Showing posts with label BOL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BOL. Show all posts
11/15/13
The Hoss on Home Fortification
A good overview from the Hoss on different tactics for hardening your home pre and post crap hits the fan.
If you want more on the subject, I did a short series of posts back in 2011 on securing your home - this one, on improvised firing positions - is most relevant to this subject.
I'll add that basements and crawlspaces are usually pretty good and easier to harden than a typical wood framed home.
I need to pick up some sandbags for our new place. Low priority, but on the long list of things to do. Anyone got a good source?
7/24/13
Surplus Oceanic Crew Quarter Containers
I've seen schematics/floor plans of something like these, but not a detailed view inside. Asking price is $30K for the pair - while these aren't posh, if you think about what it would cost to build something like these new, it's a pretty good deal.
Since they're much tougher than your average shipping container, they would fare better underground if you were trying to build some variety of doomsday bunker. One of the operations that specializes in bunkers/storm shelters could almost certainly help with burial and constructing some access tunnels/hatches.
Even above ground...one would need a plasma torch to get into them.
Wouldn't need too much work to get 'em ready to operate. Fresh coat o' paint on the outside, some maintenance on the outside and you'd be good to go.
2/11/13
From the Archives: The Doorstep Problem
TEOTWAWKI Blog now has over 1000 posts, since our beginning back in 2007 - that's a lot of reading, about a broad array of apocalyptic topics. You can navigate through old posts using the search function, post labels, navigating by month or by using the navigation buttons above.
Inspired by the drama on last night's episode of the Walking Dead, here's an old-but-goody from the archives talking about the dilemma of friends & family showing up on your doorstep after troubles have hit. I've gone through and added a bit here and there to help get across some of the points - so we'll call this a director's cut.
"If the world ends, I'm coming to your place!"
We've probably all heard some variation of the above before. Family and friends who plan to show up on your doorstep when the stuff splatters on the fan. I like to call this the "doorstep problem."
In some ways, I suppose having this problem is a compliment--family/friends recognize that we're prepared, they aren't, and they'll need to rely on you in a bad situation. But really, how to respond to this? Let them use up your limited supplies, eat you out of house and home? Turn them away?
Well, we're all about being prepared before trouble hits, so the doorstep problem something we need to think through and prepare before hard times. If TSHTF and your lazy, unprepared extended family member X shows up on your doorstep, you should have your course of action thought through and prepared beforehand.
The way I see it, there are three possible strategies for address the doorstep problem: leave them hanging, plan to support them or convert them to the survivalist way.
1/26/13
Cabin Fever
Last year, Dave Canterbury spent a good portion of the winter in a yurt. This time around, looks like he's upgrading to a small cabin. The above video shows the initial tour of the place and runs through some of the features of the cabin. It's not big - single room with a loft, with enough room for some beds, table, gun rack and wood stove.
Dave runs through the cost for the cabin - $4.6k for the cabin kit, plus an estimated $4k for the stuff on the interior - wood stove, furnishings, etc. Though $4k does seem a bit high for the furnishings shown...probably all of the interior wood had to be purchased as well. Plus several days to assemble. So around $9K, more or less, plus a few days of work. That's not bad. You could certainly do it for less without the cabin kit and using/processing raw materials from your land.
Long term, my plan is to buy a plot of land up in the mountains somewhere and build a mostly off-the-grid cabin. It probably would not be a full time residence, at least not initially. If there's an existing cabin that fits the needs and budget, then that's great, but I may end up getting raw land and then building something down the road, so Dave's little cabin got the gears churning.
Dave's cabin is probably a bit small for what I'd like for long term living. A little more elbow room and a basic bathroom would be nice - composting toilet, probably. I'd build the cabin over a root cellar/basement for added storage. Plenty of space for stored food. And a cellar would be easier to fortify for secure storage when we weren't on-site.
A well, pump, water catchment system and cistern would handle the water needs; a spring, stream, etc. on the land would be a good backup. A basic solar or windmill system for lighting, a 12V fridge, comms and some perimeter security stuff. Eventually, we'd add some buried fuels tanks.
Down the road, as the family grows older and expands, we'd probably build an additional cabin or two to allow family and friends to have their own space. An outbuilding for tools and toys. At some point, we'd move to the land full time, and then probably add a hen house and maybe a small barn.
Anyways, nothing too fancy - cozy, simple and functional. A ways down the road, but always interesting to see what others are doing, learn and plan.
1/10/12
Stealth vs. Open Defense in a TEOTWAWKI Scenario
The Two Strategies
At a high level, there are two different strategies that one can take when trying to survive aggressors when TEOTWAWKI rolls around.
On one hand, you can lay low and try to remain unnoticed/hidden, or at least be so elusive that an aggressor can't mount a direct attack against you. You operate from concealment and have, generally, a run/hide mentality when trouble runs around. If you engage the enemy, it's going to be using sniper or guerrilla tactics; you won't survive a standup fight. But mostly, you hunker down, stay hidden and survive.
On the other hand, you can maintain an open defensive posture, where you directly confront aggressors. In this case, you would have things like open patrols, check points and other obvious defensive measures. Your organization would have ability to project obvious power and control within your area of operations, allowing you to maintain some level of law/order. When trouble comes around, you stand up and fight.
These two different strategies go back to the natural instincts of fight versus flight--sometimes, it makes sense to stand and fight, other times it makes sense to run and hide. You can see these play out in conflicts today and throughout history--the U.S. against insurgents/Al Queda, the DEA against drug smugglers, Anne Frank and the Nazis and so on.
Open Defense
This is the defensive posture we'd all like to take -- no one wants to live in secrecy and in constant fear of attack or discovery. You want to stand up for yourself, your family and what is yours. Unfortunately, it takes a good amount of power to be able to live this way. You've got to be strong enough to scare away potential attackers and defeat any who are brave enough to test their luck. That means that you need manpower and firepower.
A small survival group is not going to be able to take this stance--you'd need a larger group--a neighborhood or a small town, most likely. The community would form some kind of neighborhood watch or town militia for mutual defense, probably with the aid of intact law enforcement or military personnel. With the bodies and some fire power, a community could defend their homes and maintain order.
In survival fiction, the towns in One Second After and the neighborhood in Lights Out take an open defense posture. The town in Jericho does, too.
In a collapse scenario, I think this would be the response of most communities. When a larger community breaks down (nation, state, city, etc.), it's a somewhat natural transition to fall back onto a more immediate community--the people next door and across the street. There's huge advantages to community--it's civilization and safety. A sustainable community would provide the best quality of life, post-TEOTWAWKI--but it would have to be sustainable. That means things like local water, food, probably some kind of fuel, and decent people who don't already hate each other.
Problems come when things like food and water run out, internal strife tears the community apart, the community runs into an aggressor they can't contend with, or if disaster renders the community unlivable. How fast that will happen is going to vary wildly based on your location.
The Stealth Approach
If you can't beat aggressors in a stand-up fight, then it's run and hide or become subject to the aggressor's will. In general, this survival strategy means, surprise, a lot of hiding out and going unnoticed. If fighting must be done, it's using sniper and guerrilla tactics. If movement must be done, its probably at night or at least in thick cover and well camouflaged. If your hide site is located and threatened by a superior force, then you bug out to somewhere safe, maybe with a sniper or guerrilla attack to slow the baddies down and allow you some breathing room. You get the picture.
This kind of existence is difficult to sustain long term. Survival is hard enough without having to worry about doing everything in secrecy. For example, how do you farm or raise a vegetable garden in secrecy? How do you cook or keep from freezing to death without drawing attention? How do you deal with waste? Now compound these problems with multiple families. Very difficult.
Living way out in the hinter-boonies would offer some advantages, but in a collapse scenario, every remote farmhouse or cabin will have a good number of visitors looking for a place to hole up or scavenge. If there's a road, people will find it. And yes, you can make a house look abandoned or burnt out, but desperate and curious people will still check it out. Crowds certainly will be smaller way out in the middle of nowhere, but your chances of having backup from neighbors/the community are also going to be lower. If your group can't deal with whoever comes knocking, then you've got a problem.
A real hide site is going to be, well, really difficult for anyone to find. Hard to access and hidden. In a rural setting, a remote and well-camouflaged camp that's not accessible by road; maybe a cave or excavated hide. In a more populated setting, a concealed bunker or hidden safe room. Spider holes and hideouts, that kind of thing.
As mentioned, a hide is going to be very difficult to sustain long term, so it will probably need to be a temporary situation. You will need to emerge and resupply eventually, whether that is through pre positioned caches, barter, hunting/gathering, farming or relocating to another area entirely.
In survival fiction, the man and his son in The Road generally follow a stealthy approach to survival, avoiding contact and hiding when trouble comes around. They have it best when they find the concealed and well-stocked underground bunker. In Patriots, the Group adopts this strategy when confronted by the evil U.N./black helicopter invaders and retreat to their wilderness hide and begin their guerrilla war. In the Survivalist series, John Rourke's concealed retreat/cave complex is an elaborate and well-stocked hide.
Use Both
It would be narrow-minded to only think through one strategy or the other. An open, community or large group-based approach to defense and security is going to be preferential for most of us, but it may or may not work out. The back-up plan in that case would be a stealthy approach--if the community is done for, you bug out to somewhere safe and hunker down until things blow over.
In more common prepper terms, if your local neighborhood/community is a viable option, then an open, community based approach may make sense. If that fails, then you still have the opportunity to bug out and hide. Consider and plan for either possibility and I think you'll be better off.
At a high level, there are two different strategies that one can take when trying to survive aggressors when TEOTWAWKI rolls around.
On one hand, you can lay low and try to remain unnoticed/hidden, or at least be so elusive that an aggressor can't mount a direct attack against you. You operate from concealment and have, generally, a run/hide mentality when trouble runs around. If you engage the enemy, it's going to be using sniper or guerrilla tactics; you won't survive a standup fight. But mostly, you hunker down, stay hidden and survive.
On the other hand, you can maintain an open defensive posture, where you directly confront aggressors. In this case, you would have things like open patrols, check points and other obvious defensive measures. Your organization would have ability to project obvious power and control within your area of operations, allowing you to maintain some level of law/order. When trouble comes around, you stand up and fight.
These two different strategies go back to the natural instincts of fight versus flight--sometimes, it makes sense to stand and fight, other times it makes sense to run and hide. You can see these play out in conflicts today and throughout history--the U.S. against insurgents/Al Queda, the DEA against drug smugglers, Anne Frank and the Nazis and so on.
Open Defense
This is the defensive posture we'd all like to take -- no one wants to live in secrecy and in constant fear of attack or discovery. You want to stand up for yourself, your family and what is yours. Unfortunately, it takes a good amount of power to be able to live this way. You've got to be strong enough to scare away potential attackers and defeat any who are brave enough to test their luck. That means that you need manpower and firepower.
A small survival group is not going to be able to take this stance--you'd need a larger group--a neighborhood or a small town, most likely. The community would form some kind of neighborhood watch or town militia for mutual defense, probably with the aid of intact law enforcement or military personnel. With the bodies and some fire power, a community could defend their homes and maintain order.
In survival fiction, the towns in One Second After and the neighborhood in Lights Out take an open defense posture. The town in Jericho does, too.
In a collapse scenario, I think this would be the response of most communities. When a larger community breaks down (nation, state, city, etc.), it's a somewhat natural transition to fall back onto a more immediate community--the people next door and across the street. There's huge advantages to community--it's civilization and safety. A sustainable community would provide the best quality of life, post-TEOTWAWKI--but it would have to be sustainable. That means things like local water, food, probably some kind of fuel, and decent people who don't already hate each other.
Problems come when things like food and water run out, internal strife tears the community apart, the community runs into an aggressor they can't contend with, or if disaster renders the community unlivable. How fast that will happen is going to vary wildly based on your location.
The Stealth Approach
If you can't beat aggressors in a stand-up fight, then it's run and hide or become subject to the aggressor's will. In general, this survival strategy means, surprise, a lot of hiding out and going unnoticed. If fighting must be done, it's using sniper and guerrilla tactics. If movement must be done, its probably at night or at least in thick cover and well camouflaged. If your hide site is located and threatened by a superior force, then you bug out to somewhere safe, maybe with a sniper or guerrilla attack to slow the baddies down and allow you some breathing room. You get the picture.
This kind of existence is difficult to sustain long term. Survival is hard enough without having to worry about doing everything in secrecy. For example, how do you farm or raise a vegetable garden in secrecy? How do you cook or keep from freezing to death without drawing attention? How do you deal with waste? Now compound these problems with multiple families. Very difficult.
Living way out in the hinter-boonies would offer some advantages, but in a collapse scenario, every remote farmhouse or cabin will have a good number of visitors looking for a place to hole up or scavenge. If there's a road, people will find it. And yes, you can make a house look abandoned or burnt out, but desperate and curious people will still check it out. Crowds certainly will be smaller way out in the middle of nowhere, but your chances of having backup from neighbors/the community are also going to be lower. If your group can't deal with whoever comes knocking, then you've got a problem.
A real hide site is going to be, well, really difficult for anyone to find. Hard to access and hidden. In a rural setting, a remote and well-camouflaged camp that's not accessible by road; maybe a cave or excavated hide. In a more populated setting, a concealed bunker or hidden safe room. Spider holes and hideouts, that kind of thing.
As mentioned, a hide is going to be very difficult to sustain long term, so it will probably need to be a temporary situation. You will need to emerge and resupply eventually, whether that is through pre positioned caches, barter, hunting/gathering, farming or relocating to another area entirely.
In survival fiction, the man and his son in The Road generally follow a stealthy approach to survival, avoiding contact and hiding when trouble comes around. They have it best when they find the concealed and well-stocked underground bunker. In Patriots, the Group adopts this strategy when confronted by the evil U.N./black helicopter invaders and retreat to their wilderness hide and begin their guerrilla war. In the Survivalist series, John Rourke's concealed retreat/cave complex is an elaborate and well-stocked hide.
Use Both
It would be narrow-minded to only think through one strategy or the other. An open, community or large group-based approach to defense and security is going to be preferential for most of us, but it may or may not work out. The back-up plan in that case would be a stealthy approach--if the community is done for, you bug out to somewhere safe and hunker down until things blow over.
In more common prepper terms, if your local neighborhood/community is a viable option, then an open, community based approach may make sense. If that fails, then you still have the opportunity to bug out and hide. Consider and plan for either possibility and I think you'll be better off.
12/22/11
Dave Canterbury is living in a yurt
If you haven't been following Dave Canterbury's YouTube channel lately, you should be. Amongst other things, he's decided to spend the winter (or at least a few weeks) living in a yurt. He's been posting up several videos per day - I think he's been pretty bored in the yurt. Anyways, he's posted up a lot of interesting and educational stuff, and it's all free on YouTube.
Dave is known for his wilderness survival skills, but he definitely also looks at things with a prepper mentality. Part of his reasoning behind the yurt would be using it as a semi-permanent shelter in a bug out situation. While I would probably go with another design than the yurt - it looked to be fairly complicated to set up - I think the idea has merit. With a yurt/tent and wood stove, you can survive in relative comfort and have the ability to relocate your "home" if needed. It ain't the Ritz Carlton, but a set up like this is within reach for many of us, versus a full-scale bug out compound. With the right location, water nearby, a few concealed fighting/observation positions, minimal solar set up and some good food stores, livestock and garden and you could do pretty well. A lot better than a debris hut or the dream bug out fortress that you're 30 years away from being able to afford.
Thought I'd pass along a heads up to those of you who don't subscribe to Dave's YouTube channel or check it very often. As of writing, he's up to Journal of the Yurt #28, which is about the spices that he packs in his long term kit.
Prior to his Yurt adventures, Dave did another interesting series of videos on field reloading/improvised loads for the 12 gauge shotgun. Good stuff to watch, even if it's just for educational purposes. I've embedded a couple of my favorites from both series after the jump.
You've got to appreciate how Dave has stayed true to his roots after the success he's had with Dual Survival on Discovery. Massive thumbs up and thanks to him for continuing to do what he's doing.
Dave is known for his wilderness survival skills, but he definitely also looks at things with a prepper mentality. Part of his reasoning behind the yurt would be using it as a semi-permanent shelter in a bug out situation. While I would probably go with another design than the yurt - it looked to be fairly complicated to set up - I think the idea has merit. With a yurt/tent and wood stove, you can survive in relative comfort and have the ability to relocate your "home" if needed. It ain't the Ritz Carlton, but a set up like this is within reach for many of us, versus a full-scale bug out compound. With the right location, water nearby, a few concealed fighting/observation positions, minimal solar set up and some good food stores, livestock and garden and you could do pretty well. A lot better than a debris hut or the dream bug out fortress that you're 30 years away from being able to afford.
Thought I'd pass along a heads up to those of you who don't subscribe to Dave's YouTube channel or check it very often. As of writing, he's up to Journal of the Yurt #28, which is about the spices that he packs in his long term kit.
Prior to his Yurt adventures, Dave did another interesting series of videos on field reloading/improvised loads for the 12 gauge shotgun. Good stuff to watch, even if it's just for educational purposes. I've embedded a couple of my favorites from both series after the jump.
You've got to appreciate how Dave has stayed true to his roots after the success he's had with Dual Survival on Discovery. Massive thumbs up and thanks to him for continuing to do what he's doing.
9/22/11
Securing Your Home: Firing Positions
 |
| A reinforced firing position. Bring on the mutant zombie bikers! |
We've talked through toughening your doors and windows, and if done properly, these measures will slow down any would be intruders. However, these measures will do little/nothing to stop incoming gun fire.
The typical modern home is not especially resistant to bullets. I'm sure you've all seen ballistics tests with drywall, studs, etc. Bullets whiz right through. Conventional drywall homes provide concealment, not cover--an assailant can't see you directly, but the structure does nothing to stop incoming rounds. If a mob of armed brigands are attacking your home or retreat, you want something more considerable than some plaster and wood to hide behind and return fire. With some thought and work, you can prepare a firing position inside a conventional structure that provides both concealment and cover.
 |
| A loophole. |
A note that, if able, you should not limit your group's defensive positions to one structure. Listening/Observation Posts (LP/OPs), forward points and fallback/rally points could all be a part of your plan. These could be similar urban-style firing positions or more conventional foxholes and sniper belly hides (well concealed, of course!). If you can help it, you do not want to engage a hostile force from the same structure where your children and other non-combatants are living/sleeping. And you want as many options as you can have in case a fight breaks out!
Locating Firing Positions
There are three basic placement options for firing positions in a structure - windows, loopholes and rooftop. Of these, the loophole (a small hole knocked in the side of the building) offers the best concealment. If your firing position will be from a window, locate it back inside the room and shoot from a kneeling, sitting or prone position, if possible - you want to avoid silhouetting. The rooftop will offer you the highest elevation and best view of the surrounding area, but generally offers the least measure of concealment.
Reinforcing Firing Positions
As mentioned, walls offer lousy protection against incoming fire. The standard method for reinforcement is good old sandbags. Sandbags are multifunctional and are a really great tool for fortifying, building and reinforcing - stock up on them. If necessary, you can improvise sand bags from things like plastic grocery bags, pillow cases, big ziplocks, buckets, boxes, medium sized garbage bags and so on.
Another household option would be boxes of old books, stacks of old newspaper or piles of phone books. Packed, dense paper is a surprisingly decent bullet stopper, at least for pistol and lighter rifle loads. Anyone has seen the episode of Mythbusters where they use phone books to armor a car? Here's a Box O' Truth on bullets vs paper subject. On another note, a well packed book case can make decent cover or a backstop for those thinking about inside the home defense.
Really, you want a thick barrier of bullet slowing stuff between you and attackers - steel plates, concrete blocks, stones, bulk bags of food, etc. Whatever you've got or can find, use it.
Windows can mean flying, broken glass all over the firing position that you will be crawling around, so you will probably want bust out the windows if fighting looks certain. If windows are broken out, you will want to barricade them, either with scavenged materials or with plywood hurricane shutters prepared beforehand. If your windows have good security film, then there's no reason to bust 'em out.
Make sure that your firing position is camouflaged and blends in - a single hole in the side of the building may stand out, but several holes might not. One window open, all others closed; you get the picture. Use furniture, junk, whatever to help with additional concealment. Don't make loopholes any bigger than they need to be.
Finally, if explosives or building collapse are a potential, a sturdy piece of furniture and a layer of sandbags overhead can offer a measure of protection.
Got any thoughts or tips about setting up firing positions in the average home? Comment away!
8/14/11
Primitive Retreats
Modern survival/prepper theory generally has a well-stock retreat towards the top of the preparedness pyramid. A good chunk of land and basically a fortified, off-grid capable home. Of course, this requires a huge investment of time and resources ($$$) and puts a lot of eggs ($$$) into one basket.
If you're able to live full-time at your retreat, then it's your home and time and investment makes better sense. But many aren't able retreat full-time and look to build a retreat as a second home to flee to in a time of need. This is something beyond the reach of many of us and a huge additional expense even if it is within your financial reach.
So, if you can't afford an expensive modern survival home, are you out of options? Nope!
For thousands of years, man lived in a variety of huts, cabins, shacks, tents and other simple shelters they made themselves. In poorer parts of the world, many still live in these primitive kinds of structures. With some basic tools, time and energy, these kinds of primitive shelters can be made from natural resource, available at your desired location.
On the battlefield, fighting positions are often similarly very simple--sandbags, trenches and foxholes. Packed earth is a free, plentiful and effective means of stopping incoming fire. These fortifications can be made using the natural resources available on-site and require only basic hand tools.
A retreat made from these materials is also intrinsically better camouflaged than a typical modern building--it's made from the surrounding natural resources. Increasing the camo of a say a small cabin or sand bag structure is also much easier than trying to camo - up a typical home.
The point is, you do not necessarily need a big, modern house for your retreat. We're talking about survival here, and survival does not require wood floors, granite counters and even indoor plumbing. If you had the skills, time and need you could build a your own basic retreat just about anywhere. It may not be the Ritz Carlton, but certainly enough to keep you alive and warm. People have built and lived in simple structures like this this since the dawn of man, and we have the advantage of modern tools and learning on our side.
This kind of knowledge opens up your options and gives you great flexibility. You're not tied to one area and one retreat -- you just need a suitable patch of uninhabited land, tools, time and energy. With a well-stocked bug out vehicle, trailer of gear and potentially some pre-positioned supplies, you could get set up decently fairly quickly. The biggest challenge would be sustainable food - you may not be able to count on huntin' and fishin' to keep you fed and alive.
I would think more along the lines of a concealed fighting position than homey cabin in the woods. Semi-excavated, with sandbag parapets, a good roof and good concealment would be a pretty decent place to hunker down and survive. I have a copy of the FM-5-15, Fortifications from 1944, which details several good military designs that could be leveraged for building this kind of structure.
Anyways, I am looking at picking up some knowledge in primitive building techniques - beyond the basic survival lean-to's and a-frames. Shelters, shacks and shanties
comes well recommended and the Homestead Builder
looks pretty good, too.
If you're able to live full-time at your retreat, then it's your home and time and investment makes better sense. But many aren't able retreat full-time and look to build a retreat as a second home to flee to in a time of need. This is something beyond the reach of many of us and a huge additional expense even if it is within your financial reach.
So, if you can't afford an expensive modern survival home, are you out of options? Nope!
For thousands of years, man lived in a variety of huts, cabins, shacks, tents and other simple shelters they made themselves. In poorer parts of the world, many still live in these primitive kinds of structures. With some basic tools, time and energy, these kinds of primitive shelters can be made from natural resource, available at your desired location.
On the battlefield, fighting positions are often similarly very simple--sandbags, trenches and foxholes. Packed earth is a free, plentiful and effective means of stopping incoming fire. These fortifications can be made using the natural resources available on-site and require only basic hand tools.
A retreat made from these materials is also intrinsically better camouflaged than a typical modern building--it's made from the surrounding natural resources. Increasing the camo of a say a small cabin or sand bag structure is also much easier than trying to camo - up a typical home.
The point is, you do not necessarily need a big, modern house for your retreat. We're talking about survival here, and survival does not require wood floors, granite counters and even indoor plumbing. If you had the skills, time and need you could build a your own basic retreat just about anywhere. It may not be the Ritz Carlton, but certainly enough to keep you alive and warm. People have built and lived in simple structures like this this since the dawn of man, and we have the advantage of modern tools and learning on our side.
This kind of knowledge opens up your options and gives you great flexibility. You're not tied to one area and one retreat -- you just need a suitable patch of uninhabited land, tools, time and energy. With a well-stocked bug out vehicle, trailer of gear and potentially some pre-positioned supplies, you could get set up decently fairly quickly. The biggest challenge would be sustainable food - you may not be able to count on huntin' and fishin' to keep you fed and alive.
I would think more along the lines of a concealed fighting position than homey cabin in the woods. Semi-excavated, with sandbag parapets, a good roof and good concealment would be a pretty decent place to hunker down and survive. I have a copy of the FM-5-15, Fortifications from 1944, which details several good military designs that could be leveraged for building this kind of structure.
Anyways, I am looking at picking up some knowledge in primitive building techniques - beyond the basic survival lean-to's and a-frames. Shelters, shacks and shanties
comes well recommended and the Homestead Builder looks pretty good, too.
6/27/11
Free Book: The Farmer At War
Found this book browsing around; it's a wealth of first-hand information from farmers trying to survive/keep their land during the Rhodesian Bush War. Much of this relates directly to the survivalist/retreater, and is a fascinating read. These farmers heavily fortified their homes and in order to fight off well armed communist terrorist attacks. This is real deal stuff, not theoretical mind games, with great information about retreat security, defense and survival. Definitely read.Here's an excerpt, describing one farm's security measures, written by the farmer's wife:
"There is a three-metre-high security fence surrounding the house, garden and outhouses (laundry, store, etc.) and another around the tobacco barns, workshops, with an interleading gate. All the gates are bolted and locked at sunset and opened at sunrise. There is a general curfew throughout the district from 5 pm to 6 am and no one is permitted to move around except the Security Forces, as this is the time the terrorists are most active, under cover of darkness. This means, of course, that the house servants also must leave before sunset. There can be no visiting between neighbours for dinner or an evening bridge game.
9/6/10
Preps & Life
Prepping is a hobby and a way of life--a lifelong pursuit of being prepared for what's around the corner. You will never reach a "done" point--you will work at it for your whole life, and when you die, you'll hopefully have passed the mindset to your children and grandchildren. And hopefully you've have some worthwhile possessions to leave them as well.
Because preparedness is a lifelong pursuit, you need to approach it as such--with forethought, strategy and patience. Here's some thoughts.
Career. If you're young and not yet on a career path, look to get educated in a field that will provide stable employment, suitable income and will allow you to stay away from "danger" zones--crowded, expensive, crime-ridden urban areas choked with restrictive laws. If you're well into your career and not liking the path that you're on, change it. Get more education, change careers, do whatever it takes to get where you want to be. Don't be afraid to invest in yourself. You will have to make short term sacrifices, but they will pay off over the long term. Your work will have a huge impact on every aspect of your life, so you need to make sure it's squared away.
Buying Preps. Have patience. Unless you have substantial cash or assets you can sell off, you're unlikely to be able to instantly have all of the funds needed to purchase the preps you would like to have or feel that you need. With all of the many potential threats and fears out there, this kind of patience can be difficult. What if disaster strikes tomorrow? And that's the exact problem--we don't know when SHTF will hit. Panic buying is all too common, but you need to avoid it. Research out your purchases, think them through and make them count. Make investments in the areas you are most lacking. If you have a year's worth of food and no guns, buy a gun. If you have a dozen guns and a month worth of food, buy more food. And when you buy, buy quality. You want gear that you can bet your life on and also that you can pass on to your kids or grandkids. You might have to wait a bit longer to afford quality items, but it is worth it.
Stages of life. Again, unless you have sizable resources, it's going to take you years before you can afford all of the preps you want. And you've got to be ok with that. For example, buying a remote, well-stocked retreat/cabin as a second home is not cheap and not something most people in their mid-20s are going to be able to do. It might take until you're 50 or 60 to do that--or heck, you might need to wait until retirement age before you make the move out to the Bug Out Land. Put goals out there for yourself and your family to work towards, but give yourself enough time and make them realistic. If you're not at the point in your life where you can't have a certain prep--for money reasons, lifestyle reasons, whatever--don't let it drive you nuts. It's all right--you'll get there.
Balance. It's easy to go overboard--and maybe not in your eyes, but in the eyes of your loved ones. Make sure you keep perspective, stay optimistic and maintain your important relationships throughout your life. People can get burnt out on doom and gloom and worrying about the end. Don't try to force prepping on those who aren't interested; be patient and encouraging, but don't insult and alienate. If you feel yourself going overboard, take a break. Do fun things, be positive and enjoy life. Tightly knit family and community groups will see you through the hard times ahead.
Dying alone in your uber-TEOTWAWKI bunker, surrounded by a mountain of guns, ammo and MREs is not the end goal. What is the end goal then? Dying happy and free, having made the world a better place for your family, friends and others. Your preps are insurance to help make sure that happens.
Because preparedness is a lifelong pursuit, you need to approach it as such--with forethought, strategy and patience. Here's some thoughts.
Career. If you're young and not yet on a career path, look to get educated in a field that will provide stable employment, suitable income and will allow you to stay away from "danger" zones--crowded, expensive, crime-ridden urban areas choked with restrictive laws. If you're well into your career and not liking the path that you're on, change it. Get more education, change careers, do whatever it takes to get where you want to be. Don't be afraid to invest in yourself. You will have to make short term sacrifices, but they will pay off over the long term. Your work will have a huge impact on every aspect of your life, so you need to make sure it's squared away.
Buying Preps. Have patience. Unless you have substantial cash or assets you can sell off, you're unlikely to be able to instantly have all of the funds needed to purchase the preps you would like to have or feel that you need. With all of the many potential threats and fears out there, this kind of patience can be difficult. What if disaster strikes tomorrow? And that's the exact problem--we don't know when SHTF will hit. Panic buying is all too common, but you need to avoid it. Research out your purchases, think them through and make them count. Make investments in the areas you are most lacking. If you have a year's worth of food and no guns, buy a gun. If you have a dozen guns and a month worth of food, buy more food. And when you buy, buy quality. You want gear that you can bet your life on and also that you can pass on to your kids or grandkids. You might have to wait a bit longer to afford quality items, but it is worth it.
Stages of life. Again, unless you have sizable resources, it's going to take you years before you can afford all of the preps you want. And you've got to be ok with that. For example, buying a remote, well-stocked retreat/cabin as a second home is not cheap and not something most people in their mid-20s are going to be able to do. It might take until you're 50 or 60 to do that--or heck, you might need to wait until retirement age before you make the move out to the Bug Out Land. Put goals out there for yourself and your family to work towards, but give yourself enough time and make them realistic. If you're not at the point in your life where you can't have a certain prep--for money reasons, lifestyle reasons, whatever--don't let it drive you nuts. It's all right--you'll get there.
Balance. It's easy to go overboard--and maybe not in your eyes, but in the eyes of your loved ones. Make sure you keep perspective, stay optimistic and maintain your important relationships throughout your life. People can get burnt out on doom and gloom and worrying about the end. Don't try to force prepping on those who aren't interested; be patient and encouraging, but don't insult and alienate. If you feel yourself going overboard, take a break. Do fun things, be positive and enjoy life. Tightly knit family and community groups will see you through the hard times ahead.
Dying alone in your uber-TEOTWAWKI bunker, surrounded by a mountain of guns, ammo and MREs is not the end goal. What is the end goal then? Dying happy and free, having made the world a better place for your family, friends and others. Your preps are insurance to help make sure that happens.
3/26/10
Resilient communities pt. 2
A resilient community is not just your retreat or your cabin in the woods. It is a community. Numbers are important. You need numbers to provide adequate manpower, security and the array of skills needed after TEOTWAWKI.
Small communities have been the backbone of civilization since the dawn of man, and remain the smallest group needed for long term viable survival. Call 'em tribes, clans or whatever else you want--it's a group of several families who have banded together for mutual benefit and survival. Community members are bound together by co-dependence, trust, tradition and beliefs. These tight-knit community bonds last for lifetimes and generations.
These kinds of communities have been around for thousands of years, but have become rare in our modern world. Families are spread across continents and only see each other occasionally, people move and relocate frequently, friends lose touch with each other and few of us are more than casually friendly with our neighbors. Many of us yearn for a sense of community, belonging and need--we yearn for the "tribes" that mankind has thrived in for millennia. It's pretty sad.
So, it's this kind of small, tightly knit community that we want to make resilient and self sufficient. And it's this kind of survival group that would stand the best chance post-TEOTWAWKI.
Advantages of Technology
Modern technology has given us massive advantages that our ancestors did not have. We have electricity and all of its benefits, combustion engines, the list goes on. The resilient community seeks to "harden" their access to those technologies so that they will be available no matter what happens to the global grid. When TEOTWAWKI comes, a resilient community will still have electricity, transportation and so on.
Worldwide electronic collaboration/open source idea sharing is one recent "technology" that holds a particular interest to a resilient community. Communities of the past were usually isolated from each other. Their ideas and knowledge were limited to the community's immediate members. Today, we can communicate and share ideas and information with people across the world. This information sharing is incredibly powerful--now you are not limited to just the ideas of people that you know, you have access to the ideas, practices and techniques of everyone. Through this open source collaboration, the best ideas can be identified, refined and perfected.
Manufacturing
When you add in small-scale automated manufacturing technologies, you can see the vast potential that collaboration holds for resilient communities. A small community typically lacks most any manufacturing capability. If you want a new machine/widget/gizmo, you've got to buy or trade for it. If you can't buy/trade for it, you're screwed. Take the Native Americans, for example--they had none of the advanced manufacturing capabilities of the settlers/pioneers/foreign devils--and were defeated and conquered (in part) because of it. Today, we are all very dependent on manufacturing, and dependence is not good.
Take a car part for example. Today, it's produced in a factory hundreds or thousands of miles away--maybe even across the ocean. It's then shipped to a distributor and then shipped to your local shop before you buy it. We're dependent on that system working in order to get that part.
What if you could just load a schematic into your community (or basement) automated manufacturing machine and have it built right in front of your eyes? Now what if thousands of others had collaborated together to make that part more durable, safer and more efficient than the original? Now what if instead of a car part, you were building an entire car?
Small communities have been the backbone of civilization since the dawn of man, and remain the smallest group needed for long term viable survival. Call 'em tribes, clans or whatever else you want--it's a group of several families who have banded together for mutual benefit and survival. Community members are bound together by co-dependence, trust, tradition and beliefs. These tight-knit community bonds last for lifetimes and generations.
These kinds of communities have been around for thousands of years, but have become rare in our modern world. Families are spread across continents and only see each other occasionally, people move and relocate frequently, friends lose touch with each other and few of us are more than casually friendly with our neighbors. Many of us yearn for a sense of community, belonging and need--we yearn for the "tribes" that mankind has thrived in for millennia. It's pretty sad.
So, it's this kind of small, tightly knit community that we want to make resilient and self sufficient. And it's this kind of survival group that would stand the best chance post-TEOTWAWKI.
Advantages of Technology
Modern technology has given us massive advantages that our ancestors did not have. We have electricity and all of its benefits, combustion engines, the list goes on. The resilient community seeks to "harden" their access to those technologies so that they will be available no matter what happens to the global grid. When TEOTWAWKI comes, a resilient community will still have electricity, transportation and so on.
Worldwide electronic collaboration/open source idea sharing is one recent "technology" that holds a particular interest to a resilient community. Communities of the past were usually isolated from each other. Their ideas and knowledge were limited to the community's immediate members. Today, we can communicate and share ideas and information with people across the world. This information sharing is incredibly powerful--now you are not limited to just the ideas of people that you know, you have access to the ideas, practices and techniques of everyone. Through this open source collaboration, the best ideas can be identified, refined and perfected.
Manufacturing
When you add in small-scale automated manufacturing technologies, you can see the vast potential that collaboration holds for resilient communities. A small community typically lacks most any manufacturing capability. If you want a new machine/widget/gizmo, you've got to buy or trade for it. If you can't buy/trade for it, you're screwed. Take the Native Americans, for example--they had none of the advanced manufacturing capabilities of the settlers/pioneers/foreign devils--and were defeated and conquered (in part) because of it. Today, we are all very dependent on manufacturing, and dependence is not good.
Take a car part for example. Today, it's produced in a factory hundreds or thousands of miles away--maybe even across the ocean. It's then shipped to a distributor and then shipped to your local shop before you buy it. We're dependent on that system working in order to get that part.
What if you could just load a schematic into your community (or basement) automated manufacturing machine and have it built right in front of your eyes? Now what if thousands of others had collaborated together to make that part more durable, safer and more efficient than the original? Now what if instead of a car part, you were building an entire car?
Sound crazy? It's not. People are already open sourcing car design:
3/23/10
Resilient communities
We survival/peppers recognize something that many do not--that the world we live in is fragile, fundamentally flawed/broken and in decline. So we plan, train and stock away supplies to survive the coming collapse. But, overall, our part in this is passive--we're waiting and preparing for the coming hard times.
What if instead of waiting for the collapse of the global system, we created a system that had none of the weaknesses and inequalities of the current system and could provide (and ensure) a better quality of life for its members?
What if instead of relying on truck farming and eating food grown hundreds of miles, we lived in a community that produced all of its food locally?
What if instead of depending on intricate, fragile and worldwide manufacturing supply chains, our local community was capable of manufacturing everything that we needed?
What if instead of relying on electricity generated hundreds of miles away, our community generated all of its own power?
These are just a few of the ideas behind what military strategist John Robb, author of Global Guerrillas, has termed "resilient communities." Read his synopsis here.
Basically, a resilient community is one that has the capability to provide the services that we conventionally rely upon the "global grid" grid for--food, energy, security, transportation, communication, etc. As a result, the community has a much greater ability to withstand collapse/disruptions to that global grid--it can survive without it just fine. And also, because its members have real assets and capabilities (energy generation, food growth, local manufacturing, etc.) they can also preserve their wealth better than those who have imaginary assets and capabilities.
Instead of sitting passively on the sidelines or hiding in a mountain retreat, waiting for the broken system to fall apart, you build a system that works. Ironically, this new system is pretty much just a modernized version of how people have been living for thousands of years. Self sufficiently.
More later.
What if instead of waiting for the collapse of the global system, we created a system that had none of the weaknesses and inequalities of the current system and could provide (and ensure) a better quality of life for its members?
What if instead of relying on truck farming and eating food grown hundreds of miles, we lived in a community that produced all of its food locally?
What if instead of depending on intricate, fragile and worldwide manufacturing supply chains, our local community was capable of manufacturing everything that we needed?
What if instead of relying on electricity generated hundreds of miles away, our community generated all of its own power?
These are just a few of the ideas behind what military strategist John Robb, author of Global Guerrillas, has termed "resilient communities." Read his synopsis here.
Basically, a resilient community is one that has the capability to provide the services that we conventionally rely upon the "global grid" grid for--food, energy, security, transportation, communication, etc. As a result, the community has a much greater ability to withstand collapse/disruptions to that global grid--it can survive without it just fine. And also, because its members have real assets and capabilities (energy generation, food growth, local manufacturing, etc.) they can also preserve their wealth better than those who have imaginary assets and capabilities.
Instead of sitting passively on the sidelines or hiding in a mountain retreat, waiting for the broken system to fall apart, you build a system that works. Ironically, this new system is pretty much just a modernized version of how people have been living for thousands of years. Self sufficiently.
More later.
3/9/10
Multiple Retreat Locations
I was reading through some of the archives over on Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest late last night, and came across a post on multiple income streams that got me thinking. We all agree that it's wise to have multiple sources of income--full time job, part-time gig, on the side work, at home businesses, investments, etc. There's Ragnar's Rule of Threes and the common preparedness saying "Two is one, one is none." But the typical survivalist focuses on setting up one well-stocked and well-outfitted retreat location, BOL, etc. Is this the wisest approach?
Sure, we all have limited resources. If we were infinitely wealth, we could have a dozen well-stocked retreats, hideaways and bug out locations (BOLs). My thoughts revolve more around whether it's wise to sink all of our resources into getting one location exceedingly well prepared, or whether we should diversify our stores amongst several locations. I'm leaning towards the latter.
Things happen and nothing goes according to plan. Your BOL or retreat may be destroyed or otherwise compromised. That mountain of preps and logistics will do you no good if they're burned up in a fire, lost in a flood, or looted by neighbors. If that "mountain" is all you've got? You're screwed.
Hedging your bets
So, to avoid placing all of our eggs in one basket, what can we do?
Well, in the case of bug out land, you may look to buy two (or more) properties--in different areas--instead of one. Spreading your budget across multiple locations will necessitate some compromises. This will generally mean a smaller plot of land and foregoing a number of creature comforts--a nice house or cabin, grid power, developed land, etc. If you've got $150K to work with, you'd be spreading that $150K over two locations ($75K a piece) or maybe 3 locations ($50K/each). Depending on your area, that may not get you a whole heck of a lot. One alternative would be to buy one nicer piece of land and then a cheaper plot of land as backup. There are plots of "junk land" available quite inexpensively via online auctions.
Multiple locations will also cause increased logistical headaches. It will mean that you will have to spread your stores out amongst multiple locations or that you will need to bring along more gear with you when you bug out. Since you may not have much in the way of permanent buildings on your multiple BOLs, you may need to look into caching and hiding supplies on the land in advance.
Goal for multiple Bug Out Locations
Your goal for each of these locations would be to have a fairly safe and defensible location where you could hunker down and survive for six months to a year--maybe more. If you have a cabin, house or trailer on the property, great. If it's undeveloped land, that's ok. Either way, you'll be looking to build a concealed hide site on the property. One of my favorite SurvivalBlog articles in recent memory discusses just this topic--see A Wilderness Hide Location for Planned Retreat and the cited FM 7-93, Long Range Surveillance sites.
With this approach, don't think self sufficient and well-defended farm. Think digging and camouflaging hiding spots and surveillance sites--trenches, foxholes and LP/OPs. Once you're "dug in," you stay out of sight and observe. It isn't about long-term comfort and sustainability. This is about hiding in bunkers, keeping good noise, sound and smell discipline. It's about avoiding trouble and staying alive.
A plus? Hides and bunkers require inexpensive materials to construct--mainly, you just need the land to dig on! In a pinch, you could build such a hide site on public land, but private land is preferable. Requiring only undeveloped land, this style of retreat means that you can get multiple locations set up much more cheaply than buying multiple cabins, farms, etc.
These kinds of hides also have good built-in ballistics protection and camouflage--good luck replicating that a trailer or cabin. Some designs offer fallout/radiation protection as well.
If you're prepared, this kind of hide can get you through tough times. You'll need to cache supplies before hand or bring them with you WTSHTF. You'll also need to be mentally ready to lay low and camp out for a long while. But, this style of retreat shelter gives you an affordable and concealed place to ride out TEOTWAWKI. I also think that having a couple of these sites establish in various areas, complete with some adequate cached supplies does a much better job of hedging your survival bets than having one well-stocked farmhouse or cabin.
In Normal Times
It's important to have a use for your BOL in normal times--in this case, it would typically be a vacation/recreational property for camping, bushcrafting, fishing, hunting and the like. This style of BOL is most definitely not a full time retreat--it's a good piece of land, maybe a small permanent structure and your concealed hides, fortifications and supplies. Because the land is only minimally developed, you'll also have a lot less to lure potential thieves or vandals onto your property--I've heard horror stores about people having their weekend cabins ransacked while they were away. With minimally developed land, their is little to lure looters and other malefactors onto your property.
Cheaper Approaches
My family is not currently in the position to purchase one piece of undeveloped land, let alone multiples. I imagine that many of you are in similar circumstances. There are the aforementioned public lands--national forests, parks, etc. If you're forced out of your home with nowhere else to go, you can always head for the proverbial hills--deep into the hills--dig in and hide out.
However, the underlying principal here is to not place all your eggs in one basket. You don't know where you will be when TSHTF and you can't guarantee that you will be able to get home or to your bug out land--and, even if you can get there, they may not be standing when you arrive. You want to keep you options open, and that means having multiple bugout destinations and stashing preps in more than one location.
Those destinations can range from a well-outfitted bunker to your parents' house--but have those destinations planned out and preposition some supplies there. A few rubbermaid totes in the basement, a cache in the backyard, maybe a small storage unit at a nearby place could make the world of difference in a bad situation. Plan on arriving with little more than your EDC gear and the clothes on your back.
When TEOTWAWKI strikes, you don't want to be locked into one plan of action--three escape plans to different areas would be a wise place to start!
Sure, we all have limited resources. If we were infinitely wealth, we could have a dozen well-stocked retreats, hideaways and bug out locations (BOLs). My thoughts revolve more around whether it's wise to sink all of our resources into getting one location exceedingly well prepared, or whether we should diversify our stores amongst several locations. I'm leaning towards the latter.
Things happen and nothing goes according to plan. Your BOL or retreat may be destroyed or otherwise compromised. That mountain of preps and logistics will do you no good if they're burned up in a fire, lost in a flood, or looted by neighbors. If that "mountain" is all you've got? You're screwed.
Hedging your bets
So, to avoid placing all of our eggs in one basket, what can we do?
Well, in the case of bug out land, you may look to buy two (or more) properties--in different areas--instead of one. Spreading your budget across multiple locations will necessitate some compromises. This will generally mean a smaller plot of land and foregoing a number of creature comforts--a nice house or cabin, grid power, developed land, etc. If you've got $150K to work with, you'd be spreading that $150K over two locations ($75K a piece) or maybe 3 locations ($50K/each). Depending on your area, that may not get you a whole heck of a lot. One alternative would be to buy one nicer piece of land and then a cheaper plot of land as backup. There are plots of "junk land" available quite inexpensively via online auctions.
Multiple locations will also cause increased logistical headaches. It will mean that you will have to spread your stores out amongst multiple locations or that you will need to bring along more gear with you when you bug out. Since you may not have much in the way of permanent buildings on your multiple BOLs, you may need to look into caching and hiding supplies on the land in advance.
Goal for multiple Bug Out Locations
Your goal for each of these locations would be to have a fairly safe and defensible location where you could hunker down and survive for six months to a year--maybe more. If you have a cabin, house or trailer on the property, great. If it's undeveloped land, that's ok. Either way, you'll be looking to build a concealed hide site on the property. One of my favorite SurvivalBlog articles in recent memory discusses just this topic--see A Wilderness Hide Location for Planned Retreat and the cited FM 7-93, Long Range Surveillance sites.
With this approach, don't think self sufficient and well-defended farm. Think digging and camouflaging hiding spots and surveillance sites--trenches, foxholes and LP/OPs. Once you're "dug in," you stay out of sight and observe. It isn't about long-term comfort and sustainability. This is about hiding in bunkers, keeping good noise, sound and smell discipline. It's about avoiding trouble and staying alive. A plus? Hides and bunkers require inexpensive materials to construct--mainly, you just need the land to dig on! In a pinch, you could build such a hide site on public land, but private land is preferable. Requiring only undeveloped land, this style of retreat means that you can get multiple locations set up much more cheaply than buying multiple cabins, farms, etc.
These kinds of hides also have good built-in ballistics protection and camouflage--good luck replicating that a trailer or cabin. Some designs offer fallout/radiation protection as well.
If you're prepared, this kind of hide can get you through tough times. You'll need to cache supplies before hand or bring them with you WTSHTF. You'll also need to be mentally ready to lay low and camp out for a long while. But, this style of retreat shelter gives you an affordable and concealed place to ride out TEOTWAWKI. I also think that having a couple of these sites establish in various areas, complete with some adequate cached supplies does a much better job of hedging your survival bets than having one well-stocked farmhouse or cabin.
In Normal Times
It's important to have a use for your BOL in normal times--in this case, it would typically be a vacation/recreational property for camping, bushcrafting, fishing, hunting and the like. This style of BOL is most definitely not a full time retreat--it's a good piece of land, maybe a small permanent structure and your concealed hides, fortifications and supplies. Because the land is only minimally developed, you'll also have a lot less to lure potential thieves or vandals onto your property--I've heard horror stores about people having their weekend cabins ransacked while they were away. With minimally developed land, their is little to lure looters and other malefactors onto your property.
Cheaper Approaches
My family is not currently in the position to purchase one piece of undeveloped land, let alone multiples. I imagine that many of you are in similar circumstances. There are the aforementioned public lands--national forests, parks, etc. If you're forced out of your home with nowhere else to go, you can always head for the proverbial hills--deep into the hills--dig in and hide out.
However, the underlying principal here is to not place all your eggs in one basket. You don't know where you will be when TSHTF and you can't guarantee that you will be able to get home or to your bug out land--and, even if you can get there, they may not be standing when you arrive. You want to keep you options open, and that means having multiple bugout destinations and stashing preps in more than one location.
Those destinations can range from a well-outfitted bunker to your parents' house--but have those destinations planned out and preposition some supplies there. A few rubbermaid totes in the basement, a cache in the backyard, maybe a small storage unit at a nearby place could make the world of difference in a bad situation. Plan on arriving with little more than your EDC gear and the clothes on your back.
When TEOTWAWKI strikes, you don't want to be locked into one plan of action--three escape plans to different areas would be a wise place to start!
1/30/08
Tiny But Out Cabins Pt. II
Came across a more "reasonable" small bug-out cabin at Simple Solar Homesteading. Owner built for $2000. A little rougher than the Tiny Homes mentioned previously, but a lot more practical.
Small Cabin covers one guy's experience building an inexpensive cabin in the woods. He totals up $1256 in materials for building his cabin, though has no power system, appliances, or plumbing from what I could see. He uses a wood stove for heating.
I've personally had zip in the building construction department, so it will be a while before I tackle building my own cabin, but I'd love to give it a shot. But, if you're willing to "do-it-yerself", there are lots of examples, kits, and plans out there on the internet to help you on your way.
Obviously, you don't need to drop $50k on a 100 square foot home--that money could easily equip an entire family, purchase a BOL and build a modest, livable cabin (or three).
Small Cabin covers one guy's experience building an inexpensive cabin in the woods. He totals up $1256 in materials for building his cabin, though has no power system, appliances, or plumbing from what I could see. He uses a wood stove for heating.
I've personally had zip in the building construction department, so it will be a while before I tackle building my own cabin, but I'd love to give it a shot. But, if you're willing to "do-it-yerself", there are lots of examples, kits, and plans out there on the internet to help you on your way.
Obviously, you don't need to drop $50k on a 100 square foot home--that money could easily equip an entire family, purchase a BOL and build a modest, livable cabin (or three).
7/28/07
Hunting for Bug Out Land?
I stumbled upon LandAndFarm.com this afternoon, and have spent a couple hours looking through all kinds of property. Really fun site if your looking (or like me, dreaming) of a cabin, retreat, homestead or bug-out-land(BOL). There are some good deals to be found, and a lot of nice land to look at.
Thought I'd pass it along! Does anyone have any other websites to recommend for BOL shopping?
Thought I'd pass it along! Does anyone have any other websites to recommend for BOL shopping?
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