Emergency Survival Skills

Amongst my many duties and responsibilities, joys and activities, I serve as a cadre member for USRSOG. We primarily train military and law enforcement and occasionally perform other functions of a more discreet nature but this week we were contracted to conduct an “Emergency Survival Skills” class at local community college. I was tasked to instruct the course and, as usual with these types of things, it was a whole lot of fun.

The Crew
We had a good mix of students from home-schooled teenagers to folks approaching my age and from a variety of walks of life. Good, normal, everyday Americans – God bless them all. Their reasons for taking the course varied from wanting to learn skills so that they could in turn lead others in the bush to concerns about the current state of affairs, to one woman who said, “I’m from West Virginia and everyone assumes I can kill a bear with a stick so I figured I’d better learn something.”

The “L” in SURVIVAL
Well, we didn’t teach them the esoteric art of Filipino stick fighting (bear module) but we did cover the basics of dealing with other more common wilderness survival situations. We built shelters, set traps and snares, built fires, made cordage and in general spent the time learning about life in the bush under less than ideal conditions.

The Weather
Fortunately for us, the conditions were ideal: after days of cold rain during which I became a wee bit concerned for the upcoming class, we had a bright, sunny, cool day to spend in the woods and fields.

I encourage each and every one of you to get out there, learn, play, and do. Learn some new skills, practice some old ones and teach others what you know.

I’ll see you out there.

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. – Matthew 18:20
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If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Canned Food Shelves

We recently experienced typical Pacific Northwest weather (cold and rainy) so I decided to do an inside project. We are redoing our pantry and I took the opportunity to modify some specialty shelves I had built a while ago.

A picture is worth a thousand words so here are pictures of shelves especially designed for storing largish amounts of canned food. I first saw these in the mid-eighties in a booklet put out by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and I have built similar shelves many times since then.

The beauty of these is that you load the canned goods from the rear (high side) and they roll down to where you pull them out as needed. This ensures you are always eating the older food first. We used to store our canned goods on flat shelves by the case but every time we bought a new case we would have to move the stuff in the back out, put the new stuff in and then reload the older stuff. This is a whole lot easier.

Each row holds about 30 cans and it is easy to see at a glance that one is short of say, black beans and add them to the list to buy when they next go on sale. These shelves are made from 1x12 planks and that allows you to put a row of normal sized cans down each side and a row of thinner (tuna) cans down the middle. We used to store a lot of tuna but we no longer eat it so we have shelves that are a bit wider than necessary. Long strips of cardboard divide each row but fiber board would work better (and be more expensive).

You can see the basic framework for the shelves (you can click on the picture and it will be very large) – just attach some 1x4s to the wall at the studs with screws. Take a straight edge and lay it at the “proper shelf angle” across the upright 1x4s and mark where you are going to place shelf studs. I originally used nails because I had no battery powered drill/screwdriver but screws are easier. When I first built them, the angle was too shallow and I had to help the cans along the shelf – the current angle is about perfect. Once you add the shelf studs to the uprights you can measure and put them at the same level on your 2x4s that will form the outside of the support structure.

For the outside, build a box out from your wall side with more 1x4s and 2x4s. The picture should explain it well enough – this ain’t rocket science. Once you have the box built you slide one shelf in at a time. Then add a screw through an upright and into each shelf to keep it from sliding out. I staggered the delivery end so that I can look straight down and see what is what.

You will note that each shelf has a lip on it to keep the cans from all rolling out. Just cut a piece of shelving about an inch high and glue and screw it to the end. I originally (because the original plans called for it) used a hole saw to bore 1.5 inch holes under each row at the delivery end “to poke your finger through to pop the can out”. Not necessary – just grab the can. Make sure your shelves are spaced far enough apart to allow the can to come out over the lip.

And he inquired of the LORD for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine. – 1 Samuel 22:10

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If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Women's Pistol Class

A local church recently contacted Viking Services LLC to teach their women a basic handgun class. It was a whole lot of fun and I thought I’d just tell y’all a little about it and show some photos from the day.

We started out meeting at the church for two hours of classroom instruction covering safety, pistol characteristics, various types, sight picture, stance, and so on. Seven women attended as students and Mo led a team of three other instructors so the instructor to student ratio was most excellent. We were originally only going to have three instructors but we are getting ready to bring another instructor on board Viking Services LLC and he was there so we could get a look at him. He did fine and you’ll be hearing about a new course he will be honchoing soon.

Mo is one our firearms instructors (just one of her many skill sets) and is our Principal Instructor for all women and children’s firearms classes. She has a wall covered with NRA certifications, has attended several shooting courses and schools, and has worked as the Primary Female Instructor at ranges in two states. She has been shooting seriously for about 25 years and has been instructing for 15 and we are happy she is on board.

Unfortunately, two of the students had to depart after the classroom portion and were not able to shoot but we will squeeze them into a future class so they get the full course. After the classroom portion we took a quick break for lunch provided by the church and then headed out to the range.

We started the women shooting from a sitting, supported position so they could focus just on proper sight alignment and trigger control. This was the first time several of the women had ever fired a handgun so we took it slow and easy. Eventually we progressed to shooting from a standing position. Each student fired about 40 to 50 rounds by they time they were done and all were shooting better when they left than when they arrived.


All in all it was a fine day and much fun was had by all. Perhaps more importantly - America now has a new group of women shooters who are confident in their ability to safely and effectively handle a firearm.

This was a basic handgun course and the students are aware there is much more to learn. Most expressed interest in receiving additional training focusing on tactics and employing their handguns in a violent encounter. Baby steps…

God Bless America!


Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. – Luke 22:36

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If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Grinders and Mills

Dried whole grains form the basis for any serious long term food storage program. Dried whole grains can also be used for medium term food storage programs at significant cost savings over more processed foods. Example – a pound and a half of corn meal costs about what? Three bucks? So for a ten spot I could get four and half pounds of corn meal. For that same $10 I can get fifty pounds of dried corn at the feed store. What’s the difference between fifty pounds of dried corn and the same amount of corn meal? A grinder and a couple hours of effort.

The example above used corn. We can see similar cost savings with flour and wheat. Around here, 50 pounds of hard red winter wheat costs $12. Wheat, properly stored (read the blog entries below – February 10, 2008 and February 22, 2006) lasts forever. Flour, due to the milling process can go rancid after a period of time so not only is it more expensive, it is also less durable. The difference between whole wheat grain and flour? A grinder.


Back to Basics
The first wheat grinder (I call them grinders but I think the proper term is mill) we bought was the Back to Basics grain mill. It cost about $60 pre-Y2K and it’s not much more expensive now. It is quite small – about the size of a carton of cigarettes. It works fine for grinding wheat into flour. Over the years, I have ground wheat for many a loaf of bread – nothing like home made bread from wheat you ground yourself.

It works “okay” for grinding corn into meal. The steel plates are adjustable – a bit, but corn is oilier than wheat and it gets clogged up at times necessitating taking it apart and brushing off the mechanism with an old toothbrush I keep for just that purpose. When milling corn one must also poke around in the hopper (I use a chopstick) to keep the corn flowing. But again, wheat grinds up just fine with no problems.


Corona
Because of the problems we had grinding corn with the Back to Basics mill we searched about for another, more suitable option until we found the Corona. This is the AK-47 of grain mills – it is tougher than woodpecker lips and being “manufactured from the finest quality cast iron” it weighs about as much as an AK. It is made in Colombia by and for people who know all about grinding corn. It costs less than $40 and grinds corn into perfect meal like nobody’s business.

I recently gave a class on grinding, milling and processing various foods and we tried to grind some wheat in our Corona. First pass through – not so good. Very rough texture. Second pass through – it was okay but not great. The Corona is for corn and I guess in a pinch wheat - but really it was designed for corn. And it does a great job with it. I love this mill.

Country Living Grain Mill
I pinched pennies and saved for years until I could finally afford this mill. It is so popular in the more serious preparedness circles that it even has its own acronym – CLGM. We bought ours from Frugal’s (link on the right over there) for around $350. They are now about $400. I also purchased with this mill the “Power Arm” and having tried using it with and without, I would advise you to spend a little extra and get one. I did not buy the chute which guides the flour into the bowl one places beneath the mill when grinding. Instead, I just tape a piece of aluminum foil to the mill and shape it as needed. Ugly but cheap and effective.

The CLGM is better – much better than the Back to Basics mill. It grinds wheat faster, it feels more rugged and it has a groove in the fly wheel that would allow one to hook it up to a belt driven system (driven by an electric motor, a bicycle, a two arm deal – whatever you can imagine and fashion) to make the grinding even easier. Is it over $300 better? I will say this – I’m glad I bought it but I would not feel slighted if all I could afford was the Back to Basics. They both grind wheat to fine flour. If you have the money – buy one. If you don’t – the first one will work for you.


Porkert
And finally we come to a real grinder. This is another “AK-47-tough” piece of equipment and this one is made in the Czech Republic and sold all over the world for grinding meat. Mine cost about $35 and came with a variety of grinding plates and sausage stuffers that hook right on. We bought it for grinding venison into hamburger and have only used it once.

Those familiar with butchering venison will know that each muscle is surrounded by fascia (“silver skin”) and let me tell you – that stuff gums up a grinder. I have been told that freezing the meat first and then grinding helps with this but when my wife and I put up a deer we put up a deer. Today. We don’t have an over abundance of freezer space to use for prepping meat to be ground. So now, when we want venison “hamburger” like for chili or spaghetti or something we take out a package labeled “chunks” and mince it with a big ol’ razor sharp butcher knife. When we want beef hamburger we buy it that way.

I suppose we could get beef at the store and grind it up for sausage but honestly, we don’t eat a lot of sausage. We don’t eat pork as a general rule either so there ya go. My buddy raises cattle though so maybe some day we will be grinding some serious burger. But until then – it sits on a shelf unused in the pantry.

Conclusion
Grinders and mills have a place in any serious preparedness minded person’s (can I just say “Survivalist’s”?) supplies. Start saving your pennies and get yourself one or two. Do not wait to buy your grain however, until you get a grinder. Get the grain right now. Today. Cresson Kearney shows us how to make a primitive mortar and pestle with a coffee can and a few pieces of rebar in his book Nuclear War Survival Skills. Heck if all you had was the grain you could grind it on your concrete patio or drive way with a brick if you had to.

But you really don’t have to, now do you? You could buy a mill instead. When you buy your mill(s) make sure you also buy spare parts. When you need a part you can pretty much be sure UPS won’t be delivering if you catch my drift…

And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number. – Genesis 41:49
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If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America