The Sunday Survival Buzz Volume 102

Welcome to this week’s Sunday Survival Buzz – a roundup of preparedness news, tips, articles and recommendations from around the web. But first, an update on my own preps.

Remember that bucket with the gamma seal that I left outside a few weeks back?  The intent was to leave it out in the rain to see if it was truly airtight and waterproof.  I had checked it once before and it was dry but I wanted to leave it out a bit longer just to satisfy myself that the seal was good.

I am happy to report that after sitting outside in the rain for some weeks now, the inside of the bucket was perfectly dry.  I can only assume that the readers that claimed their buckets leaked had one of three things going on:

• The top was not tightened correctly and perhaps was mis-threaded
• The gamma lid was of inferior quality.
• The lid and outside rim of the gamma seal lid was not thoroughly wiped down and dried off before removing it from the bucket.

It seems to me that #3 may be the most likely culprit.  I still stand behind my preference for gamma lids for my five and six gallon buckets.  In addition, I recommend new lids – always.  Used, food grade buckets are great if you can find them; just make sure that the rim has no defects or imperfections.

I did have a huge Amazon order this week.  My haul consisted of the following items:

Coghlans Waterproof Matches 10-pack – I want to test these before making a universal recommendation.  That said, 10 boxes of 40 matches each for about $7 is a good deal.

Gorilla Clear Repair Tape and Gorilla Tape 35-Yard Roll – Enough of you have told me I need to try Gorilla Tape so okay, I will.

Hydrofarm 2-Foot Grow Light System – This is part of my going back to the beginning food garden effort.  I may be frugal in other areas but I know from experience that I can not start seeds indoors with the limited light available in my home.  I am not sure where I will set this up.  The bedroom?

CompoMix Composter:  I have a small, actually teeny tiny, yard.  The only way I can compost is with a bin or some sort.  This will make it easy and again, is part of my Food Garden for Beginners effort.  Supposedly, this unit will speed up the composting process and I will have real compost in 4 to 6 weeks.  Is that believable?  I guess I will find out.

That’s it for me this week.  Be sure to let me know about your prepping activities in the comments section below.

SURVIVAL NEWS & ARTICLES FROM AROUND THE WEB

Strategic Relocation: ur doin it rong:  I just hate those one-size-fits all-rules of relocation.  Ultimately, every family has to consider their own needs and lifestyle plans.

Utah: Lunch snatched away from students:  Dozens of children at a Utah elementary school had their lunch trays snatched away from them before they could take a bite this week.  Whose stupid idea was that?  Food goes to waste, kids go hungry and the worst thing of all, they suffer embarrassment and humiliation.

U.S. Cattle Herd Is At A 61 Year Low And Organic Food Shortages Are Being Reported All Over America:  The crazy weather and droughts are definitely going to affect our food supply this summer and beyond.  Couple that with the avoidance of Pacific seafood and well, it is time to grow food yourself and to support local food growers.  In addition, I am personally continuing to stock up on freeze-dried fruits, vegetables and meats.

Would You Ever Be Able To Forgo Using Toilet Paper?:   I believe this was written somewhat tongue in cheek but I do take this seriously and I know a lot of you do too.

Options for the Online Prepper:  So what can the online prepper do to make sure they stay “connected” with their fellow techno-preppers?   As always, when Todd (Prepper Website and Ed That Matters) writes something, I read it.

How To Make Wool Dryer Balls:  Here is something I want to try so I thought you might want to make some wool dryer balls as well.

Bean and Ham Soup-Frugal Suppers:  If this does not make your mouth water, nothing will.  Melissa lives in my area – not on the island, but close by on the mainland.

The Prepper’s Guide to Food Storage: A Book Review & Giveaway: A nice review from Mom With A Prep.

BACKDOOR SURVIVAL MAIL BAG & READER TIPS

From “Dee” regarding battery storage:

Just a word of caution. I recently saw a video about a fire which had started because a home owner put “dead” batteries in a bag for recycling, put them in the garage until a trip to the recycling center. BUT the house caught fire. The fire was traced back to the batteries.

According to fire department, we are to store old batteries with electrical tape across terminals (if that’s the right word) so contact can’t be made. Specifically, he was talking about 9 volt. Just something to keep in mind.

After reading this, I went through and “stacked” my own used batteries with the terminal ends facing in the same direction.  Great advice.

AND THE WINNERS ARE . .

I am sure you have noticed that I have been holding a lot of giveaways.  Truthfully, I overcommitted and am playing catch up.  Here are the latest Backdoor Survival giveaway winners.  Here are the latest winners.

The winner of a copy of Good Clean Food is “David”.   Here is how he answered the question: What is your greatest concern when it comes to healthy eating?

My greatest concern is the quality of the food available on the open market, GMO or hybrid. Nutrition is way last in the specifications. The veggies I grow are in isolated raised beds with vermiculite, peat moss and home made compost. My cherry tomatoes are better than M & M’s!

And finally, the winner of RIVERS did not claim his prize so I have selected an alternate (at random, of course).  The winner is Michelle.  Here is how she answered the question “If your home became a no-man’s land, would you stay or leave?”

I believe we would try to stay. Out of all of our family, we live in the most rural area and we have neighbors who are liked minded in preparedness.

There are currently three giveaways still open so if you have not done so, feel free to enter now.

BDS Book Festival – The End and The Long Road + Interview with G. Michael Hopf
BDS Book Festival – The Pocket Guide to Wild Mushrooms + Giveaway
The Ultimate Compact Survival Kit-Winter Blast Giveaway

Coming up this week?  More free food from Mountain House and a special “Share the Love” giveaway for free essential oils from Spark Naturals.  With all of this free stuff, I hope to have time to throw in an article or two as well.  That is, after all, why I am here.

NEWS FROM OUR SPONSORS

This week I welcome Seal Team Kits as our newest sponsor.  Seal Team Kits sells high quality kits like the ones that a SEAL Operator would use if he found himself in an unforeseen survival situation.  These are true-to-spec kits with high quality components.  Use coupon code BACKDOOR to get free shipping.

And from Sun Oven:

Many families store food to have a year’s supply on hand in the event of an emergency but storing enough fuel to cook it is difficult, costly, and dangerous. Using a SUN OVEN® on sunny days decreases the amount of fuel which needs to be stored. SUN OVENS® can be used year- round on sunny days. Depending on the location, a SUN OVEN® can cook on 50% to 80% of the days, which dramatically decreases the amount of fuel which needs to be stored.

Even though it is called an oven, food can be baked, boiled, or steamed in a SUN OVEN® , so other than fried foods, anything normally cooked on a stovetop or in an oven can be cooked. SUN OVENS® are the most fuel efficient way to rehydrate freeze dried and dehydrated foods.

Made in the USA,  SUN OVENS® have a long life and a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Backdoor Survival readers receive an $80 discount on a SUN OVEN® with a complete Preparedness & Dehydrating Package by visiting: www.sunoven.com/backdoor-coupon.

And finally a message from Beau at H&H Medical with an incredible story about his family-owned company. You must read this – it is not what  you would expect/

Greetings to all!

I had written a nice little blurb about how my company (H&H Medical) started as a technical services company in the 70’s, continued that work through the 90‘s until budget cuts killed our contracts, and subsequently morphed into a first aid product manufacturer/integrator. It looked and read nice but I (and probably you) hate cookie cutter corporate marketing-speak. So I think I’ll keep it simpler and down to Earth.

We are a small, family-owned company. If you call our number you’ll have the same chances of speaking with our reps as you do the companies’ President (my brother Paul), the Chairman of the Board (my father Bob), or myself. We all answer the phones. We take a very hands-on approached to all aspects of our work and have always been keenly mindful of our customers’ needs.

I’d like to pass along an event which, in many, many ways helped to define us as a company. Early in our life as manufacturers/integrators, we were working is a very small facility in a very rural part of Virginia. Lots of trees and a road that may have been 12 feet wide (made it hard for trucks to deliver to us). Lots of wildlife that would frequent our gravel parking lot.

I was working on the production floor doing some vacuum sealing when I heard a loud knock on the door. I stopped my work to answer it and found myself facing a stranger. He gave me his name and asked if this was H&H. I said yes. He paused for a moment, smiled, and told me he was a Marine just home from Iraq.

I invited him in, called over the boys, and for the next hour or so was privileged to hear stories about his deployment (he was there during the pre-surge period). All the while I’m thinking to myself, why would he go so far out of his way, travelling to our rinky-dink little facility in the middle of nowhere, to meet us?

That was answered towards the end of our conversation when he spoke of the injured he’d seen. Bullet wounds, burns, sucking chest wounds, trauma from Iranian-made IED’s that wrought havoc on the bodies of our troops. He talked about how he’d used and seen our products in use, how he’d seen them save lives. It was an incredible compliment. He concluded by thanking us and left.

We were dumbfounded to say the least, never had that happened in the decades of contract work. It made a very real impact on us, made the hard work feel worthwhile.

I hope this story isn’t seen as a cynical marketing attempt to pull heartstrings. It isn’t. In fact, it’s happened several more times after that. I guess it’s just a great feeling of honor for us to be the makers of products that have such a profound effect on our customers. It’s very humbling.

Well, I guess I’ll conclude things by saying this: we would love for you to consider our products when looking to fulfill your emergency first aid needs. We carry a plethora of battle-tested devices that address virtually any need you may have in an emergency situation.

And we want you to know that, whether you choose our products or not, be sure make a point to have a comprehensive collection of emergency care products in your toolbox. You really never know when you’ll need them.

If you do choose us, however, we’ll be honored, and promise to give you our very best. Take care and God Bless.

Beau Harder
Marketing Coordinator/Owner
H&H Medical

As with all of my sponsors, please pay them a visit and let them know you saw them on Backdoor Survival. Your support of these fine companies allows me to keep Backdoor Survival free for everyone.

TIPS FOR USING ESSENTIAL OILS

Here is my response to reader “Marilee” who asked:  Do essential oils have a shelf life?

Depending on who you ask, the shelf life is anywhere from 1 year to 5 or more.

The key is in the storage. Kept in a dark bottle and relatively cool, they will last far longer than a year. Some of my own essential oils  are over 3 years old however I tend to use the older E.O.s more for fragrance (in laundry or in cleaning products) than for healing purposes.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Friday night I completed my conversion to a new site design.  Although it may look the same to you, in truth it was completely redone from the ground up.  I know what you are thinking; that was a lot of work and you are right but it had to be done since the developers I used last year left me pretty much high and dry with a p.o.s. backend.

I am hopeful the bugs are worked out but if something seems goofy, let me know and I will fix it.

The next big project is to categorize the articles in the archives so that they can be searched and accessed more easily.

THE FINAL WORD

Because it is Super Bowl Sunday I thought I would keep this short and post a Sunday Buzz Lite.  Nice thought but something went wrong along the way and I forgot about the “lite” part.  Still, it is go Seahawks all the way.  Seattle, after all, is my home town.

Seriously though, it has been a busy week with an even busier month ahead.  I will be ratcheting up the indoor seed starting and  reporting my long overdue progress learning how to program and use my Baofeng Ham radios. There are also going to be lots and lots of giveaways this month so I hope you will stay with me as we move forward in 2014 as the most prepared prepper’s on the planet.

What about you – what did you do to prep this week?

Enjoy your next adventure through common sense and thoughtful preparation!
Gaye

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EMERGENCY ESSENTIALS Mountain House SUPER SALE! 25% – 50% off all cans!

This month the big news is that all Mountain House tins are 25% off.  Of course my favorite is the Mountain House Chili Mac but I know the Beef Stroganoff is really popular as well.

A recent Mountain House Order

Other specials to consider are the Baking Mixes Combo and Butter Powder, both of which I use regularly.  The butter powder, especially, is good in bread machine breads.

These are just a few of the items that are on sale.  Click on this link for more:  Shop the Emergency Essentials Monthly Specials.

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Bargain Bin: For your discernment, here are of some items mentioned today as well as some personal and BDS reader favorites and items from the current Amazon Top 10.

One Second After:  For many, the novel “One Second After” was a game changer that convinced them of the need to be prepared.  I did not realize until now that the price for the Kindle version was only $2.99.  If you have not read this book, you really should.

Coghlans Waterproof Matches 10-pack: There are 10 boxes of 40 matches each for about $7.  That is a good deal for 400 waterproof matches.

Gorilla Clear Repair Tape and Gorilla Tape 35-Yard Roll:  Enough of you have told me I need to try Gorilla Tape so okay, I have just purchased some and will put it through its tests.

BaoFeng UV-5R  Dual-Band Ham Radio: The Baofeng UV-5R is a compact hand held transceiver providing 4 watts in the frequency range of 136-174 MHz and 400-480 MHz. It is a compact, economical HT that includes a special VHF receive band from 65 – 108 MHz which includes the regular FM broadcast band. Dual watch and dual reception is supported.  Here is the antenna I ordered along with the programming cable: NAGOYA Antenna for BAOFENG UV-5R and USB Programming Cable for Baofeng UV-5R UV-3R+.

Blocklite Ultra Bright 9V LED Flashlight: I now own six of these little gems. There is a similar flashlight called the Pak-Lite (which is more expensive) but it does not have a high-low switch like this one. Less than $10. These little flashlights just go and go, plus, they make good use of those re-purposed 9V alkaline batteries that you have recharged with your Maximal Power FC999 Universal Battery Charger.

FordEx Group 300lm Mini Cree Led Flashlight Torch Adjustable Focus Zoom Light Lamp:  Here we go with another flashlight.  At the time of this writing, this one is only $3.55 with free shipping.  It is super mini sized, bright and waterproof.  Plus, it uses a single, standard AA sized battery.

Morakniv Craftline Q Allround Fixed Blade Utility Knife: Also known as the Mora 511, this is now my favorite knife.  It is made of Swedish steel and is super sharp.  I paid $12 for this knife last week and today it is $8.95 so I ordered another one.  It was worth $12 and of course is a steal at $8.95!

LifeStraw Personal Water Filter:  The LifeStraw is considered the most advanced, compact, ultra light personal water filter available. It contains no chemicals or iodinated resin, no batteries and no moving parts to break or wear out.  It weighs only 2oz. making it perfect for the prepper.  There is also a larger sized, LifeStraw Family currently available with free shipping.

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