have to get out of where you are quickly. The thousands of items that could possibly be packed in a BOB are often a source of great debate among people building, packing, and storing their own bag. But what about the times when...

Store food and water. Avoid debt. Build up savings. Sound like a plan for these tough economic times? It's actually the longtime teaching of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "For many years the church has taught the principle of provident living and self-reliance," said Bruce Priday, president of the Lenexa Stake and Mormon church spokesman for the Kansas City, Mo., area. "With growing unemployment, this is becoming increasingly important," he said. "I have visited several families who lost work and were able to get through months of unemployment without having to go to the government or agencies...

CAMP GONSALVES, Okinawa (June 5, 2009) -- May 10, 5:30 a.m. - Bivouac site 2A. I arrived at the bivouac site as the Marines and sailors of 3rd Medical Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, were setting up their campsite. They didn't realize this was just temporary and there wouldn't be tents where they were going. After the campsite was set up, the students played cards, ate MRE's and joined in on a game with a hacky sack I made from a shirt, pebbles and electrical tape. This will be our last night with cigarettes, dip and more importantly, food. I...

Six months ago, Jim Wiseman didn't even have a spare nutrition bar in his kitchen cabinet. Now, the 54-year-old businessman and father of five has a backup generator, a water filter, a grain mill and a 4-foot-tall pile of emergency food tucked in his home in the expensive San Diego suburb of La Jolla. Wiseman isn't alone. Emergency supply retailers and military surplus stores nationwide have seen business boom in the past few months as an increasing number of Americans spooked by the economy rush to stock up on gear that was once the domain of hardcore survivalists. These people...

When the manure hits the fan it makes quite a mess, but every sticky situation can be handled with a cool head and a toolbag of survival equipment. There are certain "always" rules to off-roading-always stay on the trail, always go off-roading with a buddy or two, always tell someone where you are going, and always scout the trail ahead to see what's over the next hill or around the next curve. But "always" doesn't always happen, and sometimes "always" is ignored completely. Then you might just end up sleeping in the rain, at the bottom of a hill, with...

TAMPA - Brenda Derby is a born fighter— 20 years in the army, retired. She remembers when Hurricane Charley hit. Back surgery put her out, unable to prepare, she was alone. Then came Frances, Ivan and Jeanne. She promised herself never again would be she be unprepared. Now hurricane season is here again. "I love, it enjoy it. That pyschs me up," Derby said. "I'm a survivalist. That's my time." {Cut} It's not just food either. Derby keeps a fully stocked first aid kit, dozens of lifejackets, with whistles attached, Maglites for everyone. She's the woman you want to know...

Growing your own food is for everyone not just people that want “organic” fruit and vegetables. Every day I get into my car and do a podcast on self sufficiency during my morning commute called The Survival Podcast. Over past few months I have dedicated a great deal of time to the subjects of Agriculture and Permaculture for a very simple reason. While the “prepper” community is of course very big on food storage there is a finite limit to how much food any individual or family can store. Once you stored food runs out in a true long term...

Fernando Antonio Salguero grew up with his sister and mom in “a community of junkies and thieves” in a series of squats in Kensington. The worst year, he says, was 1985. Salguero is certain of this because it was the same year that Mayor Wilson Goode dropped a bomb on the West Philly building containing members of the radical group MOVE, killing six adults and five children. Salguero watched the bombing on a neighbor’s TV. 
 Salguero was 11 years old. This was also the year he, his mom and his younger sister learned to survive on the five gallons...

PORTLAND, Ore. – Becky Lerner is hungry - but determined. She is trying to live off “wild” food for a week in Portland, foraging the parks, yards, open spaces and even sidewalks for edibles as a way to not only connect with the land but to learn a valuable survival skill. “Should the trappings of modernity become unavailable to us one day, knowing how to find food without grocery stores or even farms will surely come in handy,” the 26-year-old Northeast Portland woman said. She is not allowing herself to Dumpster dive or feed off gardens during her week-long challenge,...

Now, the 54-year-old businessman and father of five has a backup generator, a water filter, a grain mill and a 4-foot-tall pile of emergency food tucked in his home in the expensive San Diego suburb of La Jolla. Wiseman isn't alone. Emergency supply retailers and military surplus stores nationwide have seen business boom in the past few months as an increasing number of Americans spooked by the economy rush to stock up on gear that was once the domain of hardcore survivalists.

(CNN) -- Young and old, poor and prosperous, sick and healthy -- residents of Pakistan's Swat Valley continue to flee the violence that has erupted there as the military clashes with the Taliban. {Cut} Khan, who estimates his age at between 65 and 70, told CNN life around Mingora was so desperate, he cannot put it into words. Both he and the 50-year-old man said no food or water remain besides what has been stockpiled. There is no power, and all land lines and cell phones have jammed, and citizens have been confined to their homes by military curfews.