Learn How to Manage Your Sleep for Optimum Health and Increased Longevity

Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.

As a prepper, you need to learn diametrically opposite things when it comes to sleep. Both are useful for different situations.

On one hand, you need to learn how to get a good night’s sleep–because this is useful for everyday performance. Without adequate levels of rest, humans deteriorate both physically and mentally to the point where our very lives are at risk. For example, extreme exhaustion can lead to impaired judgment, something nobody wants in a life or death situation. Furthermore, lack of sleep can do damage to the immune system, making us especially susceptible to illness and infections which may be difficult to treat in an environment where resources are limited.

On the other hand, you’ve got to learn about the benefits of sleep deprivation in training–because this will help you remain alert and able during an emergency when you’ve had little or no sleep. Despite the health risks posed by not getting enough sleep, the human body and mind can continue to function for a surprisingly long time without proper rest. You’ll be able to perform well despite sleep deprivation if you’ve undergone the necessary training beforehand.

Since both are topics that can be discussed at length, for the sake of focus, let’s talk about how to sleep well first and why it is essential that you understand how to get a good night’s sleep and why it’s important. We will address the benefits of learning to function better in spite of a lack of sleep in a follow-up article.

How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep

Here are three ways to make sure you sleep well:

Sleep on a good mattress: A good mattress is essential for getting a good night’s sleep. A good bedding/mattress store will offers mattresses from top manufacturers like Serta, Simmons, TempurPedic, and Taylor & Wells. So the first place to start when it comes to troubleshooting how to improve the quality of your night’s rest is with a good mattress. One that is right for you. This is one of the things that, well, getting a bargain is never a bad thing, but sacrificing comfort and function for a few buck is NOT a smart decision.

Keep your bedroom dark and quiet: Our Stone Age ancestors slept in dark, quiet and cool caves and caverns. Consequently, we may be biologically primed to respond to these conditions. When a room is dark and quiet, and when it isn’t hot and stuffy, we sleep deeply. Darkening your room is as simple as turning off bright electronics in your bedroom, like your digital clock,  computer, and television, adding window coverings and closing doors. If, for some reason, you can’t reduce the noise in the house, buy a white noise machine. And, finally, adjust the thermostat for the right temperature.

Enjoy a hot shower or bath before bed to calm your mind and relax your muscles: Although you’ll sleep better in a cooler room than a hotter one, your muscles relax more when you raise your body’s core temperature with a hot bath. Also, consider adding a few drops of a calming essential oil like lavender to the bath or as a mist on sheets to help trigger drowsiness.

Why You Need to Get a Good Night’s Sleep

Here is a quick list of the seven benefits you’ll get after a good night’s sleep:

You’ll get smarter: A good night’s sleep improves alertness and cognitive function. Additionally, sleep helps you remember important information. If you study before sleep, a process called Memory Consolidation helps your brain make connections, find contextual relationships, and build long-term memories.

You’ll be less stressed: When you’re sleep deprived, your blood pressure and stress hormones spike. Observable symptoms of stress from sleep deprivation include irritation, anger, and overwhelm. People who have not had a good night’s rest are more likely to lose patience with their spouse and children, yelling at them for trivial issues. They are also likely to be disinterested and unmotivated in things that they previously found engaging. 

You’ll live longer: Studies have shown that there’s a direct correlation between the overall quality of sleep you get every night and your longevity. Every major physiological system and organ appears to be compromised when a person does not get enough sleep. For instance, they find difficulty in thinking clearly, heart variance rates are higher, and their immune system is compromised. When you get enough sleep, it will improve your overall health.  Sleep helps your body heal from the pain of a recent injury, and it also boosts your immune system, reduces inflammation, controls blood sugar, and regulates heart rate. 

You’ll be in a better mood: If you get enough sleep every night, your serotonin levels will soar, promoting a sense of peace and a feeling of well-being. The amygdala and the prefrontal cortex play a critical role in mood regulation. Connectivity between these two brain centers is higher when you’re well-rested and much lower when you’re suffering from sleep deprivation. This enhanced connectivity results in more effective executive functioning, better reactivity, and reduced impulsiveness.

You’ll be more attractive: When you sleep, your body begins to repair your skin, adding collagen protein and regenerating cells. Collagen prevents skin from sagging, and when you have plenty of collagen your skin is plumper. Conversely, insufficient collagen causes wrinkling. 

You’ll control your weight: Weight control is managed by the hormones leptin and ghrelin. When you don’t get enough sleep, your levels of leptin go up, which, in turn, stimulates your appetite, making you overeat. Insufficient sleep also spikes up ghrelin, which stimulates appetite, reduces how many calories you burn, and increases how much fat you store. So, when leptin and ghrelin levels go up because of insufficient sleep, it becomes almost impossible to lose weight. 

You’ll be less accident-prone:  Although clumsiness caused by drowsiness might just result in bumps and bruises or dropping and breaking things, some accidents are far more dangerous. For instance, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that drowsy driving causes fatalities. In 2014, they reported 846 deaths were due to drowsy driving. Although much attention has been paid to fatalities and injuries due to alcohol, sleepiness has also played a significant role in poor decisions and slow reaction times behind the wheel.   

The one lesson we probably all wish we’d learned years ago would be how to get a good night’s sleep. When you get good at figuring out how to get enough sleep, you’ll feel alert and ready to deal with anything that comes your way during the day. Good sleep allows you to feel happier and be healthier. You’ll be at your best the next day, ready and able to perform mental and physical tasks well.

Follow The Prepper Journal on Facebook!

The post Learn How to Manage Your Sleep for Optimum Health and Increased Longevity appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

from The Prepper Journal
Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies?
#SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

Grid-Down Intel: Finding Resources

Written by R. Ann Parris on The Prepper Journal.

Editors Note: Another guest contribution from R.Ann Parris to The Prepper Journal. As always, if you have information for Preppers that you would like to share and be entered into the Prepper Writing Contest with a chance to win one of three Amazon Gift Cards  with the top prize being a $300 card to purchase your own prepping supplies, then enter today!

Information is hugely important to success in any endeavor. We have to know what’s going on to best respond. There are all kinds of clues we can take from our surroundings and the skies to fill in some of the gaps the loss of the internet leaves, but a biggie is going to be just finding things. Many of us know our immediate towns well, although we might not be intimately familiar with all the back alleys of every community and crossroad in our county. If the grid is down for any amount of time, locating resources in less-known or new places is going to get a whole lot harder.

There are any number of reasons we might go looking for something – or anything. We might develop a community that ends up needing a resupply, be part of a nomadic community that forms, or be hoofing it home from afar.

Information about where we are and what’s around us can dictate which roads we parallel or which direction we head. Never having been in an area before, we can still find places to seek refuge and supplies, as well as areas to give wide berths.

For example, I might think it’s a great idea to hit a park with old Indian caverns since there’s water, fishing, foraging, shelter, and maybe still canoes. However, I might not if I know they have their own zoo or are right beside a big cat sanctuary, given the number of caretakers who might release their charges to give them a chance.

I for sure do not want to tromp through the vicinity of a drive-through safari park that uses hot lines, chain link, and moats if there have been storms dropping trees. I walked in on that episode of The 100. I do not want to annoy a gorilla.

(The 100, by the way, is gorier than I’d have expected a CW show for/about young adults to be, and did not in some hit-and-miss scrolling appear to actually have any useful survival tips, if it was on your watchlist.)

Depending on the type of disaster – its speed, duration, and effects – schools and various correctional facilities might be excellent locations to aim for. If they were evacuated and have not yet been re-occupied, they can be great sources for food, bottled drinks, hygiene and medical supplies, clothing, weapons in many cases (guards, but also confiscated items), and tools.

The flip side is that some inmates are really bad guys, and some schools are shelters. Depending on the time of year and even the day of the week and their delivery schedule, there may or may not be anything left in them as far as foods go, either in cafeterias or in the staff room or snack carts and vending. Still, if I’m in month/year six and have assimilated a group of refugees or a growing compound, it might be worth checking for cleaning supplies, trash bags with their many uses, trash cans for water catchment or container planting, and windows to extend the season.

So how do we find these, and check for risks or other useful locations that might be near them, without our handy smart phone and computer? We pass the answers on pretty much every shopping trip, and can keep an eye out for them when we’re “shopping” after a disaster as well.

Phone Books

A local-area phone book can be a goldmine of information. Sometimes they contain only bare-bones, general maps, but there are sometimes more detailed sections. Some of the ads will actually have maps on them, too. They’re small and bare-bones, too, but usually there’s a reference from a major roadway nearby.

Those ads are particularly useful, but we can also check the white and yellow page listings for things like animal control (live traps, sometimes to regularly buckets and catch poles, radio equipment), hardware stores, hotels, schools, distribution centers (the places where semi trucks pick up and deliver all the things that make it to our store shelves), assisted living and nursing homes, seed and feed distributors, restaurants (we’ll detail that a little more in a minute), lockups, and various factories.

The books themselves have a ton of uses (now as well as later), but the information they offer is an enormous resource, too.

Brochures for Area Attractions

At the front of hotels and welcome centers, there’s usually a rack of glossy pamphlets. Those can give us a big boost for things to hit – or, as mentioned previously, to avoid. With them, we can find parks with fishing, camping and RV locations, some of the restaurants in the area, and oddballs like a wine trail or microbrewery, “Tigers for Tomorrow”, and an unclaimed luggage store.

Museums might get marked “skip it” as a resource center, but they have concessions and sometimes cafeterias and are unlikely to be on the top of the list for others to scavenge. Casinos, too.

Ball parks are among the many that now get a lot delivered fresh and may very well be an evacuation shelter, but they also have shelf-stable cheese and chili for the dispensers (freakish, I know) and other canned goods, powder mixes and bottled drinks, team shower facilities, tons of coolers and cleaning supplies, team-logo clothing and blankets, and umpteen paper products.

One of the charming aspects of those brochures is that most of them still include a map or turn-by-turn directions from a major roadway or the compass points. That can be super useful in a world where our phones and cars no longer give us directions on command.

There’s also usually a stack of phone books somewhere behind hotel reception desks. That desk area can also be a source for a pretty nicely detailed map of the area – even at the Motel 6 and Knight’s Inn level of lodging.

Freebie Publications

In front of all kinds of storefronts but especially supermarkets, there are stands with freebie papers and magazines. Some of them aren’t overly useful, but there are a few that can be huge helps whether we’re working in our local area or just passing through.

There are usually some vehicle-sales and real estate oriented books in there with them. A rental or a bank-owned/foreclosed home that was uninhabited at the start of a disaster stands a better chance of not encroaching on anyone’s territory, making for a safer temporary abode for foraging, resting, getting out of weather, curing game or fish, or recovering from an injury. Most private sales aren’t going to give you more than a phone number these days, but the dealerships can also be places to scout for a replacement part for our vehicle that can be salvaged or traded for, or net a vehicle that can actually be driven without a key (in dire emergencies with few survivors anywhere).

We commonly need a good map to take advantage, but if we can find one or make a list of cross streets to remember, we can find some useful locations in those freebie paper listings and advertisement pages. That can include locations of restaurants that may have less-obvious food sources the average looter overlooks, oil for biofuel, mechanics, and stores where the foods and drinks at most counters will have been overlooked, like a Marshal’s, Hobby Lobby, or Petco.

What, Where and When

By type of disaster and the type of scrounging being done – a person or a handful on foot or in a single vehicle, or a convoy going out for a surviving community – the risks and needs change. So will the locations with the most possibilities for us. If we’re avoiding attraction and well into a disaster, we’re more likely to skip over some of the “obvious” locations and those in dense areas. We might work outskirts instead, and focus on locations that were probably hit for one thing, but maybe not another or everything.

An example of that would be heading for a fuel processing plant or distributor instead of a gas station, or hitting that gas station with a sledge hammer to go through the CMU brick (as opposed to using weed eater cord to defeat the metal plate or trying to pick a high-value lock – not my best skillset) to check for food, drinks, tools, and bags in supply rooms instead of trying to siphon fuel from empty tanks with my handy garden hose and bike pump.

I might opt to skip a zoo in most situations. On the other hand, if I have buddies to watch my sides and back with a .3-something caliber repeater and I’m pretty sure I’ll survive the mental trauma that’s waiting when animals get locked up and abandoned, that zoo might be a handy source for animal feed, concession or vending locations, and hunting opportunities. Almost all of them will have buckets, tools, and cleaning supplies. If it’s empty, there’s fencing and barbed wire. There may still be veterinarian supplies.

I might even luck out and some of the petting zoo or tamable critters have survived the loose lioness or hippos, and I can convince them to come live with me since I’m there anyway (with my armed guards in case the gorillas survived, too).

Some of the locations to consider scouting for supplies are:

– Veterinarian offices, to include racetracks and sanctuaries

– Distribution centers – both manufacturer goods and end-point retailers (Mars and Buffalo Rock, as opposed to Target), or something like a Wakefield that services distribution and warehousing for other companies

– Construction and renovations sites and companies

– Towing and vehicle maintenance services

– Vehicle fleet services, especially with heavy diesel ratios or rental trucks/cars but including the power company, pest control companies, internet providers, and others that maintain a fleet

– Hotels, casinos, museums, civic centers

– Rental storage units (vehicles and sale supplies; contents vary wildly)

– Clinics, hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities

– Zoos, sanctuaries, petting zoos, animal control, humane societies

– Animal, automobile, and antiques auction houses

– Building and earth-moving equipment rental companies

– Restaurants, cafeterias, caterers, and vending supply companies

– Nurseries, you-pick orchards and berry farms, nursery suppliers

– Universities, junior colleges and high schools; elementary grade schools

– Rental homes, foreclosure/bank-owned real estate

Remember, what we’re looking for isn’t always the obvious. Hospitals might be devoid of drugs and have run through generator fuel, but that generator may still be there and I might be after buckets, cleaning supplies, and linens. I might have my fingers crossed for a ride, but a vehicle fleet is also “just” a source of fuel, tires, oil, coolant, and batteries as well as other supplies whether it’s Enterprise, Verizon, or Bubba-Bob’s Construction.

What’s useful changes by our specific situation. How worth it a trip is varies, too, on our situation and the most-likely yields waiting for us. Worth an overnighter or if it’s in a direction that’s as good as any other? Maybe. But I’m not kidding about having buddies and the right firearms if it’s near a zoo.

On the other hand, if bad guys get me and I paid attention to the information around me and thus know there’s a zoo within a reasonable distance, I’m totally leading/sending them there and rooting for the gorillas, gators, and bears. Intel has all kinds of uses. We just have to collect and apply it.

Follow The Prepper Journal on Facebook!

The post Grid-Down Intel: Finding Resources appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

from The Prepper Journal
Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies?
#SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

Roscoe Bartlett – The Congressman Who Went Off-Grid

If you want to find the roots of the modern prepping movement, you need look no further than former Congressman and scientist Roscoe Bartlett. H was one of the earlier modern voices calling for preparedness.

from Survivopedia
Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies?
#SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

5 Must-Dos If You’re Confronted With A Knife

Learning how to defend yourself during a knife attack should be top priority.  It is also time to demand changing laws that give an unfair advantage to criminals who will attack because they know you are at a legal disadvantage.

from Survivopedia
Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies?
#SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

Often Overlooked Things

Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.

Editors Note: A guest contribution from The Redneck Prepper to The Prepper Journal.  As always, if you have information for Preppers that you would like to share and be entered into the Prepper Writing Contest with a chance to win one of three Amazon Gift Cards  with the top prize being a $300 card to purchase your own prepping supplies, then enter today!

We as preppers tend to always be prepared for the worst scenarios possible, but what if we are caught in a bad, but not worst case, scenario? As a man who has lived through a few disasters of different descriptions, I would like to share some thoughts with you all.

Imagine the following scenario if you will:

You have just survived a disaster without any casualties or major damage. Your generator is gassed up, plenty of oil and gas to keep it running, non-perishable food, medical supplies, etc. You have your own water well, and with your generator, you are not worried about water supply. You have power, but nothing happens when you turn the faucet on. Why? Because the wind/water/etc. Has damaged your plumbing. Now what?

This is the exact scenario my family faced after hurricane Rita in 2005. The force of the wind shifted the pump house, moving the water tank and breaking the plumbing. Thankfully pvc pipe can be patched relatively quickly. However, as a recent freeze taught us, you must be prepared to potentially replace ALL of the plumbing in your home. Always have extra pipe and fittings on hand in the appropriate sizes and materials for your home plumbing system. Do not forget primer and cement if you are working with pvc.

And what of electrical? A disaster can seriously damage your electrical system. Perhaps it will be as simple as capping off an unnecessary leg of a circuit. Perhaps you will need to rebuild a vital part of the system. Either way, having extra wire on hand is a great idea. Not to mention the correct tools for the job, as well as wire nuts and electrical tape.

I am ashamed to admit this, but there was a time when certain among us were caught without a manually operated can opener. Not everyone was born a prepper. Make sure to have extras.

A bathroom can be damaged too. It never hurts to have trash bags and toilet paper stored away. I speak from experience when I say that toilet paper is a wonderful luxury after a disaster.

Something I have not yet obtained, but fully believe everyone should have is a small boat. I lived through the flood of 1994, and did not think the water could every be higher. Harvey taught us all a lesson. Myself and my family were blessed enough to not have to be rescued, but it was 1” away. Literally, 1” from the threshold. I will be adding a boat to my supplies.

Now lets think about that generator. You probably have many gallons of fuel stored away, of course with the correct amount of stabilizer mixed in. There are probably cases of oil stored in a safe location as well. But what if this turns into an extended outage? Do you have spark plugs? Spare air filters? Oil filters (if your model uses one)? What about carburetors? From years of being the local guy everyone brings small engines to, I can tell you that carburetors often fail with today’s fuel. Even those that are cared for in the best manner possible. Ignition coils can fail without warning as well. It is worth it to know your machinery and have spare parts on hand. You only want to use your backup generator for the few minutes it will take to repair your main unit.

Having your chainsaw in good working order is also very important. There have been occasions where it is imperative that you be able to clear fallen trees or large wooden debris quickly. I have seen outbuildings mostly toppled after storms, and sometimes it is better to just cut them apart in a controlled manner and eliminate the danger of them falling the rest of the way. Assuming you can’t yank them down with your truck in the redneck style, that makes it go faster. The point is, you should always have fresh fuel for your saw, a spare chain, spare spark plug, and plenty of chain oil on hand.

There are some smaller jobs where the hassle and fuel consumption of power tools is just not warranted. For those moments, I always like to have a few sharp axes, machetes, hatchets and the like on hand. Most people have them stored away somewhere, but when was the last time you checked the edge on it? It is easier to sharpen them now with power tools than it will be to take the time and file sharpen them in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.

Perhaps these things I have mentioned do not apply in every circumstance. Or perhaps some of you have already taken the steps I have mentioned. My hope is that my experiences may be able to keep even one other person from having to learn these things the hard way. In the end, that’s what it’s all about. If the prepper community does not endeavor to support and educate each other, we will all suffer in the long run.

This brings me to my final point: people. We all attempt to educate and inform friends and family regarding the world of preparedness. And that in itself is a good thing. But do we talk too much? What if a young child mentions it to his/her friends? Or a good friend talks to outsiders? Even a spouse with a random comment? This poses two distinct issues. First, people know where to steal from. But have you ever considered political correctness? What if the powers that be consider your guns/knives/attitude to be a threat? I hope this inspires you to be very careful before discussing your plans. As sad as it is, you must consider all possibilities in today’s society. Which may in the long run be the biggest threat we face. Nature will do as nature does, but people are the most unpredictable thing there is!

Also worth note, I am not a writer by trade, so all mistakes in grammar are my own (Editor’s Note: None were found.) Until next time, keep your knives sharp, your guns clean, and your ammo dry.

Follow The Prepper Journal on Facebook!

 

The post Often Overlooked Things appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

from The Prepper Journal
Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies?
#SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

The Illuminati Are About To Make Their Final Move (2018-2019)

The Illuminati Are About To Make Their Final Move (2018-2019)

via YouTube Video Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies?
#SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

The Best Furniture Options for Your Bunker

Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.

Editors Note: A guest contribution from Laura Marie Johnson to The Prepper Journal.  As always, if you have information for Preppers that you would like to share and be entered into the Prepper Writing Contest with a chance to win one of three Amazon Gift Cards  with the top prize being a $300 card to purchase your own prepping supplies, then enter today!

Every serious prepper knows that their bunker has to be functional and long-lasting. Not only do you need enough supplies to last a decade or longer, you need quality furniture options that can function in a multitude of ways to make the most of your space. Today we are looking at some furniture ideas that you can either build or buy so that you can make the most of your space.

Anything With Drawers

Buffets, dressers, nightstands, and telephone tables are perfect for providing storage, use a little space, and provide something beautiful look at during confinement. A buffet in your kitchen area can store the dishes and give you extra space for more food. Telephone tables and nightstands can be used in the common area for a place to put your cup of water and store reading materials or other forms of entertainment to keep you busy. Dressers could keep clothes but also can be a storage spot for survival gear that makes it easy to get to. We highly recommend visiting a furniture store that offers Stanley furniture, an antique shop, or thrift stores for strong wood structures. They last a long time and can double as firewood should you ever need it!

The Bed That Doubles

Depending on how much space you have and how many people are in your bunker, the bed can double as storage or other furniture. If it’s just one or two people in the bunker, a futon can be fantastic for sleeping on and a couch during the day. It is especially enticing if you have a small bunker that doesn’t have much in the way of separate rooms. Murphy beds are always an option so that you can have your living room and pop the bed out of the wall when it’s time for sleep. The storage bed is a big draw for when you have separate rooms. While some beds have drawers on either side of the frame, a storage bed has drawers on one side that reside the width of the bed and pull all the way out. If you are handy, you can build it yourself to customize it to your needs and space. Aside from Murphy beds, collapsible bunk beds are also a great addition. You can easily locate these in any camping department or specialty shop. You can use easily fold them away after a night of sleep or, should you need to escape your bunker, you can use them in the woods. A very versatile option no matter the situation.

Tables For Protection

If you are concerned about your physical safety (and who among us isn’t?), tables that are modified to hide your protective gear becomes a must-have for the bunker. A coffee table that has a hidden drawer or the side table with a secret opening on the side is perfect for stashing guns and bullets (or whatever your choice of weapon is). You can try buying these in your prepper circles or you can learn how to make them on your own. Better yet, take a furniture making class so you can get the hang of the basics and figure out how to make your own designs!

Your Walls Are Your Best Friend

No matter the size of your bunker, your walls are the perfect spot for storage. You can choose to buy storage shelves or bookshelves to use as storage along the walls. Our favorite space-saving trick is to build shelving into the wall itself. Shelving is perfect for your food, supplies, extra clothing, weaponry, and entertainment. The possibilities become endless when you include strong and sturdy shelving!

 Use Your Floors Wisely

Flooring can become a great space saver without imposing on the space in your living quarters. By adding hidden storage spaces under the bunker, you can add an intense amount of extra anything to space. Extra water, weaponry, survival gear, food, medical supplies, and extra entertainment to switch are just a few things you can put beneath your floor. This can be especially important if you have added a couple of extra people to the space at last minute. They don’t have to know where the backup supplies are and you can ensure that if your time in the bunker is extended, then you and your people are covered. If you worry about anyone noticing that you have created extra storage in the floor, area rugs can help hide that fact and keep prying eyes out.

Recycle Big Toolboxes

If you can find large free-standing toolboxes that people want to ditch, grab them! They are perfect for storing the tools you will need for maintenance, extra supplies of nails and electric tape, light bulbs, and anything else you can imagine that you will need for a long time. If you have one just for maintenance, another can hold all your medical supplies or any other thing you don’t have a place for. The different shapes of drawers are perfect for just about anything and the material is very long lasting.

Think Outside The Box

When stashing your weaponry, you can sometimes think outside the box and find new places to stash a few pieces should you need to grab something fast. You have all seen the famous picture of the weapon taped behind the old chain-pull toilet in “The Godfather” or taped to John McClane’s back in “Die Hard”. NOT recommended unless you are proficient at removing tape from the weapon while drawing it to save your life (a skill John McClane didn’t need because his was done with Hollywood magic disappearing tape.) Perhaps behind a flat screen television or desktop computer, tucking a weapon down in the cushion of the love seat, or taping weapons underneath every chair in the space ensures that you can have a weapon quickly to protect yourself and your crew. The downside of course is children and their curiosity so use common sense please.

If you are in the planning phase of your bunker, this is an excellent time to plan your design and think about the furniture and supplies you will need. The layout will let guide you to how to ensure you have the freedom to move around and have space for everything. If you have already built your bunker and are now working on furnishing it, this is an excellent time to look at space-saving options. You need space to keep yourself and your crew safe and minimize health risks. Once you get rolling, it will get easier!

Follow The Prepper Journal on Facebook!

The post The Best Furniture Options for Your Bunker appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

from The Prepper Journal
Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies?
#SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

Garden Cheats – Quickie Starts & Expansions

Written by R. Ann Parris on The Prepper Journal.

Come spring and summer, a lot of us would be delighted to have a few more hours in the day. Gardening and producing crops is one of the many reasons. Sometimes we just don’t have the time or money to get started or to expand as fast or as much as we’d like.

Here are a few hacks we can use on that front, whether we’re beginners, or in a hurry for some expansions. Most are totally appropriate for anyone with a patio, balcony, or prime prepper property with acreage. They’re about saving time so we can start learning our gardening lessons or increasing our yields.

Tilling to break new ground is a multi-step process; new grass/weed seeds are brought to the surface with each pass and in some cases, weeds will sprout from the broken roots we leave behind.

Bench the Tillers

Whether we already have a big, tilled, bare-earth conventional plot and are just looking to expand, or are just getting started, it’s going to be fastest off the mark to skip tilling – at least for this season. An exception would be if we have a sod cutter we’re going to run through first, so the first inch or two of soil and roots – with a fair portion of the weed seeds – are at least getting bundled away.

Otherwise, every time we till, we’re introducing years or decades worth of weed seeds to the surface, and some of those seeds will last 70 years. It also takes multiple passes, mechanical or hand-turned, to get that nice, loose soil we like to see.

If we’re racing a clock and trying to save labor, it’s just easier to work from the ground up. There are numerous ways to do that, from layered lasagna beds, modified or true Eden-garden style beds, to some of the suggestions coming up.

With all of them, a layer of some sort forms a barrier between our existing ground plane and our good dirt for veggies, which will limit the weeds.

Cardboard is among the most common of those barriers. Sources to tap for cardboard are liquor stores, gas stations that sell cigarettes, stores that sell appliances, and moving companies. Moving boxes and appliance boxes are fantastic because they tend to be so big and so thick – it’s easy to cover a big span at once, and it forms an excellent exclusion barrier.

Other big advantages of starting from the ground up is that it creates a looser, less compacted growing space than conventional row gardening, the elevated beds benefit from drainage and will warm up earlier in the season, and – the biggie – we’re not first taking the time to till, waiting a week or two for the new weeds to sprout, and doing a second (and third) “kill till” before we even get to planting.

Caveat: We can absolutely make a first pass till to break up soil and lower grass competition, then layer up over that.

There is a big drawback, however. To go up, we’re going to need to source soil.

Maybe it’s from somewhere else on our property, or maybe we’re going to do a lasagna or hugel-style bed and use compost, so we really only need a couple handfuls of soil per “plug” and it wouldn’t be that expensive to buy. For more conventional beds, most of us will either be buying bulk or bagged soil, and it can get pricey compared to just digging up a patch of lawn.

Priority of time to get started planting, versus amount of work in the future (weeding), versus initial cost will have to get weighed out for each person and plot.

Low-Soil Methods

Growing styles like using lasagna beds and “trash” or “fill” beds that use layers of raw organic material and then only plugs of soil can be one way to limit the labor and cost of establishing a new bed or container garden. Over time, that organic material breaks down, feeds our existing soil plugs, and we actually start producing new soil.

In years past, there has also been the straw bale method. I used it myself a few times, and it works well – the first year, you grow in a bale that has had decomp started, again, using just a little bit of soil to start the seeds or give transplants a little room to groove before they expand outward. Some people can get two years out of a straw bale. Others will take this year’s straw bale, and use it to establish a new growing space, or as mulch for other beds or around trees.

I say “in years past” because a lot of hay and straw producers are now using herbicides in their fields. Sometimes those herbicides target a specific species or family, but in a lot of cases, they target all broadleaf plants. Sometimes those herbicides have a very short effective life, but many are persistent – they stick around for a while. Sometimes a year, sometimes two, sometimes more.

That means that as the straw starts breaking down and leeching into the soil or “feeding” our plants, it’s releasing those broadleaf killers.

The problem there is, straw bale gardens are not the most efficient way to grow grains, and most of the other veggies we eat are broadleaf plants.

I haven’t personally had a problem so far, but there is anecdotal evidence all over the web of people whose garden beds have been wrecked by not only straw, but also horse and cattle manure from animals that were fed hay from herbicide-treated fields. In some cases it’s a single season lost, but in others, people have apparently had to scrap the whole plot for anything but grains for more than 2-3 years.

If you can source herbicide-free square bales, that’s an excellent tomato, pepper, squash, and melon planter that leaves a lot of versatility for the future, and a good way to get started. If you can’t be absolutely sure … This is about fast, easy, relatively inexpensive ways to start gardening or expand our gardens, not “how to make you hate me in 2K words or less”. Just be aware of the increasing risks on the straw front, for both garden bales and mulching.

Bag Planters

These have been out there for a while, and they can work. There’s one where you poke holes in one “flat” side, lay that side on the ground, cut a big hole out of the other flat side, and use that as your planting space. That one restricts us to relatively shallow plants like lettuces, mustards, strawberries, and in some cases dwarf peas or compact bush beans – although spacing requirements for those can make it a little bit prohibitive.

Another version calls for slicing open the top of the bag, and sticking in our potato, tomato, pepper, or squash. With the exception of sweets, yams, and potatoes, or really small bags, we don’t usually need a whole bag per plant, but besides a companion flower or two, there’s not really room for more in there due to surface area.

We can also basically cut larger bags in half, and use one or both halves for our “big” plants, and stick smaller things like berries, peas and lettuces in cut-off drink bottles we fill from the other half.

There’s no need to ditch the soil at the end of the season. I have no idea where that misconception comes from – we wouldn’t ditch our in-ground or conventional raised beds each year; we just add amendments as needed. We can add coffee grounds and tea bags to our soil bags throughout the season to maintain fertility, just as we would a planter, raised bed, or in-ground bed or plot, and we can mix in compost or manure the next year if we want.

Most bags are only going to hold up for one season outside, so sourcing a bucket, tote or some big plastic drawers to serve as our planters the following year is a good idea.

Or, we can use the growing season we’re bagging it to go ahead and slowly build up a bed out of junk branches, chunks of logs, CMU, or timbers.

 

Bookshelf Beds

One way to quickly and easily cheat our way to a “pretty” garden bed is to pay attention to Craigslist, Freecycle, and curbside alert boards, and land ourselves a bookshelf. Many bookcases are already a good size to reach across for seeding, weeding and harvest, even for kids and adults. Most are shallow enough to be filled reasonably, whereas a filing cabinet on its back is going to need some junk wood and then leaves or straw to fill so we’re only supplying 6-12-18” of dirt.

All we need for most plants is that 6-8” of soil, although some will benefit from 12” or so. If that doesn’t fill the bookcase, no biggie. We can use those “trash” fills at the bottom, improving drainage, or we can add soil later, grow cover crops, add compost, and-or add mulch, and over time we’ll increase our depth.

An awful lot of modern bookshelves have basically cardboard backs that can act as our weed exclusion barrier – so we’re only sourcing one thing, and assembling our new garden bed is as easy as laying it on its back in its new home.

Bookcases are also nice, because they work right beside or even on a patio, can go atop gravel or asphalt, and don’t require much if any construction. Bookcases also won’t typically need drainage holes put in, although thick, solid-backed ones could use a few holes. That means even those who aren’t *yet* DIY-ers can get started without any power tools.

Another advantage to bookshelves is that they come with the frame, and most come with shelves. The frame becomes one “main” bed, and the shelves can get built into an additional, smaller bed (although we’ll need the exclusion barrier for that one).

Many bookshelves aren’t going to be a long-term solution, and some may need a few extra screws to last even a single season, but we can get started right away with a nice, bounded raised bed.

If we decide we like the location, we can work our way around that bed with timbers, stone, CMU, brick, or logs from storm-damaged trees. We can also use the bookcase as an inner form, assemble an outer form, and pour concrete if we really want a permanent solution in there.

Quickie Starts & Expansions

There are lots of ways we can get started gardening or expand our food production, quickly and easily. There are other hacks that help us maintain our veggies – such as locating them so we’re more likely to see problems fast and actually take care of them, and keeping them close enough it takes no time at all to get out and weed, water and harvest.

There are also ways we can decrease the labor and time that gardening takes, from mulch to covering beds, planting styles, and even our plant selection. Some of those have been covered in past articles here on TPJ, and some I’ll hit on in another article.

The biggie, always, is to go ahead and get started.

It doesn’t have to be big or pretty, but if we want to start producing our own food, we need to get started now. There are too many learning curves when it comes to gardening to wait until we have the perfect property, the perfect setup, and the perfect planters or plots.

Follow The Prepper Journal on Facebook!

The post Garden Cheats – Quickie Starts & Expansions appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

from The Prepper Journal
Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies?
#SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

What The Midterms Mean For Conservatives (+ Trump)

In case you hadn’t noticed it, this is another election year. I know that people don’t get as excited about midterm elections as they do about general elections, but this can be hugely important to our country’s direction.

from Survivopedia
Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies?
#SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

Oxford Style Guide of Writing and Formatting Guide: Things a learning student must Remember

Oxford Style Guide of Writing and Formatting Guide: Things a learning student must Remember

Oxford design papers are in fact scholastic documents written utilizing the oxford essay style that is writing. This will be among the widely used writing that is academic. Many students can’t stand using this essay writing style simply due to the guidelines that govern the way the papers ought to be referenced and in text citations should always be formatted. Despite dozens of rules, our essay writing solutions provides pupils with custom oxford design term documents. We really produce the most useful term papers written using oxford writing styles mainly because we now have trained authors whom manages our clients’ oxford style term documents as well as other educational writings. Our essay article writers plays an important role in students essay writing services just because they’re usually the one would you all the writings which is the reason we value them most. Our writers are qualified from understood colleges and that’s why all of their oxford style term papers are custom, formatted consequently as well as actually contain no plagiarism dilemmas.

Do you want style that is oxford papers or oxford style research papers? Our essay composing solutions offers you quality and original article writings. Our essay authors utilize the oxford manual when writing your essays and therefore they follow all of the steps. Students from various educational institutions purchase their oxford design term documents from our writing services in their academics because they have realized that without our essay help, they are unable to make it. Our oxford design term papers are compiled by specialists that will make sure your writings are sourced from original materials and which are linked to academics. Some online essay writing services waste pupils in a variety of ways. It is since they cheat pupils which they provide initial oxford style term documents that they are also maybe not linked to the style. Pupils who want custom and quick oxford style term documents should look for the help of our authors.

Our oxford design term papers has for longer than 10 years aided pupils of higher level and reduced degree of education. We have been proud that a www.writemyessay247.org/ huge selection of students have been able to flourish in life through our oxford style term papers. We offer what exactly is beneficial to your project and that’s why our customers are maintaining on increasing. With sample term papers written specifically to provide guides on how to go about the writings if you feel that you want skills of writing oxford style term papers, our company will provide you. Our solutions are initial for we make sure that borrowed materials which will have now been found in composing your oxford design term papers have already been referenced correctly. We do not fear your project’s technicality just because we now have qualified writers that will find a way to do a comprehensive research hence give you custom oxford style term documents.

Why wouldn’t you buy style that is oxford documents from our essay composing solutions? There are numerous reasons which might drive you towards our solutions but you can find few important and genuine people which have actually for a long time made customers use our solutions. We now have qualified essay article writers, timely solutions which are initial, costs which are justified with free unlimited modification solutions. Our papers are clear of plagiarism and that we offer 100% money guarantee refund. With this thought, we believe our company is the most useful business where you could spot your order without fear.

from Patriot Prepper
Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. Are you ready for any situation?
#SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

Is Your Water Deadly? +3 Ways to Find Out…

We know that the value of healthy, safe water for drinking and bathing can not be stressed enough. We know that the human body can survive for up to three weeks without food, but we’ll only live up to three days without water!

from Survivopedia
Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies?
#SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

Must-Know First Aid for Gunshot Wounds

Gunshot wounds can be difficult to treat at all stages of the process.  It is best to take first aid courses and make sure that you get the best information and training on how to handle these situations.

from Survivopedia
Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies?
#SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag