The Cor Outfitters Intelligence Community: 2015-12-20

Saturday, December 26, 2015

The Most Important Book to Possess After the Apocalypse

Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.

Editor’s Note: This post is another entry in the Prepper Writing Contest from Robert Boivin. Resources for learning skills that you might not currently posses come in many forms, but books seem to make the most sense to me. As preppers, I believe you should have some hard copy books for situations where current information […]

The post The Most Important Book to Possess After the Apocalypse appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

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Christmas Prep Blog Review

Christmas Prep Blog Review I hope you had a wonderful Christmas next to your loved ones, and that you found the time to enjoy their presence and their tokens of affection! But although Christmas Day is behind us, that doesn’t mean so are presents and the joy of giving.

So, we’ve put together a list of wonderful Christmas presents you can easily DIY without wreaking havoc on your budget.

Maybe you have a second, belated, set of guest that you didn’t have a chance to buy a present.

Just pick a project, or two, you might already have on hand all the materials you need, and start prepping the best DIY gift ever!

1. A Gift in a Tin: Christmas Baking Kit

Prep 1 “It’s day 5 and the final day of Gifts in a Tin week!

In preparation for Christmas and simple and fun gift giving, I’ve been putting together some easy gift basket ideas for you.

In case you missed yesterday’s Spa Day in a tin, here it is. Today’s gift basket idea? Christmas Baking in a Tin!”

Friday, December 25, 2015

Merry Christmas Everyone…

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas, and that you remember the true meaning of Christmas and that is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

We will be back Monday with our regular postings and will announce the winners of our most recent non-fiction writing contest…

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This Is How To Protect Your Firewood During Winter

big firewood

To quote one of my favorite movies, “Brace yourself, winter is coming” folks. And if you’ve chosen wood for heating your homestead, you should pay extra-attention to this article.

Wood is an excellent choice for keeping your home cozy and warm during the harsh winter months and is the perfect alternative for cutting your heating costs, because it’s much less expensive than central heating that uses gas or electricity.

Especially when heating large rooms, wood works better than almost anything else. It’s a very cheap, efficient and quick heating method..

What Works and What Doesn’t

Now, that we’ve established that wood is a good alternative to electric or gas for heating, let’s see what makes for good firewood.

The difference between the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to firewood is the moisture content and the density, because in final analysis, all trees are more or less “built” from the same stuff, chemically.

So, you should choose harder woods for your winter supply, which are denser than the softer varieties. Go for oak, ash, locust, black maple and hickory. These woods tend to burn way longer than the others and the coals they produce are hotter.

These qualities are great for the coldest months of the winter, and even for those long, chilly nights of late fall and early spring. Plus it’s efficient, as we’ll soon discuss.

You may be fooled by the abundance and cheapness of the softer woods, such as pine, but these tend to burn pretty quickly, and you’ll have to haul heavy loads day after day, maybe more often than you’d like, wasting time and effort. In the end, you’ll likely spend just as much buying the cheap stuff because you’ll burn twice as much of it.

Storing Your Winter Wood Properly

Regardless of the type of wood you’ve chosen, the biggest problem, especially during the winter, is the storage issue. It’s crucial to choose the proper storage method when it comes to your wood supply, thus protecting your investment and your hard work. You may have spent weeks cutting your firewood for the winter season ahead, but make sure that you don’t skip the final, extremely important step: stacking it.

Wood is highly susceptible to exposure to the elements, especially snow and rain. If your wood supply is stored improperly and it gets wet, that will lead to decay. Also, a pile of wood looks really cozy to various species of animals, snakes and insects looking for shelter, and I bet that’s not what you had in mind for your firewood stack, right?

Firewood that comes in direct contact with the ground is prone to insects and moisture exposure, and these accelerate the wood’s rate of decay, rendering it useless over time. By far, moisture is wood’s biggest enemy, as it also dramatically increases the chances of mold taking over your firewood supply.

All these things considered, it looks like the most challenging aspect of storage is how to keep your logs dry , isn’t it?

Having dry logs will make all the difference in the world when it comes to the efficiency of the wood stove/wood burner/chimney etc. This is a huge factor affecting the amount of heat your wood will produce. Keeping your firewood supply as dry as possible will maximize your investment and it’s beneficial for your homestead long-term.

Where Should You Start?

The first thing to contemplate is seasoning. Wood must be properly seasoned, and I mean dried, before you light your first winter fire. An insufficiently dried wood will tend to ignite harder, will burn inefficiently and will produce sub-par amounts of heat despite having a flame. It will also smoke and smolder.

How do you know your wood is seasoned good and proper? A few hints: dry wood is lighter (less moisture-less weight) and its ends are cracked. It turns deep brown, yellow or gray as it dries (wet/green wood is cream, white or light brown) and if you smash two logs together, they’ll sound hollow when they’re good and dry. Wet wood makes a dull thud.

To get the general idea about proper seasoning, softer essences of wood require six to twelve months while harder ones will need twice that (1 to 2 years).

To achieve proper seasoning, you should split the firewood before storing it into smaller sections, thus speeding up the drying process. Splitting it up increases the surface area which is exposed to the air. Alternatively, you can buy already split logs from a reputable supplier, to make sure you get high quality firewood that’s split properly.

You should allow the firewood to dry in the open air completely before storing it long term. The most important factor that contributes to open-air drying is the wind, as it speeds up the process, but never allow your logs to sit outside uncovered during a rainstorm. If your wood supply gets damp, it will take a long time to dry it out again.

Now, let’s see about storage options. Before storing your wood for the winter season, you must learn how to stack it properly.

This may take a little practice, but it’s very important to stack your firewood the right way when storing it. The general idea is to allow the air to circulate freely by leaving gaps between the logs and each layer must be stored in the opposite direction of the next, to assure the best ventilation possible. Check out the video below.

Video first seen on Cottage Life DIY

If your firewood is stacked next to a shed, a wall or some other structure, allow plenty of space between the stack and the respective wall (at least a 2 to 4 inch gap) , to allow the air to circulate freely. Failing to do that is a common mistake folks tend to make and it leads to termites popping up in your wood supply and wet logs. Oh yeah, and in your house, too, if it’s wood.

Another common mistake and one that can cause the most damage, is to cover your logs completely, thus stopping air circulation. This translates into moisture taking over, damaging the firewood and rendering it useless. If you cover your wood stack, be sure to allow proper aeration by leaving the sides uncovered.

Always remember to bring the logs inside your house a day in advance before you use them for heating purposes. Store them inside in a dry location such as your wood bin and they’ll be in perfect shape the following day. That brings us to storage options.

What About Storage Options?

Always think ahead when it comes to storing firewood. The general idea is to choose the perfect location at each step, from where you’re going to let it season, to where you’re going to store it within reach, to where you’re going to store it once you bring your firewood into the house.

Just think about it: logs are bulky and heavy, and carrying them day after day to your house is hard work, especially if you’ll require several trips for a day’s supply. So, do yourself a “solid” and store your seasoned firewood as close and as practical as possible to your heating device. You’ll thank yourself later.

Obviously, firewood must be stored outside of your home, never inside. Just think about termites and ants, along with other nastier bugs. They all love wood and you don’t want these intruders inside of your house now, do you?

Talking about outside storage, there’s an invention called a woodshed. While you can keep a small amount of wood inside the home, ready to be burned, seasoned firewood is best kept in an outside woodshed.

Video first seen on Jyienger

If that’s too much for you, a DIY log rack is the next best thing for storing wood for the winter. It’s important that you elevate it, at least 2-3 inches off the ground, to keep your firewood dry and protected from insects.

If stacking firewood outside, it would be a great idea to cover it, in order to protect your supply from the elements, but remember to avoid the mistakes we’ve already mentioned. You will find specially designed rack covers in retail stores, featuring tie downs to keep them from flying away when the wind blows. These covers also have slits or perforations in the material to keep the air flowing freely.

Obviously, you can store firewood under any solid structure, such as an awning or a garage roof, or even a basement if it’s not connected to the rest of your house as long as you follow the rules of ventilation, elevation and space that we’ve already discussed.

Always remember to put the larger logs at the bottom of the stack in level rows and make sure your pile isn’t leaning. Also, don’t build the firewood-stack too high, which will make it difficult for you or shorter family members to reach, and will also make it dangerous to be around because it may lean or even fall over somebody.

I hope the article helped and if you have ideas or comments, feel free to use the dedicated section below, we’d appreciate your feedback.

This article has been written by Chris Black for Survivopedia.

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Thursday, December 24, 2015

9 Ways To Reduce Food Waste This Christmas

big food waste

Christmas is just a couple of hours away and we’ve all made sure or tables, and fridges, are filled with all sorts of goodies. Somehow having a turkey, and all the mouthwatering garnishes that come with it, on the table makes the family come together and we feel fulfilled.

But what about the next day, when with heavy bellies we decide to start on our resolutions, forget about all the food, then throw it away when it’s all moldy and gone to waste?

If you buy food, and 99 percent of us do, it’s stupidly expensive, especially if you’re buying lots of healthy meats and produce. Even if you grow all of your own food, it’s labor-intensive and time consuming.

Many of us likely grow some and buy some, which means that we have time, money, and hard work invested and we most certainly don’t want to waste any of those resources. Plus, it’s a damned shame to waste good food. Today we’re going to discuss some easy ways to reduce your food waste.

Before we begin, let’s look at some numbers. Americans waste an astounding 40 percent of the food that they buy, and more than a third of all food purchased or grown globally is wasted via spoilage or waste. Finally, organic waste in landfills accounts for a whopping 20 percent of methane emissions on Earth.

You’d think that those numbers would bespeak a nation where all are well-fed, but even with 40 percent of food being wasted in our country, as many as 50 million people go without access to an adequate supply of nutritious food. It’s a horrible waste.

Preserve Properly

Improper preservation is perhaps the easiest way to waste a ton of food. If you’re canning food, it’s imperative that you follow all of the sterilization steps. You also need to follow proper procedure; make sure that you cook and process the food as directed, and make sure that it’s packed in the jars and sealed properly. Pressure-can low-acid foods to avoid botulism.

If you’re dehydrating your food, make sure that you remove as much of the fat as possible and dry it until there’s no moisture visible when you bend the meat. You can also can the dehydrated food as a secondary means of preserving it for even longer than dehydrating it will.

Don’t Buy More than You’ll Use or Preserve

This is the number one reason for food waste – people buy food, put it in the fridge, then throw it away 2 weeks later when it’s rotten and dripping out of the bag.

Eww. When you go shopping, it’s fine to stock up on meats, but freeze what you’re not going to use in a few days. Also, divide meat into single servings.

If you buy a 10-pack of pork chops but will only cook 4 at a time, divide the pack into 2 packs of five. That way, you’ll have an extra for lunch the next day but you won’t waste the other five by defrosting them and leaving it to rot in the fridge.

If you find a great deal on bushels of fruit or veggies at the farmers’ market, go ahead and snatch it up, but when you get home, preserve them instead of letting them go to waste.

When you shop, if you don’t intend to do any type of preservation, only buy what you’ll eat within a few days.

Plan Your Meals

meal planner It’s simple to pop into the grocery store when you’re hungry and just buy whatever looks good.

Or maybe you see that something’s on sale so you buy more of it than you’re going to use.

Grocery stores are very good at offering deals on large bags of produce such as “Salad in a Bag” to get you to spend a few more dollars in order to get a deal.

However, it’s only a deal if you actually eat the food instead of wasting it.

This is where planning your meals comes in handy.

Make a menu for the next few days or a week, then make a list based upon what’s on the menu. Check your pantry and your fridge to make sure that you don’t buy perishables that you don’t need. Stick to the list!

Cook and Serve Correctly Sized Portions

This is probably the second biggest cause of food waste in our country. We cook huge meals, then we heap our plates full of food. We only eat half of it and throw the rest away.

It’s fine if you want to cook more than what you’re going to eat at that meal, but don’t put more on your plate than you will eat. Use the leftovers as lunch for the next day, or freeze it to heat up later in the week for a quick meal.

The same concept applies when you’re eating out. As a matter of fact, I had some friends over from New Zealand and they were surprised at the portion sizes in our restaurants. Everything is supersized, which provides us with three choices: We can eat it all, we can leave what we don’t eat, or we can take the leftovers with us. Most of us do one of the latter two.

If you eat out but don’t plan to take leftovers home, share a meal with somebody or order something small enough that you’ll eat it all. If you do take leftovers home, don’t let them go to waste.

Store Food Properly

Our first thought when we get home from the grocery store is to throw everything in the fridge. That’s a mistake in many cases, though. Many foods, such as bananas and tomatoes, store better at room temperature.

Other foods such as berries and potatoes shouldn’t be washed before it’s time to eat them. Let avocados, citrus fruits and stone fruits on the counter until they’re ripe, then put them in the refrigerator.

food waste

Treat Expiration Dates as Recommendations

Everything comes with an expiration date but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the food is bad on that date.

For example, if your milk is dated December 20, don’t toss it in the trash out of hand. Smell it and taste it; if it doesn’t seem to be off, then don’t throw it away just because the expiration date has past. Same thing with eggs. As a matter of fact, eggs will keep for up to a few months in the fridge before going bad.

To tell for sure, put it in water. If it floats, it’s bad. If it stays underwater, it’s still good. If it’s starting to tip up but stays on the bottom, it’s getting close but is still safe to eat – do so quickly or you’re going to be faced with more food waste.

Practice FIFO

If you’re an old hand at prepping, you probably already know what FIFO means and are practicing the rule with your stockpile. First In, First Out. This means that you use the oldest food first.

When you bring your groceries home, don’t just put them in the front of the fridge and the pantry. Pull out the older items, put the newer items in the back, and use the older items first.

Have a Potluck Night

Every week, make it a habit to make a meal out of whatever needs to be used in the fridge. Whether you make a soup or a nice big salad, or even steak and potatoes, use what’s in your fridge before it goes bad.

Keep Track of What You Waste

By writing down what you throw away, it’ll be easier for you to pinpoint exactly where and what you’re wasting on a regular basis. If you really want to get serious about it, write down how much you spent on the food that you threw away. That’ll get your attention pretty quickly!

So this Christmas remember that wasting food is an absolute shame. In addition to throwing away something that another person would give anything to have, you’re also wasting time, money, your efforts, and the efforts of the people who worked so hard to grow that food.

No matter what your reason is for wanting to reduce your food waste, we hope that these tips will help. If you have more tips to add, please feel free to do so in the comments section below!

This article has been written by Theresa Crouse for Survivopedia.

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Wednesday, December 23, 2015

7 Tips On Getting Your Honeybees Ready For Winter

big bees

You’ve enjoyed fresh honey all summer long. Maybe you’ve even made some candles from the beeswax, or experienced the pleasure of selling your goods at the local farmers’ market or giving them away to friends and family.

Regardless, your bees have given you pleasure during the warm and pleasant months of spring, summer and fall. Now it’s winter, and it’s time for you to take care of the bees that took such good care of you.

Bees, just like all wild creatures, have natural ways that they survive through the winter but since you’re keeping them in an unnatural habitat, there are some steps that you need to take to help them along the way.

Help Your Bees to Survive Winter Naturally

If you’ve done your research, and I’m sure you have, then you know that your bees don’t hibernate. As a matter of fact, it’s probably a good idea that they don’t or else they’d freeze pretty quickly –have you ever seen a fat honeybee?

Instead of hibernating, honeybees form clusters so that they can generate heat. They do this whether they’re in the hive in the wild or in captivity. The thing is, when they live in the wild, they have the option of choosing the perfect conditions, but if they’re kept in captivity, it’s your responsibility to provide them with an environment that’s conducive to their survival.

And what have we learned, as preppers trying to be as off-the-grid as possible? Keep things simple. Let bees be bees. They know how to take care of themselves because they’ve been doing it for thousands of years, so let them do it!

Let Them Make Propolis

Propolis is the glue that bees use for a variety of purposes in the wild. They use it to seal their hives and they also use it to keep their hive clean. It has antibacterial and antimicrobial properties that are so powerful that it actually mummifies any other insect that makes its way into the hive.

If something inside the hive dies, the bees wrap it in propolis and the little corpse is actually preserved much like a mummy. Appropriately enough, propolis means, “defense of the city” in Greek. Sealing the hive with propolis protects the bees from viruses and bacteria that could cause illness, too.

People have also begun to appreciate the health benefits of propolis – it’s available for sale as a supplement and is used to treat a wide array of conditions including cancer prevention!

Even knowing all of this, many commercial hive operations have bred the propolis making out of their bees because it’s a sticky mess that’s similar to pine tar. Don’t make that mistake – bees will use the propolis to seal their hives in the winter so that the cold and yuck can’t get in.

Breeding bees that can’t make propolis is like de-clawing your cat – it makes your life easier but it takes away the natural defense and way of life of the creature. The bees will become dependent upon you for survival, which is needless. Let bees be bees.

honeycomb

Don’t Take All the Honey

Again, commercial operations, and even many small-time breeders, insist that it’s fine to feed your bees high fructose corn syrup in lieu of leaving them their natural winter food source – honey.

There are several reasons why this isn’t the best way to go for the bees, but that’s a debate for another article. In short, don’t be a pig. Leave your bees enough of their hard-earned work to feed themselves over the winter. If you aren’t sure how much they’ll need, harvest your honey in the spring instead of in the fall.

Ventilate Your Hive

As we discussed above, bees cluster to create heat. The inside of this cluster is 96 degrees Fahrenheit and, as you can imagine, when this kind of heat meets cold, condensation is created. This can gather at the top of the hive, then drip down on the bees and get them wet, which can cause them to freeze. Just like us, it’s hard for you bees to stay warm if they’re wet. Thus, it’s important to properly ventilate your hive.

Natural hives are usually made of porous wood that absorbs moisture. They also have another fail-safe in case there’s so much condensation that the wood can’t absorb it – the single entrance/exit hole in the hive is at the bottom so that the condensation can drip out. This hole serves a secondary purpose of ventilating the hive. When necessary, the bees can fan air through the hive up from the hole.

You can either choose to use wood that’s thick to try to emulate the natural hive, or you can add SMALL ventilation slit off to the side of the hive so that if the condensation does build up, it doesn’t drip down on the bees.

Don’t make this hole large because it will let in cold drafts that will cause the bees to have to work harder to stay warm. More energy used means they’ll need more food, or perhaps won’t be able to generate enough heat to stay warm.

Insulate the Hive

Since the wood that you used to make your hive is probably much thinner than what would typically make up a natural hive, you need to insulate it to help keep the heat in. The bees are going to seal all of the holes with propolis, so you can just use a layer of foam then a layer of roofing paper to wrap the hive in so that it holds the heat.

Also, move your hives to a spot that gets full sun in the winter, especially if you live in a place that gets bitter cold. Try to put them in a place that’s protected from the wind as well. This, combined with the black roofing paper, will help keep your hives warm.

Reduce the Entrance Hole

You don’t want to live with mice, spiders and other vermin in the winter and neither do your bees. You may have a larger “reducer” on your hive for summer months so that many bees can come and go at the same time.

This isn’t a good thing in the winter for a couple of reasons. First, it lets in too much cold air. Second, it lets in vermin. Reduce the size of the hole because in the winter, bees will only be flying on fairly warm days. You won’t need much room for them to make mass entrances and exits.

Let the Snow Gather

You’re going to be peeping out your window from your warm and cozy house looking at your hives. If you have horses, you’ll probably be looking at them, too. Both will have snow gathered on them and you’ll want to rush out and brush it off, but there’s no need.

As long as the snow isn’t getting the hive wet, it’s actually a really good insulator. Leave it where it is – there’s nobody in the wild to sweep the snow off for them.

When Should You Winterize?

This is a question that doesn’t have a definitive answer because it depends on where you live and when it gets cold. If you live in the far northern United States, it probably gets colder earlier in the year than if you live in the central or southern states.

You don’t want to winterize your hive too early, because as long as it’s warm, your bees are flying and doing what bees do. But you also don’t want to wait too long. Typically, if it’s going to dip below 20 or so at night or it’s going to be below freezing during the day, it’s time to winterize your hives.

Video first seen on David Burns.

The bees will sense it coming and will start with their natural preparations. They’ll start sealing cracks to eliminate drafts. “Natural” beekeepers won’t disrupt the hive after November or so when the bees have sealed it up but if you need to, make sure that you seal it back well. The propolis is gluey so you can push it back together fairly well but don’t do it unless you have to.

Just as with anything we do, getting your bees ready for winter is best done if you try to work with the natural order of things. Keep your hives as close to a natural wood as possible, let your bees eat honey, and let them make their own propolis to seal the air and cold out of their homes. Help where you need to and you’ll have a happy, healthy hive to start out with in spring!

If you have any additional tips to winterizing your hive, please feel free to add them in the comments section below. We know that there are different types of hives, and we all have different ways of doing things, so let’s share some information!

This article has been written by Theresa Crouse for Survivopedia.

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Stretching Your Resources in Uncertain Times

Guest Post by Jim M

money public domain With the cost of everything going up and the future uncertain, stretching your resources and re-purposing items becomes more of a necessity. I am always looking for new ways to get the “max for the minimum.”

Some recent posts here reminded me of some of these things. My grandparents and parents were a young family when the great depression hit. What kinds of things did they do to make ends meet when things were expensive or scarce?

Unfortunately, many of them who went through this period in time are no longer with us. However, I remember a few things they did...

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Which Handgun Manufacturer is Best?

Reader Discussion Time.

What is the best handgun for self-defense?

OK – before we start World War III with this discussion, let me set a few ground rules.

1. Be constructive – while simple responses of ‘Glock is best’ or ‘I like Smith &Wesson’ might be easy – tell us WHY you like a particular manufacturer and handgun.

2. Respect each other’s opinions – there’s no right or wrong answer here – different attributes of the different manufacturers and handguns will appeal to different people. Argue your case strongly if you like – but let others hold their own...

Read the whole entry... »

The Threat Against America’s Power Grid

Wednesday Miscellany News Brief

1.) Collecting Rainwater Now Illegal In Many States As Big Government Claims Ownership Over Our Water : Did you know that the people of the United States, who are known for living in the land of the free, are actually quickly losing all of their freedoms as the government and large corporations ensure that the land becomes the home of the enslaved.

2.) United States ranked 21st worldwide in personal freedom : “We should be #1 but we’re not number one. In fact, when it comes to personal freedom, we’re not even close, with the ranking dropping significantly in recent years;...

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Tuesday, December 22, 2015

8 Easy Ways Your Smartphone Can Help You Guard Your House

Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.

Editor’s Note: This post is another entry in the Prepper Writing Contest from Jason. Round 2 of the contest is open now so if you have always wanted to share your prepping perspective and possibly win $$$ make sure to enter now. Mobile phones these days are not just smart. They are powerful. They […]

The post 8 Easy Ways Your Smartphone Can Help You Guard Your House appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

California Man Discovers Iranian Hackers in Power Grid…

That, and a series of other data breaches that have taken place at energy grids and power plants, led the Associated Press to conduct an in-depth investigation.

The findings reveal that the Islamic Republic of Iran could potentially have the ability to attack America internally, using the highly-detailed, sensitive information some Iranians have potentially been able to gather on the U.S. power grid as a result of these hacks.

Snippets of comments made in the Persian language in the code reportedly helped investigators conclude that Iran was, in fact, the source of the attacks. The...

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Conflicted Tuesday

We have worked out an exclusive deal with the publishers of the survival card game “Conflicted” where we will be posting one question per week from the deck for open discussion here on TheSurvivalistBlog.net. You can buy your own Conflicted Deck here and play it with your friends and family… Okay here we go…

Have you ever tested your preparations by going off grid for a period of time?

If not, why?

If yes, what lessons have you learned?

Looking forward to the discussion in the comments below.

13 Survival Lessons From Santa, The Ultimate Prepper

SURVIVOPEDIA Prepper Santa

Prepping is one of those fields where we all try to learn vicariously. People who are new to the prepping movement seek out information from those who have gone before. The “old hands” look for others to learn from as well, turning to those of us who have been preppers since before the name was coined.

The true old timers are looking at our ancestors, seeing how the American Indians, the Pioneers and even the cave men did things.

Finding a true expert gives us the chance to learn lessons that others may not know. It’s always interesting to hear of their experiences and ideas. Many know skills and have developed methods that don’t occur to others. That makes their advice invaluable.

Being December, it’s a good time to learn from the ultimate prepper, Santa Claus.

In a humorous note, if you think about it, Santa has outdone all of us, especially when it comes to longevity. Living in the harshest environment on Earth, Santa still manages to run his business, providing toys and cheer to children around the world. If there was ever someone to emulate, Santa would be it.

So, what makes him so good?

1. He Knows How to Survive Harsh Conditions

Most of us would pick someplace with nice weather or probably sandy beaches, if we were given a choice of survival locations. Survivopedia Greenland

But Santa looks at things differently. He has chosen what is probably the world’s harshest environment to survive in; the North Pole.

Yet he has clearly had no problem surviving there, as attested to by all the years he has lived.

One of Santa’s secrets to living in Arctic conditions is that he has built his entire complex underground. That means that instead of dealing with temperatures which go as low as 40 degrees below zero, the worst temperature he has to deal with is 32^oF, the freezing temperature of water. That makes it much easier to heat his compound. Not only that, but the ground around him serves as insulation.

There is nothing on the surface of the ground at the North Pole which can help Santa and his elves survive, other than snow. Once they melt the snow, they have plenty of water.

So, I’m sure that snow harvesting is a daily chore. But since he can’t get any other resources off the surface, there is no reason for him to live there. Better to hide out from the cold, underground.

2. He Knows How to Get Away From it All

Could you imagine the trouble Santa would have, if he lived in a big city? Why, he’d have a constant stream of people at his door, looking for toys in the summertime, expecting him to repair the toys that they broke and hoping for some chocolate and candy canes when they were hungry. By the time Christmas came around, he wouldn’t have anything to give away.

Being in an isolated location is a true advantage for Santa, allowing him to plan and prepare for the next Christmas. His resources can be used wisely, rather than squandered on people who won’t appreciate them anyway.

At the same time, his remote location protects him from attack. After all, have you ever heard of someone raiding Santa’s workshop to steal his toys? Of course not. That proves that his remote location provides him with excellent security.

3. He’s Completely Off the Grid

I just checked on Google Earth, and there are no power plants at the North Pole. Nor could I find any power lines leading there.

There’s no farm of solar panels, so he’s not running solar either. But it’s clear that Santa has managed to live and work totally off grid.

If I were to guess (and I am), I’d say that Santa is using wind power for his home and workshop. Wind has excellent advantages for his situation, as there is a lot of wind at the North Pole.

Since his workshop is underground, it would be quite easy for him to have his wind turbines underground as well. Tunnels could route the wind from the surface through the turbines and back to the surface again.

Truly living off grid requires an accurate assessment of the climate in your area, looking for the availability of renewable resources for conversion to power. By using wind, Santa has gone with one of the ultimate renewable resources and has avoided the problems that six months of winter would have caused him if he went for solar power.

4. He Gets What He Needs from Nature

Santa and his crew are experts in getting what they need from nature. In fact, everything he makes comes from raw materials that they are able to get from nature. Obviously he has a good business relationship with Mother Nature herself, in order to have access to so many materials.

Could you imagine the struggles Santa would have if he had to order parts and raw materials from companies, to be delivered to the North Pole? Neither FedEx or UPS offer daily service to the North Pole, which explains why Santa is receiving children’s letters, and still delivering his toys by sleigh. But without those shipping companies to bring in the raw materials, he’s got to know how to get them from nature himself.

While I’m sure that Santa has elves who are experts in working with certain types of materials, we have to take into account that he trained those elves himself. So, while they may do the actual work of extracting raw materials from the Earth, he knows how to do it also. Santa is the ultimate engineer, with a wide range of skills, which allow him to successfully run his business, while surviving off of nature.

5. He is Totally Self-Sufficient

If there was ever anyone in the world who understood the concept of self-sufficiency, it’s Santa. He has built himself a homestead in the worst possible environment, yet made it successful. Mrs. Santa doesn’t even have to go to the grocery store, as they have everything they need.

Part of that is that Santa has learned how to utilize what he has available. He has lots of snow, so I’m sure he uses it for a myriad of purposes. He draws materials out of nature, rather than rushing to the store to get them. Why, I’d be willing to bet that they are growing enough food to feed his reindeer and all the elves that work for him.

6. He is Using Alternate Transportation

survivopedia santa deer Probably one of the best decisions that Santa ever made was in his choice of bug out vehicles.

While a reindeer drawn sleigh may seem a bit unusual, especially when you take into consideration that it can fly, Santa’s sleigh does not use any fossil fuels that are harmful to the environment; he never has to worry about running out of gas or having a flat tire, and his sleigh and reindeer are totally immune to an EMP.

Even when everyone else is stranded, Santa will still be able to make his rounds.

Animal transportation may not be as fast as modern mechanical transportation, but it is clearly more reliable. Whereas a car won’t run without a constant supply of fuel, reindeer, or even horses, will find their own fuel, eating the grass wherever they go.

I imagine Christmas Eve is a smorgasbord for them, as they get to taste the various grasses that grow around the world.

7. He Has Faith on His Side

I guess some people would call this cheating, but Santa uses magic. Where his skills end, his magic begins. He is able to do things you and I can’t just because of that magic.

But all magic is based on faith. You’ve got to believe it works, or it doesn’t. It’s clear that Santa has lots of faith, because he has managed to maintain his magic through all these years. His faith helps him to survive, and the overabundance of it gets spilled out in giving to others.

Without faith, it’s impossible to survive. Faith carries all of us through, when other things can’t. Anyone who is ever caught in a survival situation must keep themselves going by faith, or they die.

8. He Has Excellent OPSEC

Has anyone ever seen Santa, except around Christmas time? This proves that he has excellent OPSEC. Even the exploratory missions sent to the North Pole haven’t seen him or his workshop. He has managed to keep himself hidden and keep his survival retreat hidden, even though millions have wondered where it is.

While we know some details of Santa’s plans, they are only the details that he wants us to know. The rest, is highly secret. No paparazzi has ever managed to catch him on vacation, during his off season. No business can point to his orders, saying that they know what toys he’s planning on distributing for next Christmas. He keeps his life and work secretive, only letting us see their results on Christmas morning.

9. He Has Built an Excellent Survival Team

elves By taking in the elves and training them, Santa has managed to build an excellent survival team.

No longer does he have to do everything himself, he has help. Their survival tasks and toy building are divided up between team members, making it possible for each to do their part, helping the whole to both survive and accomplish their goals.

It’s important to realize that Santa didn’t start out with trained team members, he had to train them himself. Elves aren’t natural toymakers; nor are they natural farmers. Their main skill seem to be dancing and singing in the woods. Yet Santa took these untrained team members, and turned them into the world’s most effective survival team.

10. He Has Excellent Family Relationships

comics-santa-claus-wife-514375 Santa and his wife have lived together, without neighbors, for years. Yet they still get along. Obviously he has learned how to live in harmony, eliminating strife between himself and his wife.

Too bad he doesn’t give marriage seminars in the off season. I think they would be well attended.

Perhaps his generosity has something to do with his marital success. Since that is such an integral part of his character, I’m sure it spills over into his marriage as well. He is able to live in harmony with his wife, because he is always being loving towards her, rather than just being selfish.

11. He Has Excellent Discernment of People’s Character

One of Santa’s biggest tasks every year is to complete and double check the naughty and nice list. He can’t afford to make any mistakes, or some child won’t receive their Christmas gifts. Yet, he rarely gets a call to his complaint line, except for the rare spoiled brat who thinks that they have been treated unfairly.

Santa doesn’t have to worry about being robbed while making his deliveries, simply because of his excellent discernment of people’s character. He can tell people’s motives as they approach; and if their motives are bad, all he has to do is climb in the sleigh and fly away.

Obama on Santa s Naughty List - SURVIVOPEDIA

12. He Accepts Everyone Equally

Santa is an equal opportunity giver. He doesn’t discriminate against children because of their race, religion or ethnicity. All receive from him equally, as long as they believe.

He is also an equal opportunity employer. C’mon now, he hired the elves, when nobody else wanted them. Others complained about them being too short and having pointy ears, but Santa took them in. He gave them meaning for their lives and helped them all to become successful members of his toy business.

The only criteria that Santa puts on anyone is to be nice, rather than being naughty. That’s it. Naughty and nice aren’t things that are limited to any one race, religion or people group. We can find good in all people, if we look. Well, obviously Santa looks… and he finds.

13. He is a Giver

Most of all, Santa is a very generous man. He has never sent out a press release saying that he’s going to have to cut back on his giving or that he’s going to reschedule Christmas for some countries. Every year, he makes his rounds, giving toys to the good children, and the increase in population doesn’t even give him pause.

Survivopedia Santa Claus Quote

There is a principle of giving that tells us that it is necessary to give, in order to receive. Different people call it by different names and attribute it to different reasons, but the principle remains the same. Those who want to receive, must first learn how to give.

This is very different than that attitude of taking care of your family and ignoring everyone else’s plight. Being the one in the neighborhood who can provide food to the neighbors, even if it is just rice and beans, could make us the leaders in a time of crisis. It would give us a great labor pool to use in order to survive.

Perhaps we all need to learn something from Santa, and expand our preps a bit. Because survival is not always about being the only one to face and overcome disaster by yourself.

This article has been written by Bill White for Survivopedia.

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Monday, December 21, 2015

Stressed out by Prepping?

Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.

Editor’s Note: This post is another entry in the Prepper Writing Contest from Howard Overton. Some people who are preparing for the future get stressed out. It can be for many reasons. Maybe you feel you have too much to do to get ready. Maybe you don’t know where to start. You are on a […]

The post Stressed out by Prepping? appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

What I Have Learned About Caring for Chickens

Today we present another article in our non-fiction writing contest – by Jane W

How to Raise Chickens at Home for Eggs and Meat

how to raise chickens at home for eggs and meat

My interest in chickens began at age three, when my grandmother would allow me to gather eggs from the nests in the chicken house at their farm. I learned from her to be observant and gentle with animals. When my own child reached that age, I wanted to share some of that magic with him and began considering raising chickens. As an avid reader of Mother Earth News, Organic Gardening magazine and other Rodale Press publications, I felt I had enough information to...

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