Bugging out in place
By Jackie Clay-Atkinson
Issue #163 • January/February, 2017
Some emergency situations require quick evacuation. You barely have time to grab your bug-out bag, gather the family, and run out the door. Most of us are ready...
Handy Keychain Mini-Gadgets
By Jeff Yago, P.E., CEM
Winter, 2017
I believe when most people think of being prepared, they immediately think in terms of bug-out bags, stored food and water, guns, and generators. However, there can be less...
Frostbite — Don’t flirt with this sneaky danger
By Tom and Joanne O’Toole
Issue #96 • November/December, 2005
Frostbite can be defined, in its most severe stage, as when your fingers and toes freeze and have to be cut off because of gangrene. Wow,...
A survival key ring — Your everyday tool for emergency preparedness
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #117 • May/June, 2009
If you saw the movie, "Castaway" starring Tom Hanks, you might remember that his character always carried a small pen knife with him. Early in the...
Bartering for bad times
By John Silveira
Issue #138 • November/December, 2012
Bartering may not be a part of your life, right now, but if there's a deepening of the recession, or it becomes a depression, or we enter a...
Wildfires: Before, During, After
By Charles Sanders
There are many things rural homeowners can do to mitigate the danger of wildfires. The first is to create a defensive zone around your homesite which will become a buffer area around...
Protein — The Cornerstone of a Survival Diet
By Jackie Clay
Issue #111 • May/June, 2008
It goes without saying that preparedness is not for "radicals" or "weirdos" anymore. I picked up a preparedness leaflet at the County Agent's office last week and another...
Build a community assistance recharging station
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #152 • March/April, 2015
Many preppers are starting to realize they cannot do it all on their own. True security during a major disaster or civil unrest is much more...
Preparing for civil unrest
By Claire Wolfe
Issue #118 • July/August, 2009
The most remarkable thing about civil unrest is that there hasn't been more of it.
Politicians are making a hash of this country and much of the rest of...
With commonsense planning, you can survive hard times
By Jackie Clay
Issue #55 • January/February, 1999
Today, many people are afraid that hard times are about to descend upon us because of the Y2K computer date problem, also known as the Millennium Bug. Others...
Stashing Junk Silver for Bad Times
By John Silveira
Issue #131 • September/October, 2011
This is a pile containing $100 face value of pre-1965 "junk silver" coins, but it could represent 400 gallons of gasoline or 400 loaves of bread.
When I was...
7 Mistakes of food storage
By Vicki Tate
Issue #55 • January/February, 1999
If you are going to store food, make sure that the food you store is adequate for the need you and your family anticipate. This may not be...
Start your food storage on $10 a week
By Alan T. Hagan
Issue #59 • September/October, 1999
If Old Mother Hubbard had had a food storage program before she went to her cupboard her poor dog would have gotten his bone. Given the fact...
Survival storeroom
By David Eddings
Issue #130 • July/August, 2011
This story begins in the mid-nineties when the Y2K threat was in the news. Several members of my family thought it would be prudent if we started stocking...
Gee-Whiz: From Paper to Canning
By John Silveira (aka O.E. MacDougal)
May/June 2017 Backwoods Home
The greatest inventions in history are the ones we now take for granted. Fire and the wheel-axle combination are among them. If we weren’t taught in...
Why you need to addsolar to your emergencypower backup plans
By Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM
Issue #149 • September/October, 2014
Click Here to listen to an interview with Jeff about this article.
Most of the electric substations, transmission lines, and electrical switchgear for any given utility are...































