Survival food is sustenance that can be made easily during a survival or emergency situation using mainly simple, long-term storage food items, cooked outdoors, using off-the-grid methods.

Are you using the storage foods in your pantry?

One piece of preparedness advice is that mossy old saying: “Store what you eat, and eat what you store.”

Food is the fuel that keeps you warm in the outdoors.

by Leon Pantenburg

This philosophy makes sense, since your stored food is an investment. But it’s always a good idea to rotate the stock.

Another thought is to make full use of those stores. Rather than spending upward of a dollar or so for a commercial energy bar, try making your own!

And if you can find a recipe that uses your stored food, that’s a bonus! Not only can you experiment and tweak the recipes, but you can also find a flavor combination that is just what you’re looking for!

If you can bake cookies, you can make your own energy bars, and here is a recipe that uses stored food you’ll like!

Apricot Bar Recipe

Chop in a food processor:

• 1 cup apricots
• 3/4 cup almonds
• 3/4 cup walnuts

• Mix fruit and nuts with:
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 2/3 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons oil

Add: Enough liquid (2 to 4 tablespoons juice) to form thick batter.

Mix well. Press into an 8-by-8-inch square greased pan. Bake 30 minutes or until firm. Cut into 12 bars but leave in the pan to cool. Later, package individually and store in a refrigerator or freezer. Makes 12 bars with 220 calories/bar.

For more survival recipes and cooking tips, check out these blogs: Jan’s Fabulous Food Storage Recipes, Survival Pantry, and Survival Recipes and Off-Grid Cooking

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Chapter 9: Prescott, Wisconsin

It only took a little modification to make the Grumman Rowing Rig fit Dunderhead.  The rig was really a seat with fittings for oarlocks. It was placed next to the center brace, on the stern side. Two holes were drilled into the gunnels and bolts attached the setup permanently to the canoe.  I bought oarlocks at the local K-Mart, and when I attached the 10­-foot oars, Dunderhead looked like some sort of hybrid rowboat/canoe.

The Mississippi is muddy, and the St. Croix is relatively clear as the two rivers combine near Prescott, WI.

The four frosting buckets were placed side-by-side in front of the rowing seat. Other gear was packed in around them. My cooler was placed at my feet, so I could brace my legs against it for more leverage when rowing.

After a few days, I could load and unload the canoe in a matter of minutes. Everything had its place, and Dunderhead was a well-balanced, efficient long-distance traveling vehicle.  My fishing rod was strategically placed, so I could get a lure in the water at a promising fishing spot in a matter of seconds.

But I quickly learned the standard rowing rig was apparently not intended for long distance travel. By the end of the first day of rowing, the oarlocks shrieked and howled at every stroke. The noise was hideous. Since I had nothing else, I dabbed solid Crisco on all the moving parts, and the noise quieted as if by magic. A commercial lubricant was later tried, but it made more of a mess and didn’t work as well.

Crisco became my all- purpose oarlock lube and cooking oil. Nothing fried fish crisper without burning, and it solidified when cool, eliminating the danger of spilling in the dry box. An application on the oarlocks lasted about 50 miles, depending on how hot the day was.

Under the best of circumstances, a set of oarlocks lasted about 500 miles. I wore out three sets on the journey, but they were easily replaced in any town with a K Mart.

###

Prescott, Wisconsin. – The beauty of the morning seemed to be an apology for the storm the night before. The sun rose on a clear, blue sky and the cool air felt light and fresh. The gentle breeze carried a clean “just-rained” odor and brought the smell of wet leaves and flowers up to the bank.  The river ran high and muddy, with leaves, green branches and one tree that had been uprooted somewhere upstream.

Yesterday’s journal entry brought a smile. Standing in the shade, and leafing through the pages to look for water damage, I noted the entry for July 15 would have to be re-written. All I’d mentioned was: “…..a routine, HOT day from Hastings, Minn. to -”

Prescott received its official name in 1851, apparently in honor of Philander Prescott, a fur trapper who built a cabin on the site where the City of Prescott now stands. The town is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and the St. Croix Rivers. The rivers played an important factor in the beginnings of Prescott, since river traffic had to go by way of the Mississippi or St. Croix Rivers.

This made Prescott a center for river shipping, transportation and milling.  Immigrants arrived via steamboats and settled in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The first order of business for many of them was to buy some timberland to homestead. The huge white pines further north were harvested for a cash crop and rafted down the St. Croix by logging crews.

In 1896, over 209 million board feet of lumber were rafted to Prescott. Several warehouses stored food and supplies, and hotels accommodated the influx of people, resulting in the development of restaurants, banks and many new homes.

I’d spend the afternoon wandering around Prescott, and decided to leave in the late afternoon. The weather was hot and muggy. It felt like a storm was brewing.

“There’s a thunderstorm warning out, and bad weather is on the way!” a boater at the Prescott Marina warned. He was trying to tie up his powerboat so it could weather a good blow.

“You better find a place to hole up!”

I looked around and wondered where that might be. There was no shelter on the dock, and I wasn’t near anything resembling a storm shelter.

But the weather was making me edgy. The sky had a threatening bluish-purple tint, and in Iowa, that meant a big thunderstorm or tornado was on the way, and the farmers would be preparing to leave the fields.

Anybody who grew up in the Midwest is familiar with tornadoes!

I remembered the Jordon tornado that devastated our neighbors’ homes and farms a few years before, and how it all started with that same color sky. My Dad had been driving a tractor and cultivator in the corn field east of the house, when he noticed the sky changing color. He decided to take one more round, and several minutes later, when Dad turned around at the end of the row, he saw the twister. He shut off the tractor and ran to the house to warn everyone to get in the basement.

“I knew he was scared,” Mike told me later. “That’s the only time in my life I ever saw Dad run!”

Another tornado demolished several nearby neighbors’ houses and barns. Dad was standing in yard, watching the progress of the funnel cloud, and wondering which direction it was going to go.

The wind started blowing the hot, heavy air around with a sudden chilling effect.

Leaving the marina only took me further away from any buildings. Where was I going to find a shelter? Maybe there was a culvert under a road, or a bridge.

Those were good choices if you got caught out away from a shelter. People in a car knew to find a crossroads, park with the engine running and watch the tornado. If the cloud headed in the direction of the crossroad, you drove at a 90 degree angle to the tornado route.

So while I knew what to look for, I wasn’t seeing any sort of refuge.

The only possible port for the impending port for the storm was a sandbar island in a bend of the channel. From the windswept look of the island, all the loose branches had blown off. Most of the willows grew out of sheer tenacity, since frequent flooding and winds had cleared out most of the bigger trees.

Dunderhead was pulled up on the bank and all the gear was stowed up underneath it. Behind a clump of limber-looking trees, I set up the tent and tried not to notice the evening was much darker than it should be. And then the wind died down to nothing. The stillness amplified a roaring from the north that sounded like ocean surf.

“Oh, no ……” I thought, and watched the bank of clouds come toward me. The first blast sent the treetops to the sand, and me running toward the tent.

The sand blew sideways in sheets, like it was a Sahara storm, while I sat inside and tried to hold up the sides of the tent. The dome tent was not designed for wind, and the sides kept trying to wrap themselves around me.

The wind lessened some, and the rain started. The rain fly was ripped off and headed for Missouri, and the next gust blew the tent over. While I wallowed in the sandy folds, I remembered what a beer truck driver at a marina had told me. His name tag said “River Rat.”

“Always tie one corner of your tent to a tree. If your tent has a bottom, and blows over, you’re stuck in a bag,” he’d warned. “If you get to rolling and end up in the river, you’ll drown because you won’t be able to swim.”

I hadn’t thought to do that, so when the stakes pulled out in the wind, the tent became one big bag. The wind made the bag conform to the movements of my hands and feet, and it felt like I was trapped in a big plastic bag and about to smother.

The mosquito netting had been left open in case I had to leave quickly, but finding the door was something else. I was ready to start hacking with my Buck knife when I found the flap and wrestled the tent off me.

It was more terrifying outside than it was in the tent. The willows were bent to the ground, and the sand blew horizontally. Rain beat down like hail, while the river raged and foamed like some sort of beast. The low black clouds and eerie howling of the wind made the scene like something out of a horror movie.

I never did manage to stand completely up. Before I got my knees much off the sand, another blast blew me off my feet. Looking around wildly for someplace to go, I saw the dim, sandy outline of the canoe. I crawled on my hands and knees toward the only shelter on the island.

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Stark fear made the distance see endless. Small branches flew all around, making sickening thuds when they landed. My face felt like it was being sandblasted, and the howling of the wind set my teeth on edge. If there would have been any place to go, I would have run like a scared rabbit in front of the wind.

There was no room under the canoe. I grabbed the first bucket handle I could find and threw the container out on the bank . A large tree crashed to the ground nearby, the noise momentarily overcoming the wind. I crawled under the canoe and prayed that would be enough shelter.

The wind’s howling increased, then turned into a sound that made my hair feel like it was standing on end. The old-timers in Iowa talked about how tornadoes sound like locomotives. From the sound of this train, I was about to get run over.

Unbidden, the words I’d learned years before in Catechism class came to my lips. In a moment of clarity, I could even remember the name of the nun who had insisted we memorize the 23rd. Psalm. My rendition under the canoe was definitely heartfelt and would have gotten me a gold star from the toughest Mother Superior!  By then, I’d run through almost every prayer I’d ever learned, and even in my terror was amazed at my recall.

By the time the locomotive sound was over the canoe, I was past the point of even calling for help. All I could do was bury my face in the sand, cover my head with my arms and shake.

Meanwhile, the wind was pushing the river water up under the canoe in larger and larger waves. Moments after the locomotive passed, a tidal wave seemed to wash up under the canoe. I held my breath, grabbed the side, dug in my toes, and with unusual strength kept it from heading downstream. It fell crookedly on the gear, and a second wave never came.

The wind made a tremendous crash when it hit the larger trees on the other bank, and moved downstream to rage somewhere else. After a final display of natural fury, the sky settled down to some serious raining that decreased to a drizzle after a few minutes.

I was still shaking when I crawled out from under the canoe. The sandbar was covered with loose branches, and why one didn’t hit me can only be attributed to the grace of God. I felt like a wet dishrag, drained of all strength and emotion, and couldn’t believe I wasn’t hurt.

The rain stopped and the mosquitoes returned for their nightly strafing attacks. Luckily, one of the tent stakes had held, and the rest of the tent was buried in a small dune, Without bothering to shake out the sand, I propped up the tent, got inside and crawled into my bag, as tired as if I’d rowed 40 miles that day.

Historic photo of Mississippi River, south of St. Paul, MN.

The next morning’s assessment of the situation showed I was up the creek without a bucket. The one I’d tossed out on the bank was gone, taking my wallet, money, shoes, extra clothing and journal. My glasses had disappeared, and now I was going to have to figure out some way to get replacements.

Funny thing though. After swimming and rinsing out my clothes, I felt almost euphoric. I’d lost some important things, but they could be replaced. I was alive, unscathed and the air had never smelled fresher, the sun was never so welcome and breakfast never tasted better.

I whistled while I loaded the canoe and slid it into the river, much happier than a man with no shoes, ID, money or glasses has a right to be. I rowed steadily, assessing the storm damage evident on the banks.

The Minneapolis Tribune reported winds of 89 mph with gusts to 110 mph for the night of July 15. Storm damage was evident from the river. The twister had cleared a path through several places in the underbrush and broken limbs and branches dotted the surface of the water.

In 24 hours, I’d seen both sides of the Old Man. From the sunny, friendly giant I was used to, it had turned into a dark, raging beast, and I was still in awe of the forces I’d seen the night before.

But after that night on the sandbar, I started to enjoy the storms on the river. This was yet another reason I would get marked as an eccentric at most public campgrounds. People in RVs would see me walking around in my yellow rain suit and offer me shelter.

“You’re crazy to be out there!” they’d say while huddled around their portable TV sets, listening to weather reports. I felt a little condescending – after you’ve ridden out a tornado under a canoe, a little rain doesn’t amount to much!

My singing and reverie on the morning of July 16,was interrupted when I sighted a white object on a snag. Hoping it wasn’t a Clorox bottle marking a trotline, I pulled over to see. My joyous whoop echoed off the bank as I grabbed the wire handle and pulled. Incredibably, is was my missing bucket, and the weight felt normal, like there wasn’t any additional water inside.

The lid seal had held, and everything was dry. I pawed through the contents, and leafed through the journal, looking for dampness. Yeah, I would re-write that previous entry!

It felt like Thanksgiving, Christmas, the Fourth of July and my birthday, all wrapped up in one. I had all my gear back, and I had one story, at least, that wouldn’t ever need any embellishing!

I looked at the date on the journal again, and a bell rang in my mind.

It was my birthday! I’d been too busy to notice, but I was now 28 years old!

“Thank you!” I hollered at the sky. “You got me just what I wanted! And next time we talk, it won’t be just because I’m in a jam!”

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At some point, you may need to attract a rescuer’s attention. It would be in any situation, from being lost in the wilderness to being stuck on a rooftop during a flood.

But when people are looking for you, though, you may be an insignificant object in a vast  space.

A signal mirror can help rescuers find you, as this photo shows, if it is used correctly! (Peter Kummerfeldt photo)

One way to speed your rescue is to bounce (reflect) a beam of sunlight from your position to that of a rescuer.  Remember, the person on the receiving end of the signal must recognize the reflected light for what it is – an emergency signal, and respond to it.

One way to bounce light is with a signal mirror. I have several, but the one that is always with me is a homemade, credit-card-sized piece plastic mirror material I bought in the automotive section of the local WalMart.

Along with the rest of my wardrobe survival kit, this small mirror may someday prove invaluable!

So how do you use a signal mirror?

Here is a post by survival expert Peter Kummerfledt that explains everything you need to know about this vital piece of survival gear!

To read the rest of the story, click here! - Leon

For more information on making survival kits, click here!

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Click here to visit Peter Kummerfeldt's website!

In a survival situation, be it urban or wilderness, your gear alone will not save you. YOU must save yourself. There are three major areas a survivor must be prepared in, before you start being concerned about accumulating equipment!

In this article, survival Expert Peter Kummerfeldt takes you through a survival sequence.

by Peter Kummerfeldt

One of the most important lessons I learned during my survival career is: “Those who are prepared to survive an emergency usually will, and those who are not prepared probably won’t!”

We don’t want to admit we might be the one faced with a life or death situation or some other equally disagreeable circumstance.

Denial leads the list of the coping methods that people use — we deny anything bad is ever going to happen.  It’s often easier to deny than to prepare for a difficult situation and, as a result, we find ourselves totally unprepared when disaster strikes.

It’s easy to say “I’ll assemble a survival kit tomorrow.” It’s easy to rationalize – “I don’t have the money to buy a better rain jacket,” or “I’ll never be in a survival situation. What do I need a survival kit for?”  It’s easy to think that it will always be someone else that ends up in a survival situation.

Consequently the vast majority of people find themselves facing a cold night out without adequate clothing, without basic survival equipment and without having practiced building a fire, erecting a shelter or signaling for help.

To prepare, potential survivors need to consider three areas: Physical, mental and spiritual preparation.
Physical preparation includes careful selection of  your clothing, equipping yourself for an unplanned night out and getting in physical shape.

“Dress to survive – not just to arrive!

What you wear may be adequate for the work commute, but will it keep you warm if you have to spend the night in the ditch when the car skids off the road?  How much protection will your T-shirt and shorts provide if you are caught out in a late summer thunderstorm?
Becoming lost, is probably the most common way that people end up in a survival situation. “Surviving” places a premium on the clothing worn.

Both of these 100% cotton garments would keep you warm until they got wet. Then, this clothing can become dangerous to wear! (Pantenburg photo)

Cotton Kills! During the colder, wetter times of the year, dressing properly begins by getting rid of your cotton underwear and switching to synthetics (polypropylene, polyester, or Capilene.) Cotton absorbs the moisture your body produces and holds it against your skin causing heat to be constantly conducted away. You will never be warm!

The synthetics are hydrophobic (water hating) and facilitate the movement of water vapor away from your body.  Other underwear fabrics include wool and silk.  Some very good “non-itchy” wool thermal underwear is now available.  Silk, because it is a natural fiber, tends to absorb and hold water.  It is also not as durable as the synthetic fabrics.

The next layer, the mid layer, serves to facilitate the movement of water vapor out to the environment and to trap “dead air” around you to keep you warm. Once again, synthetics work best – the piles and fleeces, with wool coming in a close second.

Under very cold conditions, an additional insulation layer may be needed. The more “dead air” you trap the warmer you will be. Many insulating materials are available to choose from, both synthetic and natural. I choose synthetics primarily because, unlike down, the synthetic insulators do not collapse when wet.

The outer layer may be the most important.  It must keep the inner layers dry and keep the wind out.  If either moisture or wind penetrates the insulation layers, heat will be lost quickly.  Studies have shown that in windy situations, a good outer shell can increase warmth by as much as 50 degrees. Put another way, a good windproof outer layer decreases the amount of insulation needed to keep you warm.

The objective is to use the fewest layers of clothing that will keep you warm when you are inactive. Activity generates substantial amounts of body heat and reduces the need for multiple layers of clothing.  On the other hand, inactivity drives the need to insulate yourself from the environment and to conserve whatever heat your body is producing – very important in a survival situation!

Special attention should be paid to protecting your head and your hands. If your head is not protected as much as 75 percent of your total body heat production can be lost!  Hands suffer quickly when exposed to cool-to-cold conditions. Fine motor skills, the ability to touch finger to thumb, are lost quickly.

This photo demonstrates how a trash bag can be used as a quick, effective emergency shelter. (Peter Kummerfeldt photo)

Could you zip up your jacket if your fingers are frozen?  Could you tie your bootlaces? Gloves and mittens are an important part of your outdoor clothing.

Equipping yourself to spend a night out is the next step.

There are those who advocate construction of survival shelters built from natural materials.  I disagree.

For the average, inexperienced person, building a windproof, waterproof shelter from sticks, boughs, bark and other natural materials may be impossible!

Shelters built from natural materials take hours to build, require cutting tools and adequate supplies of suitable materials, and, most importantly, call for an “able” survivor — one who is uninjured!

Seldom can all of these criteria be met and, for lack of shelter, the survivor ends up spending a very uncomfortable night or two out.  Additionally, inexperienced people will often wait until the sun is about to set or the storm is about to break before they recognize the need for an emergency shelter!

A vital part of your survival equipment is a waterproof, windproof, heavy-duty, plastic bag that you can crawl into!  Alternatively, carry a sturdy tarp or piece of plastic that can be quickly erected to create a lean-to or pup tent style of shelter.

Two plastic match containers have been taped together. One holds cotton balls and petroleum jelly, and the other carries REI Stormproof matches. A Boy Scout Hot Spark is taped to the kit.

The ability to ignite a fire may also be critical to your survival.   Once again, relying on improvised means i.e., rubbing sticks together, is an invitation to disaster!

Because of injury or loss of finger dexterity the usual methods of starting a fire may become very difficult.  How do you strike a match if you only have the use of one hand?  Could you still “flick your BIC” if your fingers are cold and stiff?  It can be done but it may not be easy.

Equip yourself with good matches and a metal match.  Fill a screw-top match case with cotton balls that have been saturated in petroleum jelly – it makes great tinder, can be ignited with either the match or a spark from the metal match and burns for a long time.

The duration of your survival situation hinges on two questions.  Did you file a flight plan?  Do you have any signaling equipment with you with which to attract attention? Always tell someone reliable where you’re going and when you’re going to be back.  Include in your survival kit a good plastic whistle and a signal mirror (glass or a good plastic one)

Improving your physical fitness should be part of the physical preparations you make.  People in good physical shape are less likely to injure themselves. Physically fit survivors  injured in an accident will fare better than those who are not in good shape.

Preparing yourself mentally is as important, if not more so, than preparing yourself physically.

If you can’t visualize situations you might find yourself in, how  will you prepare for them?

What are you afraid of? Confront that fear, and familiarity will make it go away!

What scares you about having to spend an unplanned night out?  Is it the fear of predatory animals? Starving to death? Dying from hypothermia? Isolation?

We all have fears. Unfortunately many are based on stories we were told,  TV programs, or on books we read.  Good entertainment, perhaps, but often poor sources of reliable information  to base our decisions and actions.

Make a list of your fears and apprehensions then contact the “experts” and find out the truth. In most instances, the truth is very different from the myth and, as a good friend of mine says: “When you remove the mystery, you’ll remove the fear!”

Spiritual preparation is the final step.  After interviewing many survivors and prisoners-of-war and after reading the accounts of many other survivors,  it is clear: “There are no non-believers in survival situations!”

Survivors may have started the experience without any strong beliefs one way or the other, but inevitably, at some point these survivors turned to a greater power for additional help.

As Doug Ritter of Equipped to Survive (www.equipped.com) says:

“If you are adequately clothed, if you have equipped yourself and if you have practiced your survival skills, a night or two out should not a be a life threatening experience.  On the other hand if you are not clothed adequately, do not have any emergency gear and have never practiced your survival skills whether you survive or not will depend on your will to survive, your ability to improvise, and LUCK.”

I don’t know about you – I want to be clothed, equipped and practiced!

Peter Kummerfeldt has walked the talk in the wilderness survival field for decades. Peter grew up in

Peter Kummerfeldt has taught wilderness and emergency survival for more than 40 years.

Kenya, East Africa and came to America in 1965 and joined the U.S. Air Force. He is a graduate of the Air Force Survival Instructor Training School and has served as an instructor at the Basic Survival School, Spokane, Washington; the Arctic Survival School, Fairbanks, Alaska, and the Jungle Survival School, Republic of the Philippines.

For twelve years, Peter was the Survival Training Director at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado. He retired from the Air Force in 1995 after 30 years of service.

In 1992, concerned with the number of accidents that were occurring in the outdoors annually and the number of tourists traveling overseas who were involved in unpleasant and sometimes life-threatening incidents Peter created OutdoorSafe.com

He is the author of Surviving a Wilderness Emergency and has addressed over 20,000 people as the featured speaker at numerous seminars, conferences and national conventions.

Check out Peter’s blog at: OutdoorSafe.blogspot.com

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

I was not paid to review this item. All this is my opinion!

Does a survival-type need a grainmill? Is the bulky, heavy item practical for a bug-out situation?  Would a grainmill be worth the weight and space it takes up in a survival situation?

by Leon Pantenburg

Those were the first questions I came up with, when asked to review the hand-powered Wondermill Wonder Junior. But since that question has come up from readers before, it seemed like a good time to address the issue!

Here are some possible urban or wilderness situations where a grainmill might be useful:

Gerald Gawith, left, holds the pan while his wife, Ann cranks the Wondermill. Experienced, expert off-grid cooks, the Gawiths own and operate Grubmasters Cast Iron Catering. Supervising the process are experienced Dutch oven cooks Jamie and Renee Basinger.

The SHTF (Sewage Hit The Fan) really, really hard and you have had to evacuate your home, and go to a safer area. Along the way to the new base camp or safe location, some oats, corn and barley were obtained from a damaged grain elevator or feed store.

Luckily, you have some off-grid cooking implements, and some basic baking condiments, so making some sort of bread is possible.

But the whole grains must first be ground into flour. Several of the survivors each get two bricks or flat rocks and start grinding the grain between them. Hours later, they have enough flour to start baking. But the flour is coarse and hard, the activity took time away from other vital activities and the bread baked from it will be tough and hard to digest.

Or suppose there is member of your survival group who is gluten-intolerant. You may have plenty of wheat flour, but all the baked goods will do is make that person sick. But you do have the above mentioned grains, and some rice and beans. With a grainmill you could convert those grains into digestible food.

A third scenario might be that several people have not gotten accustomed to a lot of wheat in their diets. While there is plenty of rice, oats and other whole grains available, it will have to be ground into a flour.

So the question is: How valuable would a grainmill be in a SHTF situation?

That was my approach when I agreed to review a Wonder Junior. I don’t own a grainmill, and like most folks, I had not given much thought about such an item as survival gear.

So, I took the brand new, in-the-box Junior to a recent gathering of the Central Oregon Dutch Oven Society. This off-grid cooking club is home to several avid off-grid foodies and cooks. Several are prepppers, and all were interested in how a grainmill could work under survival conditions.

The Wondermill set up easily outdoors and worked well under a simulated survival situation.

So we created the scenario where there was a group of people, some wheat berries and a Wondermill, and we would have to make flour outside to bake something.

Since this was a gear review, we did a common sense assessment. My first impression was that the Wonder Junior is all metal, built like a tank, and would last a long, long time. The crank and moving part worked smoothly and quietly. Changing and adjusting the stone wheels was simple and easily done.

I didn’t try to grind up a handful of gravel or run the odd pebble through the hopper and didn’t drop kick the machine or otherwise abuse it. (If you try hard enough, you can break anything!) If durability was the only consideration, I would have taken the machine to a Boy Scout campout. (Those kids could tear up an anvil!)

What we found:

Size: The Junior is not a lightweight , backpacking implement! (It weighs about 10 pounds or so) But the junior is small and compact enough to be included in a car bug out kit or placed in a survival retreat.

Ease of assembly: I deliberately didn’t look at the directions until I had everything assembled. (I got it right the first time!) There was nothing to setting it up or disassembling it, and anybody could put it together and get it working!

Efficiency: Since this was my first exposure to a grainmill, I had nothing to compare the Junior to. But we managed to quickly convert our wheat berries into flour.

Ease of use: Several people with varying degrees of strength used the machine. Our burly construction contractor could turn the crank all afternoon and easily produce flour. But two of the wispy ladies didn’t have the upper body strength to grind much flour. But this is not a deal-breaker by any stretch of the imagination. During a SHTF situation, there would be no shortage of  volunteers to crank!

Adaptability: This is a machine that needs a sturdy table to use. The force required to turn the handle was not excessive, but you do have to put some energy into it. I didn’t try attaching the Wondermill  to a tree branch, but I think that could be done.

A plastic, portable card table table from Costco wasn’t sturdy enough to handle the vibration caused by cranking. A sturdier wooden table worked OK, but there was excessive lateral movement that detracted from the cranking efficiency. A heavy picnic table, built with 2″ by 6″ lumber like you’d find at many parks or picnic areas, was perfect.

One aside: Wind is an issue when grinding flour outside. Several gusts scattered our flour, and we had to huddle around the grainmill to break the wind. This is just a good thing to know – in a SHTF situation, having all the flour blown away would be a definite morale-buster!

Now, there are some unexpected benefits that the Wonder  Junior could bring to a survival scenario. Unless the manufacturer specifically states otherwise, it is not recommended that most grainmills  be used for anything but grain.

Here is where a Junior shines, because it can grind herbs, rice, corn, coffee, spices, beans, and more.

The overall impression among the foodies at the cookoff was very positive. The Junior went home with an accomplished off-grid and Dutch oven cook for further testing on various grains, legumes and other whole food products, and we’ll be following up on that.

So, after this testing, do I think a survivalist needs a hand-powered grainmill?

I would answer with a qualified “Yes.”

The Wondermill  is not going to work as part of  a grab-and-go, Bug Out Bag, nor would it be practical to include in a standard 72-hour pack.  It would get old, quick, hauling it around in a backpack. And you would have to find a study base of some sort to use it.

But, the Junior’s versatility and effectiveness can help make the most of storage foods typically found in survival pantries. If there is no electricity or power, the Wondermill can keep going as long as there is someone willing to crank it.

And efficiency is a big deal. During a survival situation, your time is your most valuable resource. If you spend hours grinding flour for food, that is time taken from other vital survival tasks.

So,  over the long term, a Wondermill could prove to be one of the most useful, and used, tools in your survival setup!

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The Survival Template by John A. Heatherly

How do you encapsulate a survivor’s mentality into a personalized model that can be duplicated and personalized? That’s what John A. Heatherly teaches in his new book “The Survival Template.”

by Leon Pantenburg

So you are in a SHTF (Sewage Hit The Fan) situation, and starting from nothing. Before you do anything, the first step should be to use the survival mindset exercise STOP (Stop, Think, Observe, Plan).

Learn how to make a plan to survive anything, regardless of location or situation!

But, once you reach the Plan stage, what comes next? What exactly do you need to include in your survival plan? What aspects of survival have the highest priority? How do you decide what is most important?

If you have the concept of a survival template, or model,  in your mind, you will know how to proceed from that point. John A. Heatherly’s book  “The Survival Template” may be what is needed to help you focus and set up your personal short and long term survival plan.

The survival template concept came from a military training course in Washington, Heatherly writes, when he and several other trainees were about to go out on their first overnight solo. They had already completed several days of basic training, and their instructor told them to take out their notebooks and make a plan:

“Have you ever noticed that you are much more likely to take care of yourselves effectively if you write down what you want to do?” the instructor commented.

“Second only to positive mental attitude, the most important survival skill, the acquired ability to identify and enunciate in writing emerged as a surprisingly effective tool in the development of mental capacity and in the production of extraordinary physical results,” Heatherly writes.

“”The Survival Template” is a model for my son, who is now a toddler,” Heatherly wrote to me in an email. “Hopefully, someday he will benefit from the book and avoid some of the mistakes Dad made!)

"Spiritual life strengthened the prisoner, helped him adapt, and thereby improved his chances for survival," - Viktor E. Frankl

Heatherly’s biography states that he is a 17-year student of survival, starting at Tom Brown Jr’s Trackerschool and that he has graduated from multiple military Survival Courses. His bio says Heatherly has practiced survival in the forests of Alaska, Washington (state), waters of the Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, coast, rivers and forests of Oregon, mountains of Georgia and Tennessee. He claims a Bachelor of Arts in English from Carson-Newman College, in Jefferson City, TN; with a Master of IT Management from Webster University, St. Louis, MO.

The 59-page book is an easy read, full of information and suggestions for setting up your own survival template. Heatherly takes the

Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale chose to make his Vietnam POW experience a defining event in his life.

reader from no plan whatsoever to suggestions for one day, one month, six months, one year and on.

Along the way, Heatherly combines survival tips and thoughts from Vice Admiral James E. Stockdale, a seven-year Prisoner-of-War during the Vietnam War; Viktor E. Frankl, a Holocaust survivor; with comments from Bruce Lee.

A couple thoughts as I was reading:

• As a working journalist, a notebook and writing implement are part of my wardrobe and my multiple survival kits. You may need these tools to make lists, record GPS coordinates and compass bearings, leave notes for other people and to focus your thoughts. So the idea of coming up with a written, personalized plan for survival seems to be a very viable idea! (On a related note – I have a kept a journal, on and off for many years. You can get tremendous insight into yourself when reading them later!)
• A person’s reading list or bibliography tells a lot about them. When I saw “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor E. Frankl on Heatherly’s list, I knew we thought a lot alike. I read Frankl’s book decades ago in graduate school and highly recommend it!
• We need to learn from history. Frankl’s and Stockdale’s experiences provide us with insight that most of us will hopefully never be able to duplicate!
• Viable, practical instructional books are critical to learning about anything!

We need more books on the psychological aspect of survival, and “The Survival Template” will make a good addition to your survival and prepper library!

For more survival book reviews,  click here.

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More than 100 people have been killed and hundreds injured after a tornado tore through the city of Joplin, Missouri, last week.

This photo shows a "textbook" tornado extending from the wall cloud of a classic supercell, with a "clear slot" cutting through the cloud base around the near side of the wall cloud. The slot represents part of the occlusion downdraft, an arc of sinking air believed to contribute to tornado development in many cases. ("Photo courtesy of NSSL")

This is in addition to the other storms that have devastated other parts of  the United States this spring.

Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Virginia have also been hit, by over 200 tornadoes so far this year.

by Leon Pantenburg

Obviously, tornado season is here!

If you live in area where these storms occur, a realistic preparedness question should be: What do I do to get ready for a tornado?

Here’s a place to start, preferably on a bright, sunny day with no storm clouds, when you have time to think logically: Realize that you could be in danger! If you live in tornado areas, it isn’t a matter of if the big winds will hit, but when!

Talk with family members about what to do, where to go, and how to re-connect after the event is over. But start the planning now!

To learn more about how to plan and what to do when a tornado threatens, click here.

For the latest update on the Joplin tornado, click here.

For more tips and stories about making survival kits, click here!

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

By Peter Kummerfeldt

I was driving to Soda Springs, Idaho, this past week to present a risk management program.  My wife was driving and at one point, we were following several other slower vehicles while waiting for a chance to pass, when an oncoming eighteen wheeler drifted toward the double yellow line before returning his side of the road.  I got to thinking about the thinness of the margin that keeps traffic flowing safely.

Disaster can be as close as the next passing vehicle!

When two vehicles pass on a two-lane road the space between them can be as little as a few feet!  As long as the vehicles stick to their side of the road everything works well but a moment’s inattention can result in catastrophe.  The more I thought about it the more I realized that this concept could be applied to many other scenarios. The difference between surviving and dieing, especially in the outdoors, is indeed a thin one.  In fact I believe that we are the thickness of a piece of paper away from a disaster at any given time!

As a society we have become so dependent on technology to keep us safe that we no longer think about the threats to our safety and what we would do in the event that our lives are placed at risk. We have come to depend on others to keep us free from harm. The Federal government, state governments, our employers, family members and others have a role in keeping us all safe but ultimately we each have to recognize that no one is more responsible for our safety than we are.

That “buck” cannot be passed!  Our safety is dependent on the preparation we accomplish before an event.  Our safety is dependent on our ability to recognize danger and react quickly enough to ensure our safety.

Is it possible to guarantee personal safety in the outdoors?  Of course not! But you can increase your knowledge, improve your survival skills, outfit yourself with reliable equipment, thoroughly evaluate the risks and then measure your skills against those risks before undertaking an activity in the outdoors.  A comprehensive analysis of the threats to your safety must be followed by an honest, objective appraisal of your skill level and ability to cope with those threats.

It is easy to talk about the impact of weather, or terrain hazards or perhaps the threats posed by animals when you recreate in the outdoors but the part of risk management and accident prevention that is hard to come to grips with is what the academics call “human factors.”

Here are a few “human factors” that you should think about:

Complacency -  a product of boredom, distraction, lack of awareness, or failure to question old  habits results in a belief that “I’ve done this before successfully therefore there won’t be a problem the next time!” Not necessarily! Sometimes we are suckered into complacency by our past successes!

Risk perception – a situation that is familiar, controllable, pleasant, predictable and avoidable is perceived to be of less risk.   Consequently when an activity becomes routine the likelihood of an accident increases.  Also keep in mind that to be able to deal with a dangerous situation you must first be able to recognize a dangerous situation!

Overconfidence – an unrealistic belief in one’s ability to cope with life threatening situations.  Men are particularly prone to overestimating their ability to cope with a crisis.  Sometimes brute strength isn’t enough!

Goal setting – the inability to adjust goals as situations change often leads to accidents.  You must get out of the “summit or die” mentality.   Remember – it is never wrong to turn back!

Impatience – patience is a virtue, impatience can be disastrous.  Continuing on in the face of bad weather, rough terrain, darkness or other hazards in an effort to “get-back-at-all-cost” can be fatal.

Commitments – do not allow previously made commitments to influence what you should do when you are in trouble.  Do what is in your best interest and don’t worry about what your spouse is thinking or your what employer  is going to think when you don’t show up for work.  Their concerns are no longer important.  Keeping yourself safe is.

Peer pressure - Don’t concern yourself with what others may think.  You can survive teasing, ridicule, and the comments of others but you may not survive the impact of the environment if you fail to protect yourself.  Do what you have to to be alive to be teased!

Failing to test – Nothing gets people in trouble quicker than accepting, at face value, the advice of others,   Test everything before your life’s on the line.   Practice your survival skills and experiment with your equipment before you need to use them in a crisis.

Experience can help you through a tough situation or it can betray you by setting you up to fail when your experience doesn’t take into account a new situation.  Put another way: “People are often setup for a disaster, not by their inexperience, but by their experience.”

While the tangible risks can usually be managed, the subjective, intangible issues, the human factors, are much more difficult to come to grips with.   To be a survivor you must prepare for what you hope will never happen while accepting the possibility that a crisis can happen at any time.

At some point you need to ask yourself “What do I want my newspaper headline to say?”  “Survived in Style” or “Deceased?”

Peter Kummerfeldt has walked the talk in the wilderness survival field for decades. Peter grew up in

Peter Kummerfeldt has taught wilderness and emergency survival for more than 40 years.

Kenya, East Africa and came to America in 1965 and joined the U.S. Air Force. He is a graduate of the Air Force Survival Instructor Training School and has served as an instructor at the Basic Survival School, Spokane, Washington; the Arctic Survival School, Fairbanks, Alaska, and the Jungle Survival School, Republic of the Philippines.

For twelve years, Peter was the Survival Training Director at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado. He retired from the Air Force in 1995 after 30 years of service.

In 1992, concerned with the number of accidents that were occurring in the outdoors annually and the number of tourists traveling overseas who were involved in unpleasant and sometimes life-threatening incidents Peter created OutdoorSafe.com

He is the author of Surviving a Wilderness Emergency and has addressed over 20,000 people as the featured speaker at numerous seminars, conferences and national conventions.

Check out Peter’s blog at: OutdoorSafe.blogspot.com

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

Flash floods are the number one weather-related killer in the United States! Here are some of the things to look for if you know you are in an area that might have a flash flood!

A flash flood can happen incredibly quickly in many areas. Know what to look for! (NASA photo)

by Peter Kummerfeldt

Most flash flooding is caused by slow-moving thunderstorms repeatedly moving over the same area, or heavy rains from hurricanes and tropical storms. The two key elements that contribute to flash flooding are rainfall intensity and duration. Intensity is the rate of rainfall, and duration is how long the rain lasts.

Topography, soil conditions, and ground cover also play an important role.  Flash floods can occur within a few minutes or may occur within hours of heavy rainfall.  Rapidly rising water can reach heights of thirty feet or more and can trigger catastrophic mud slides.

Here are some safety rules:

• Pay attention to the warnings and watches announced by the National Weather Service and your local radio.  You will not always have a warning that these deadly, sudden floods are coming.  Many deaths occur because the victims waited too long to take action or were distracted while trying to save personal belongings.
• Never try to walk, swim, or drive through swift water. If you come upon flood waters, STOP! TURN AROUND AND GO ANOTHER WAY. Even six inches of fast-moving water can knock you off your feet and water two feet deep will float your car!
• Plan Ahead.  Determine ahead of time where you would go if told to evacuate.  Select higher ground where you could climb above the high water.  Many flash floods occur at night, greatly complicating evacuation efforts!
• The sound of distant thunder could forewarn you of flooding.
• Watch for quickly rising water and if present take action quickly

A weather radio is the best means to receive warnings from the National Weather Service which continuously broadcasts updated weather warnings and forecasts. Depending on topography, the average range for these radios is about 40 miles.  Purchase a radio that has both a battery backup and a tone-alert feature which automatically alerts you when a watch or warning is issued.

Stay informed about the weather by listening to NOAA weather radio, commercial radio, and television for the latest watches warnings, and advisories. Plan your activities around the forecasted weather.  Decide what you will do when the weather deteriorates and implement the plan before you are in danger.

Weather can make you very uncomfortable but, with some preparation, it shouldn’t kill you!

Peter Kummerfeldt has walked the talk in the wilderness survival field for decades. Peter grew up in

Peter Kummerfeldt has taught wilderness and emergency survival for more than 40 years.

Kenya, East Africa and came to America in 1965 and joined the U.S. Air Force. He is a graduate of the Air Force Survival Instructor Training School and has served as an instructor at the Basic Survival School, Spokane, Washington; the Arctic Survival School, Fairbanks, Alaska, and the Jungle Survival School, Republic of the Philippines. For twelve years, Peter was the Survival Training Director at the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado. He retired from the Air Force in 1995 after 30 years of service.

In 1992, concerned with the number of accidents that were occurring in the outdoors annually and the number of tourists traveling overseas who were involved in unpleasant and sometimes life-threatening incidents Peter created OutdoorSafe.com

He is the author of Surviving a Wilderness Emergency and has addressed over 20,000 people as the featured speaker at numerous seminars, conferences and national conventions.

Check out Peter’s blog at: OutdoorSafe.blogspot.com

For more Peter Kummerfeldt and OutdoorSafe survival tips, click on:

• Are you afraid of the dark?
• STOP: You are lost!
• Preparing to survive
• The importance of water to survival.
• Avoid becoming an altitude casualty.
• Wilderness emergency management
• Making water safe to drink.
• Don’t become a lightning casualty.
• Questionable water: to Drink or Not?
• Self Rescue: when staying put is not an Option
• Survival Kit List for beginners
• Preventing dehydration during emergencies
• Winter Survival Equipment Test: Blizzard vests and emergency blankets

http://www.survivalcommonsense.com

In the wake of the earthquake and tsunami disasters in Japan, local governments in Central Oregon are starting to take a hard look at their community preparedness plans.

Earthquake damage in Japan (JETAANC photo)

Here is a story that was published recently in the  April 25, 2011 Bend Bulletin:

by Leon Pantenburg

LA PINE (OR) — The potential for a massive earthquake occurring off the Oregon coast and directly affecting the tricounty area (Central Oregon) is real, say experts, which is why La Pine City Councilor Stu Martinez got a new job not long ago.

At a recent council meeting, Martinez’s colleagues asked him to “get the ball rolling” to prepare for a large-scale disaster. To that end, he will review disaster preparedness plans for La Pine and the surrounding south Deschutes County area.

“The city needs to be capable of dealing with an emergency down here, and we asked Stu to give us an update,” said La Pine Mayor Ken Mulenex. “We don’t totally know what is in place, or what to plan for in this area. But as a community, we have to be ready.” (To read the rest of this story, click here.)

And local preparedness organizations, such as the Oregon Mountain River Chapter of the American Red Cross, are gearing up to educate businesses on what they can do to help protect their employees.

The Oregon Red Cross’ 10-year goal is to prepare for “The Big One,”  the massive earthquake projected to occur along the   Cascadia fault, about 200 miles off the Oregon Coast, says Thomas Farley, executive director of the Oregon Mountain River Chapter.

“To realize that goal, we’re going to have to build a public and private partnership,” he said. “This

partnership could start with local businesses accepting that an earthquake disaster will most likely occur.”

Then, private companies could start their own disaster preparations.

“We would ask a business: If an earthquake happens during working hours, do you have a plan? What do you do about water and food?” Farley said. “There will probably be widespread panic among parents whose children are at school. How will you deal with these situations when the roads and bridges are out?”

To test how your company might react in a disaster, Farley recommends this link on the Red Cross website.

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