I’ve written about silver in the past. For example, here, here and here.
Last April, and again in September, the price of silver almost topped $50 an ounce. Today it’s selling for about $30 to $31 an ounce.
Since its high last fall, silver has been in a consolidation pattern and appears to be ready to rocket past $50 sometime between now and the end of the year.
Barclays Bank predicts that silver will hit $45 an ounce this year. Other experts believe it will hit $50.
Getting clean water is going to be a high priority in any sort of short-term or long-term crisis.
The tricky thing about water is it’s heavy and difficult to transport.
You can store up a supply of water in your home using 55-gallon plastic barrels. You can also get rainwater collection barrels to collect rainwater from your downspouts. This stored water will need to be filtered again when you’re ready to drink it.
Unfortunately, if you are forced to flee your home, you won’t be able to take this water with you. You will need a way to harvest water from other sources like lakes and rivers.
Today, a question from a reader:
“Thank you for your articles and website. They have been real helpful to my family and I. My husband and I have just started stocking up on supplies because of what is currently happening in our country.
“The question I have for you is this, my husband and I are unable to purchase a survival retreat like I have seen through various research on the web. We are sort of stuck unable to sell our old house because of the housing market. We have two mortgages to pay.
“I notice that a lot of people suggest having a place to go. Unfortunately we do not have any family away from the city that would even be on board. A lot of them praise Obama. We just don’t see eye to eye when it comes to our country.
“Do you think it would be wise in case of disaster if we packed up our gear and headed to a free camping ground? Do you think other people would be there trying to rob us of our supplies?
by Survival Joe |
Food
Do you regularly go four hours between lunch and dinner without eating or drinking anything (other than water)?
If not, how do you expect to handle a situation where one can of beans is all you get to eat for an entire day?
Why not start training your liver and your body now? Stick with just three meals a day. No eating before bed. No soda, juice, or snacks between meals.
Not only will your body feel more balanced and your mind more focused, you will also eliminate a major distraction (snacking) from your daily routine.
by Survival Joe |
Food
Imagine you’re in a survival situation where food is not available. Maybe there was an earthquake while you were riding the subway. Maybe the currency has collapsed and thieves have raided your emergency supply. Maybe… okay, you get the picture.
It may take 12, 24, or 48 hours before you see another morsel of food.
Your immediate concern is to get clean water. Food can always wait.
But, for most people, going without food for even four hours feels like a nightmare.
by Survival Joe |
Food
So how will the average person handle even the first 24 hours of a food shortage?
Most people can’t go four hours without eating or drinking something with calories in it. My wife, for instance, seems to need food of some sort every couple hours. Me? I can have nothing but water for 24 hours, lift weights at the gym, and wait another 12 hours until breaking fast in the morning.
We live in a culture where people are constantly eating (or drinking) food. It may be an apple. It may be a can of Pepsi. It might be a slice of left-over pizza. It may be Dove chocolates or Hershey Kisses. The three-meals-a-day routine of our ancestors has vanished thanks to prepackaged food, microwaves, and fast food joints.
by Survival Joe |
Survival
I recently read Hatchet by Gary Paulsen aloud to my daughter.
The story is about a 13-year-old boy named Brian who crashes in the Canadian wilderness and must figure out how to survive in the wild.
Of course, he has his hatchet, but not much else.
The story follows his realization of how little he really knows about survival and how he uses his wits and a little creativity to make it on his own, apart from modern conveniences.
He has to figure out a way to build a shelter… how to find food… how to create fire… how to defend against unwanted creatures… and more.
Recently I’ve been receiving more emails from subscribers. A question that’s coming up more often is, “How long until the poop hits the fan?”
For example, one reader asks:
Good Morning Joe,
I was wondering if you had any idea (I know it would just be your hunch) how much time b4 the fan gets hit? I haven’t done anything up to this point and I just would like some kind of time frame b4 I had better be set for delays in service if not denial of service(s). I do see some very dark clouds on the horizon. Thanks for any help!
Another reader expressed her skepticism of my assertion that 2012 would be a pivotal year. She says:
by Survival Joe |
News
Apologies for not posting as regularly as I should. As you may or may not know, I make a living as a freelance writer.
I pay may taxes in January. So November through February is always a bit challenging as I’m doing accounting, saving money for Uncle Sam, and still operating my freelance business.
On top of that, we’re expecting our fourth child in late June. So there have been doctor appointments and so on as we prepare for our family to grow again.
As I was reading A People’s History of the United States of America this morning, I came across this interesting quote:
Times were hard in 1676. “There was genuine distress, genuine poverty…. All contemporary sources speak of the great mass of people as living in severe economic straits,” writes Wilcomb Washburn, who, using British colonial records, has done an exhaustive study of Bacon’s Rebellion. It was a dry summer, ruining the corn crop, which was needed for food, and the tobacco crop, needed for export. Governor Berkeley, in his seventies, tired of holding office, wrote wearily about his situation: “How miserable that man is that Governes a People where six parts of seaven at least are Poore Endebted Discontented and Armed.” (p. 40)
As the author Howard Zinn points out, the “phrase ‘six in seaven’ suggests the existence of an upper class not so impoverished.”
