Congrats to our winner!

Is this fabulous or what? It turns out that our very own reader, Maria S., won second prize in the Safecastle Freedom Award!! How cool is that??

You might remember that Maria wrote a piece called Preparedness for Young People. Don and I both agreed that this was an excellent piece, and we selected it to send to the Safecastle folks for their final round of judging. Opened to a much wider public for voting, Maria won second place! Her prize is an Excalibur 9-tray dehydrator.

Maria and I emailed back and forth this morning, and I told her one of the reasons her essay was so strong was it addressed a very thorny topic in a very practical way. It also differed from the more nuts-and-bolts approach many of the other essays took. All in all, we couldn't be prouder of Maria.

While there is no way we could take even a modicum of credit for Maria's win, I will say this: Rural Revolution's entry was up against some of the biggest prepping blogs out there. Fifteen blogs sponsored essays, and to have Rural Revolution's choice get second price is sort of like a tiny town's high school football team competing against the big urban schools - and showing well.

At any rate, we couldn't be prouder of Maria, and offer her our heartiest congratulations.

Safecastle Freedom Award update

We received an email from Vic Rantala, owner of Safecastle.com, regarding our participation in the Safecatle Freedom Award essay contest. His email is as follows:
______________________

Hello again all. Once again -- your participation in our Freedom Awards competition is greatly appreciated.

I have posted all finalists' creations at our blog here.

We are asking for public comments/votes of approval until Jan. 20 on those entries. Readers / viewers that come to our blog can register their favorite finalist submissions by entering comments under those specific entries in my blog. Those comments will go a long way toward helping us decide the prize winners from among those articles and videos that are posted there.

Please do me (and your finalists) one more favor and post a link at your site to this finalist vote competition--our own little American Idol, if you will.

Stay safe in the New Year!

Vic Rantala
Owner, Safecastle LLC
www.safecastle.com
______________________

So let's everyone go visit Mr. Rantala's blog and vote for the best essay!

SafeCastle Freedom Award Finalist Selection!

Sorry for the delay in getting this out. What with the holidays, the complete sweep of the Lewis family by the norovirus, and preparations for a sales event this upcoming weekend, we've been either flat on our backs, in the bathroom, or standing behind a sander. Nevertheless, we have selected our winner for our part of the Safecastle Freedom Award and forwarded that selection to Safecastle LLC for inclusion in their contest.

I know it's pretty standard practice to claim that it was a tough choice. But in this case, that was true. We received fifteen entries. Patrice and I re-read all of the entries and we each chose the three that we thought were the best, based on clarity, content, and best fit for the Safecastle requirements. We made our selection completely independently of each other, and on New Year’s Eve we put our lists together. Each of us was prepared to defend our choices, assuming that we'd have multiple selections in common. After all, we've been married for 21 years, worked side by side for most of those years, and have very similar ideas of preparedness and self-sufficiency. So it would be natural that our choices would be similar.

In a pig’s eye.

In point of fact, in each of our three choices, there was only one common essay.

So without further ado (any idea what an "ado" is? And why we should be happy we don't have any further?)… the winner of our portion of the SafeCastle Freedom Award Essay is:

Actually, before we get to that I'd like to... (OWW! Okay honey, geez! Try to build a little suspense...)

The winner is:

Preparedness For Young People

We'd like to thank everyone for participating in the contest. Originally, we we're going to award ten essay writers with the coveted Rural Revolutionary tankard:

But since we enjoyed everyone's entries, we've decided to send everyone who participated a Rural Revolutionary tankard by way of thanks. I'll be emailing each of you soon as I can to get a mailing address. Delivery will be in about six to eight weeks, as I still have to make the things and I'm kind of backed up at the moment.

If you submitted a contest entry, please send your name, your shipping address, and the name of your entry to:
shrewsburydon@hotmail.com

Again, thanks and cheers to our winner,

Husband of the Boss

One last entry in the Safecastle Freedom Award

2011 Safecastle Freedom Awards -- a "New Media" Survivalist Contest

We have time to squeeze in one last entry in the Safecastle Freedom Awards writing contest. We'll read through the entries and select a winner to send to the Safecastle folks. The rules for writing are posted here. The Safecastle website is here.

Just FYI, the contest prizes were modified due to poor economic conditions. You can see the modifications here.

But our prizes remain the same! To wit:

10 Rural Revolution laser-engraved tankards for the top 10 entries!

Now to our last contestant...
__________________________

Modern Day Pioneer by Jennifer

Unlike traditional careers, a survivalist does not need to attend one university course to become skilled. The training required is not even the same from one survivalist to the other and the reasons why one has opted to become a survivalist range drastically from the worries of a rogue government to preparing to handle any natural disaster. Most people have food, shelter or clothing but few appreciate how these items are obtained. A survivalist has learned how to take life to the next level by being able to provide the basics and more.

What is unsaid is that one can survive a catastrophic event and thus become a survivalist. This is how life changed for me, as I became a survivor that augmented my life to one of survivalist. The transition was not overnight, but of several years in the making. I became a survivor not as a result of defeating all odds and living through a natural disaster, but of something so small that aside from my husband and children no one else’s lives were impacted. You see many do not realize that a survivalist prepares for anything to include something so miniscule that it did not make a ripple in the world aside from the impacted persons.

I came in the back door and crept in slowly. This is why I know that anyone can become a prepared survivalist, anywhere, anytime, any way. The cliché sounds hollow but it is true, if I can do it so can you. Time slowed to zero speed as I lived through the crisis and I was able to think years in the future with panic, dread, fear, and worry. We lost our very secure life and went from being suburbanites to nothing in a blink. Well more like on a thousand foot of highway off the beaten path in Nevada. Auto accidents happen every day all over the world and that is how I launched into living the life I live now.

I did not begin without first doing a few things. I knelt down and prayed. I knew I was completely broken, afraid and downright scared. Once I prayed, I rolled up my sleeves and planned. Until January 1, 2005 I never considered any life aside from the one of climbing the ladder of success. After January 1, 2005 my perspective drastically changed. I first decided if my loved ones were alive then I could go on. In fact, I sometimes would gasp for air in a panic and have a few times over the years as my reality was that my husband had died. Well that is what I was first told when the young officer came to the front door. The initial reports were wrong and Bill survived but he sustained neck and back injuries. As a result of that day my family is completely and forever changed.

Because of the accident we had to adapt to living far less than half of the income we had previously enjoyed, and without any benefits. So my lists making days began. I wondered first, what can go and realized we had to go. We moved as we could no longer afford to live in a neighborhood and region of the country that was so expensive. Secondly, we wanted to be able to have a small piece of land, as I recalled my childhood and growing up in rural Ohio and knew we could garden and ‘put up’ foods. I had no idea what that meant, but decided that if we wanted food to continue to feed the family that I would learn.

As a survivalist in training I discovered the public library. I was so used to buying a book when I wanted information I had forgotten that the world is truly a book away, and everything was free for the reading! I checked out many books and began my journey into becoming a self-reliant survivalist. I started first reading about how to sew things for the home, and this project lead to the next and the next. I have learned how to can, dehydrate, pickle, butcher, make soap, shampoo, deodorant, household cleaners, dog food, feed sheep, goats, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and of course build simple sustainable buildings for our farm. I guess now is a good time to mention I am barely 5 foot tall.

What this means is that in any situation I am armed with something that will not be taken away in floodwaters, or lifted away in a tornado. I armed myself with the ability to survive any situation by learning how to grow, preserve, and put aside food for the future. I armed myself with skills seemingly lost a generation ago, as I opened my yard up to chickens and learned everything those that settled our nation knew. My research truly has been a hands on field study and I am no longer afraid of tomorrow. I’ve found myself reflecting upon those sturdy pioneers that settled the great American west in the 19th century. Often the settlers were alone and had to improvise for every need they had, and I realized that in a few short years I had become like those that have walked before me. The realization was one of confidence but more of humility as I really appreciate the effort it takes to be self-sufficient.

I confess that coming in the back door as a survivalist was not my choice, but I am forever grateful that I was shaken into the common sense of preparing without losing my husband of now almost 24 years. As I sit and type my thoughts on being prepared, becoming a survivalist and living life as a prepper, I must calmly remind anyone who is new to this idea, that all is well. Start small, read as much as you can, build up what you can do and you will have taken your survival to the next level, and for that I say “Welcome Aboard!”

One more entry in the Safecastle Freedom Award

2011 Safecastle Freedom Awards -- a "New Media" Survivalist Contest

Here's another entry in the Safecastle Freedom Awards writing contest. We're trying to get them all posted by the end of tomorrow, then we'll submit the winner to the Safecastle folks. The rules for writing are posted here. The Safecastle website is here.

Just FYI, the contest prizes were modified due to poor economic conditions. You can see the modifications here.

But our prizes remain the same! To wit:

10 Rural Revolution laser-engraved tankards for the top 10 entries!

If you'd still like to send in your original essay or video on self-sufficiency, survivalism, or prepping -- there's still time!

Now to our next contestant...
__________________________

Preparedness for Young People

“I’m fifteen years old and I’m worried about the future, but my parents don’t seem to notice how bad things are getting out there, and I can’t convince them.”

All over, young people are waking up to the precarious state of the world in which we live, yet are still living at home under their parents’ authority, and those parents do not agree that it’s important to be prepared. So I am writing this article to you, young people who want to prepare yourselves. What can you do to be prepared at this stage of your life?

I’ll start by telling you what preparedness means to me. Preparedness is being adaptable and resourceful, keeping oneself and those who are precious to one safe and happy.

I suggest to you that whatever your plans are, they should include your family. We need our families and they need us. So realistically speaking, your first option should not be to grab your bug-out bag and disappear, leaving your family behind to face whatever comes. Your family members can be your greatest assets, even though they may not look like it right now, and you can be theirs.

If you are hitting a brick wall when you talk with your parents about preparedness, it could be because they do not think “normal” people are prepared, that it’s only for weirdo extremists. If that’s the case, tell them the government wants them to be prepared! Show them the website ready.gov. It’s sponsored by the Federal government and explains why and how to prepare. It’s a nice, mainstream, non-weirdo-extremist source of information.

Take every opportunity to learn survival skills. Learn to light a fire, to pitch a tent, to hike through a valley without leaving any sign that you passed. Learn to break camp in silence. Learn archery. How do you find a teacher for skills like these if your parents are not interested? The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are wonderful programs for learning things that you can keep with you always, in your head. No scout troups in your area? Getting a little too old for that? - Get a Boy Scouts manual, it has the same instruction you’d get as an actual scout, though you’ll have to practice on your own. Then there are wonderful books out there to teach you more. Search “how to become an outdoorsman” on Google and you’ll find books, on-line courses, even college extension courses to teach you.

Make sure to involve your parents in this. They should know what you’re doing, and who you are doing it with. Set their minds at ease by being up front with them so that they don’t fear for your safety. It’s what we do, we parents; we fear for our kids’ safety. It’s hardwired into us. But if you tell us what’s going on and we don’t feel like you are sneaking around or tricking us, we feel much more at ease.

Once you have gained skills, see if your parents will allow you to teach them. Offer and see what they say. Your family’s financial resources are probably already committed somewhere, so try to suggest ideas that do not require a big outlay of funds, like a day spent hiking at a nearby park, with everybody carrying part of a picnic lunch, to start things off.

In the survivalist world, you will hear a lot about stockpiling food against future scarcity. It’s one of the easier ways to begin preparation and is where a lot of people start. But your funds are limited, and you do not have the right to insist that the family set aside a chunk of the family food budget OR the storage space in the home for food preps.

Here are some things you CAN do. First, change how you eat. If you are saying “This family really needs to eat more rice and beans because you can store them long term,” but you are consuming all the snack foods your parents can bring home, and you complain when nobody puts more soda pop in the fridge and you have to drink it warm, you are sending mixed messages. If you are asking for and eating fruits, vegetables, and, yes, rice and beans, then you are showing that you are willing to make changes.

Teaching people works much better if you show them how to do things and not just tell. So show that prep style food can taste good. Try making a meal of Spanish rice and refried beans. I’ll get you started: In a pan with a lid, mix 1 cup of rice, ½ cup of salsa and 1-1/2 cups of water. Put on the lid and turn on the heat to medium first, then down to low in a few minutes when the steam starts coming out. Meanwhile, in another pan, mix 2 cans of refried beans with a little bit of water and heat it up. Warm up some corn tortillas (or better yet, make some yourself, but that’s a lesson for another day). When the rice has cooked for about 10 minutes, take the lid off and give it a stir. If most of the liquid is gone, turn off the heat and put the lid back on for another 3 minutes or so. If there is still quite a bit of liquid, keep the heat on for another few minutes and check again. When it’s cooked, serve up the rice, beans and tortillas with some more salsa. This is a tasty, wholesome meal, and all of it can be made easily with foods that most preppers consider good storage foods. Next week, try another meal that you can make that’s delicious, healthy and prep friendly.

Once you have gained your family’s confidence, they may be more willing to allow you to make some choices on what food the family buys at the grocery. At that point, you can suggest buying larger quantities of foods to save money. Teach your parents to store the food properly (if it goes bad and is wasted, it was not a good deal in the first place).

Another area of preparation is your career. You have a lot of choice in what you do for a living as long as you keep your options wide open as a young person. There are not too many careers I can think of that will be completely useless after “the end of the world as we know it” - maybe politics! - but certainly some are going to be more needed than others. People will always need medical care, homes, food, and good water. They will always need to learn, and they will always need beauty to inspire them. Think in terms of what you can do that will improve other people’s lives as your career, and you will always be needed.

I’ll wrap this up with a five-part challenge for you. Each of these is a useful preparation tool. My challenge is for you to find:

• One place you and your loved ones agree to meet if there is a crisis, in case your home is damaged or compromised
• Two sources of clean water that do not depend on turning a tap
• Three ways to start a fire using just what you have on your body at any time
• Four kinds of food growing wild that you could obtain within an hour’s walking, gathering or hunting time
• Five different routes to get home from your school or place of work

Sometimes the world looks like it could fall apart tomorrow. But chances are, it won’t; people have been thinking things can’t possibly get any worse for centuries, yet time continues on. In other words, be ready for the worst AND the best. You may be around to have a career and a home and a family. You may even be around to see your grandkids. So while you are thinking of how to be ready should the power grid fail, or for there to be no food available at the stores or for martial law to be declared or for pandemic or any other disaster you can imagine, keep doing what you need to do in case it holds off for a year or two or five or more. Learn all the skills you can, and practice them. Take the ACT or the SAT and apply for college. Get a summer job and save some money. Become an excellent driver. Be healthy. Exercise. Have fun. Keep yourself and your friends safe. Not one of these things will hurt you if society goes down the toilet - and each of them will help you if it doesn’t.

You will be 18 soon and then your choices will open up wider. Until then, do what you can within the bounds of what a young person can and should do within his or her family constraints. Learn. Your sharpest tool can be your mind.

Yet another entry in the Safecastle Freedom Award

2011 Safecastle Freedom Awards -- a "New Media" Survivalist Contest

Don had been in charge of posting entries in the Safecastle Freedom Awards writing contest, but he's been super-dooper busy lately so he forwarded the entries to me. We need to have all entries posted by the end of the year, then we'll submit the winner to the Safecastle folks. The rules for writing are posted here. The Safecastle website is here.

Just FYI, the contest prizes were modified due to poor economic conditions. You can see the modifications here.

But our prizes remain the same! To wit:

10 Rural Revolution laser-engraved tankards for the top 10 entries!

If you'd still like to send in your original essay or video on self-sufficiency, survivalism, or prepping -- there's still time!

Now to our next contestant...
__________________________

Water, Water, Everywhere? Options for a Secondary Water Source by K.M.

You don’t need to be familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to know that clean water is a basic necessity for healthy human life.

Many of us depend on our municipality or rural water district to provide water to our homes. Where these are not available, each home may have its own water well.

But what if municipal service was interrupted? What if the electricity to run the pump in your well was suddenly cut off? How would you meet your basic water needs if your primary water source was eliminated?

The oft-repeated rule of thumb is that each person needs one gallon of water per day to survive. Most people adhere to this rule when preparing a 72-hour kit or stocking a storm shelter for their families. But what if water service was disrupted for longer? There’s no way to store enough water to sustain a typical family for an indefinite amount of time. And that one-gallon-per-day rule only accounts for drinking water. If a real, large-scale emergency happened (think national) and basic services such as water and power were offline, you would need a backup water source.

If you live near a lake, river, or even a small creek or stream, that is one option. The water will need to be filtered before drinking, cooking, or washing dishes. Depending on what you suspect might be in the water (for instance, chemicals from an industrial facility upstream), you may even want to filter water before use in a garden. There are many options for filtering water, and I leave it to the reader to do his own research.

If you live in a highly populated area, consider that most of the people near you will utilize that same lake, river or creek. How long will that water source last? Are there people farther upstream (or downstream) that will be counting on that water, too? And without services like sewer and garbage pickup, what will get thrown into that water?

If you’re confident that you can adequately filter any water collected from a surface source, you can also augment it with captured rainwater (filtered for consumption, of course). Cut off the bottom portion of your gutter and set a barrel or other collection container underneath it. You’ll be surprised at how much water a roof sheds during a good thunderstorm. And you’ll be happy for the reprieve from hauling water up from the creek!

If you live in an area where groundwater is accessible, another option is a well with an electricity-free pump. Both hand-operated pumps and solar pumps are available. Solar pumps are the more expensive option, of course. Dedicated solar panels can be set up for the pump, or in some cases, you may be able to wire the pump to solar panels on your house. However, most solar-operated pump packages do not include a battery, which means you’ll only be able to operate the pump when the sun is shining or the solar panels have not yet lost their charge. Furthermore, solar panels must be kept clean (and in good repair) in order to maintain high performance.

Hand pumps are more economically priced, for obvious reasons. But they are not necessarily the lesser of the two options. Water is available from a hand-pumped well any time, day or night. Some pumps have the option to adjust the “stroke,” or how much pressure is needed to operate the pump. A smaller stroke means less physical force is necessary, so children or elderly people would be able to operate it. A larger stroke means more force is needed, but it also produces more water per stroke. Hand pumps typically come in two sizes: shallow-well and deep-well. If the depth to groundwater from the surface is less than 25 feet, you may be able to use a shallow-well pump, at a significant cost savings compared to a deep-well pump.

In many areas, a permit is necessary to drill a well. You will need to make inquiries with municipal as well as state authorities where you live to see what is required. Typically, though, less regulation is placed on wells designated for landscape, cattle or irrigation use than on wells designated as a primary drinking water source.

Groundwater may appear to be “clean” at first glance. But contaminants at the surface can leach through the soil and enter the groundwater. Additionally, some naturally occurring minerals and metals—arsenic, for example—can be harmful to humans as well. A good idea, after installing a well, is to collect a water sample and take it to a certified lab for testing. Before doing this, you might want to do some research on the geology in your area. Pay attention to what elements are naturally occurring. Also, look for scientific research conducted locally by the USGS or area colleges and universities. You may find information on naturally occurring contaminants, as well as any man-made debacle that might have affected the groundwater where you live. Armed with this knowledge, you’ll be able to make an informed decision about what to have the lab test for.

As you might expect, it’s not cheap to have a well drilled. (It’s possible to drill your own well, but not easy). Depending on the local geology and the depth to groundwater, expect to spend $4,000 or more. Also, consider if there is access to your property for the drilling equipment (is your back yard surrounded on all sides by other homes?), as well as whether you want a drilling rig driving across your manicured yard. Even the concrete in your driveway is probably not rated to support a 20-ton (or heavier) truck. But then, yards can be repaired or re-landscaped. Even concrete driveways can be replaced. In a world without basic infrastructure services, a secondary water source is better than money in the bank.

Another entry in the Safecastle Freedom Award

2011 Safecastle Freedom Awards -- a "New Media" Survivalist Contest

Don had been in charge of posting entries in the Safecastle Freedom Awards writing contest, but he's been super-dooper busy lately so he forwarded the entries to me. We need to have all entries posted by the end of the year, then we'll submit the winner to the Safecastle folks. The rules for writing are posted here. The Safecastle website is here.

Just FYI, the contest prizes were modified due to poor economic conditions. You can see the modifications here.

But our prizes remain the same! To wit:

10 Rural Revolution laser-engraved tankards for the top 10 entries!

If you'd still like to send in your original essay or video on self-sufficiency, survivalism, or prepping -- there's still time!

Now to our next contestant...
__________________________

Anyone Can Start Prepping Today by Lynette

If only I had been prepping those 15 years instead of just dreaming about it. Maybe then I wouldn’t have failed so miserably when I finally owned my own property. Now that I live the prepper’s life, I understand how much I could have been doing while I still lived in the city. So what can city people do to prep? Just about anything they want to.

The most important tool in prepping is knowledge followed closely by experience and equipment. In our society, we purchase everything but know little about how to provide these things for ourselves. Prepper’s have an inner need to learn all we can in providing for ourselves and to prepare for The End Of the World As We Know It. TEOWAWKI may never happen to the whole world at once, but it certainly happens on a small scale all the time. If your home burns down and everything familiar to you is gone, your world as you have known it to date has just ended. Major disasters can level whole neighborhoods creating TEOWAWKI to large groups of people.

If you find yourself in a position where you’ve lost everything, your knowledge is all you have left. No matter where you live you can gain knowledge. Once you’ve learned it, practice it. Experience takes you to a whole new level of understanding. Part of prepping is accepting you can’t do it all by yourself, it will take many people and skills to help in an emergency, so anything you contribute is valuable.

Prepping can be as simple as learning how to cook or bake without electricity, though, you will learn that ‘simple’ is a relative term. You can train yourself on open fires, Dutch ovens, solar ovens, a wood stove or an earthen stove. Then if your neighborhood is out of power, your family will still be able to enjoy a nice meal.

It’s never too early to learn how to grow your own food. Get yourself a flowerpot or dig up a corner of your yard and see what you can sprout. Gardening requires knowledge of the nutrients, light, temperature, soil and moisture needed for different types of plants. Even a small garden will provide you with a world of information. Sunflowers, for example, come in many sizes, are beautiful, fun to grow, a great food crop and easy to harvest and store.

Storing food is an amazing science. There are many methods to learn; cold house storage, root cellaring, canning, dehydrating, salting, pickling and even brewing alcohol. Some foods need to be stored in a warm dry area, and others need cold and damp.

When it comes to livestock, many cities allow small livestock in the back yard: rabbits, poultry and bees to name a few. You don’t need to move to a rural setting, many suburban areas have property zoned for livestock. Raising livestock in small quantities can teach you all the basics. Are you a horse lover? Do you realize how important horses will become if we don’t have gas for our tractors or transportation? By the way, learn how to compost that manure because it’s currency when dealing with gardeners and it’s great for your lawn too.

Hunting is a perfectly respectable sport no matter what you may hear otherwise. It’s also far more complex than it may first appear to a novice. You need to understand each species behavior in order to track them down with different weapons and ammunition required for different types of animals. Many hunters are also weapons collectors, which provides protection for your family. So you get four great benefits in one hobby - hunting, collecting, protection and food; seven benefits if you count butchering, meat storage and cooking. This is an excellent example of how everything you learn and every item you acquire adds on to the whole picture.

Nobody likes the idea of washing clothes by hand, but a washboard and clothes wringer are only meaningless until you need them, at which point they become priceless; as do items such as manual clocks, rain water collection containers, matches or lighters and pots for use on open fires.

Metal working? Sure. There’s always a need for metal tools and repairs. Learn how to work metal the old fashioned way with a forge. After 20 years as a metal smith, my husband still loves learning new techniques.

Pottery is fun, interesting and useful. You can learn how to dig up clay from the ground and use different types of soil. Build your own small outdoor kiln with earth and learn how to make beautiful pottery as our ancestors did.

Communication is something we take for granted today, but in an emergency when standard communications are down, we will all be flocking to those who do have it. Ham radio operators, old-fashioned CB radios, and even simple long-range walkie-talkies will be in big demand. Of course, you may need alternative sources of energy to operate these devices, so maybe there’s another avenue for you to investigate.

Own a boat? How is it powered? In some emergencies, boats are the only vehicle we can use to rescue people and to travel. Your boat can also help fisherman feed people (and you). Building a boat would be invaluable knowledge to have, and a fun hobby for a craftsman. Speaking of craftsmen, how many of you have non electric tools?

As you look into doing things on your own, the more you will understand how little you know. You could learn to sew without electricity. Learn how to identify different types of rocks and their uses. Extracting iron ore from a rock would be an impressive thing to see even in today’s modern setting. Learn to purify water, build your own tools, make your own glue, tan your own leather or weave your own baskets. You can buy raw wool and learn how to work it, you don’t need to own the livestock. Learn to identify or grow types of plants useful in the production of cloth and how to process each. Learn how to farm fish in a tank or small pond and feed your family in the process. What about first aid? Make your own medicinal oils and tonics from herbs. Did you know honey, sugar or salt can hold off an infection on an open wound? Are you catching on? Nobody can learn it all, we each have to pick and choose what to work on through our own interests, but all knowledge is useful.

Contrary to modern thought, recycling wasn’t invented by man, it’s been the norm since the dawn of our planet. Prepper’s are some of the best recyclers around because we are learning from past generations when recycling was necessary for survival. When butchering, use the fat of the animal for cooking, lighting or soap, the hooves for glue, and the bones as nutrients in the garden after the dogs are done with them. Nothing goes to waste. Gardening requires composting old plant matter to improve next year’s garden soil. We know the benefits of all types of manure in growing our food. Even paper trash can be used for heating or fed to the worms to make compost. Excess worms are fed to the chickens or used for fishing. The ash from our fires makes lye for our soap and yet even more garden nutrients.

Without electricity where will you get your light? Candles and oil lamps work great. Did you know cooking oil or lard can be used for light? What about making your own tin or glass lanterns? On top of that you could learn how to make wicks for each type. How about making your own glass from sand and even the forge to heat it?

Start with what interests you most, there’s no wrong direction. Anything you learn now will serve you and your loved ones in ways you can’t even imagine. You may even stumble upon a hobby that makes you some extra money in the process. The more you research, the more you’ll learn, so give it a try and see where it leads you. I guarantee you’ll never regret having the knowledge when you need it most.

If TEOWAWKI happens even on a small scale, there will be people needing all kinds of help and you won’t be the person panicking, you’ll be the one working on your area(s) of expertise to provide aid to others. Doing something when you feel like you have nothing helps you to feel a little bit more human and gives others hope. Even if you’ve lost everything, the knowledge you’ve gained will help you start over. If you know how to start a fire with sticks, no disaster can ever take that away from you. With prepper’s, knowledge is one of our greatest tools for survival. It’s also security, empowerment and a great way to make friends.

Another entry in the Safecastle Freedom Awards

2011 Safecastle Freedom Awards -- a "New Media" Survivalist Contest

Don had been in charge of posting entries in the Safecastle Freedom Awards writing contest, but he's been super-dooper busy lately so he forwarded the entries to me. We need to have all entries posted by the end of the year, then we'll submit the winner to the Safecastle folks. The rules for writing are posted here. The Safecastle website is here.

Just FYI, the contest prizes were modified due to poor economic conditions. You can see the modifications here.

But our prizes remain the same! To wit:

10 Rural Revolution laser-engraved tankards for the top 10 entries!

If you'd still like to send in your original essay or video on self-sufficiency, survivalism, or prepping -- there's still time!

Now to our next contestant...
__________________________

What Does It Mean to Me to be Prepared?

I was born and raised in the Oakland bay area. Talk about a rat race. I now live in rural Arkansas on 5 acres and the only thing I would trade it for is more land here locally. My daddy was a truck driver when I was a kid and always hauled off the docks in the bay. When the longshoremen went on strike it was like the depression for us. We had no money and no food. We would stand in lines at the food pantries to get some food. My mother made soup from bones she got for free at Safeway as "dog bones" and produce with bad spots on it that the store was throwing away. That convinced me as a child that when I grew up I would always keep extra so that my children would not go without. I taught myself to can food, make bread, cheese and everything else under the sun. My motto is if they (the factories) can then I can…. Also I do not want to eat something I can not pronounce…

I look around and with the way the world is going I feel for sure that there is some kind of disaster around the corner. Because I grew up a trucker’s daughter I also understand how fragile the chain is from fields to factories to grocery store shelves. My husband was raised a businessman’s son. They lived in hotels ordering from room service and restaurants. So my way of thinking was a huge change for him. I wanted some land so we got 5 acres with a nice doublewide on it that was a HUD repo and was in a mess. We remodeled it doing 95% of the work ourselves. Now we have a really nice house for a tenth of what it would have cost us to buy it all new and do it the “easy way”. He learned to cut tile and hang sheetrock. The deed is free and clear with no mortgage. My car is a 14 year old jeep with over 200,000 miles on it and yes it breaks down but you know what? I spend less on parts than I would on a car payment and I refuse to pay a mechanic. We are debt free and like it that way.

I can everything I am able get my hands on whether it is excess produce from the local food pantry, what I grow in my ½ acre garden or what I pick up on sale at the store. When I make soup I make it 5 gallons at a time and can what we do not eat for that meal. Even for thanksgiving I used the turkey bones and made 18 qts of turkey soup for the cabinet. Our society has turned into a lazy society, buying what they want for dinner the same day. They would just throw out those turkey bones instead of getting the very most out of it. After I made soup then the bones went out to the dogs. Between the dogs and the chickens (I have 13 hens and 1 rooster) no scraps go to waste.

My kids and husband where unsure when I made the switch to “No convenience food in this house.” But then they figured out that I can make those cool frozen burritos, breakfast sandwiches and hot pockets and put them in the freezer just the same. Yesterday I made potato chips from real potatoes and BBQ beef sandwiches on homemade buns. The BBQ I had canned myself. I culture my husband’s buttermilk because I refuse to pay $1.57 for a qt of buttermilk at Wal-Mart. I will be glad when we can get a cow and I can quit buying milk and cheese all together. But for now I can buy a gallon of sweet milk for $2 which means I can have a gallon of buttermilk for $2 instead of $6.28. I make my own mayonnaise for pennies compared to the $4 they want for it at the store and you know what? there is nothing in it that can not be pronounced. Hot pockets and burritos cost to make a tenth of what the stores charge. Breakfast sandwiches are the same way. I still make pumpkin butter which is pretty much a lost art since Libby’s came out with “pumpkin pie mix” in a can. The USDA decided it was “unsafe” to home can pumpkin butter at the same time the store bought stuff came on the market but for years people (my family and people from church) have been eating my pumpkin butter and no one has ever gotten sick. It is wonderful on toast and so easy to make a pie with.

I know that if everything shuts down my family will not go hungry. They may not get what they want but they will have food in their tummies. That will be more than probably 90% of the rest of the area will have. My step daughter complains that her mother only buys what she needs for the day on her way home from work and that there is nothing ever to eat in the house. Those kinds of people will be hungry. There is peace of mind in knowing that whether it is a complete economic shutdown, civil war or a natural disaster we will be much better off than the people living in the ticky tacky houses in the subdivisions and running their rat race in a maze. I am already at the finish line of my maze and they will be lost in their own.

I have oil lamps, candles and extra kerosene I say let the lights go out…. I have books a plenty, let the cable go out… I can hunt and grow a garden, let the stores be empty… I have a sewing machine and lots of fabric, who needs a mall to buy clothes… I have a gun and extra ammo, LET SOMEONE TRY TO TAKE IT AWAY…

So what does it mean to be prepared? It means that my family will be warm, fed and safe. I know that no matter what the world throws at us we will survive better than most of the population. We depend on ourselves and God and no one else.

2011 Safecastle Freedom Awards

2011 Safecastle Freedom Awards -- a "New Media" Survivalist Contest

Our latest entry

First off, let me apologize to those of you who have submitted entries for the tardyness of my posting them. My only excuse is that I've been running like a chicken with its head cut off for the last couple of months. I will now get those unposted entries, in the order received, posted over the next week or so.

However, although I suspect many of you have already heard, the prizes were modified by the folks at Safecastle due to poor economic conditions. You can see the modifications here:

While we agree that times are tough, we want you, the Rural Revolution faithful, to know that we are still offering our own contest prizes, complete and unedited. To wit:

10 Rural Revolution laser-engraved tankards for the top 10 entries!

There is still time to get your own wisdom on display for a chance to win such a valuable prize! So (forgetting entirely about what a slacker I've been) submit your original essay or video on self-sufficiency, survivalism, and prepping.

Now to our next contestant:

From Jennifer Henry,

I think most of us live our lives as expected by others and very few view life through open eyes. The man that became a doctor because his parents wanted him to be; the girl that married a rich man because her gold-digger of a mother told her to; the woman that stays with the man who beats her because everyone else thinks he's perfect. People live in the cities or the suburbs because that's what everyone else does. They have 2.5 kids and 2 cars and host birthday parties with the bouncy bounce and clowns and the custom cupcakes that cost $5 a pop but they're so darn cute they just had to have them for their cutesy-wutesy wittle 1-year old birthday girl. They sign up their children for every sports activity that's available and spend the next 18 years shuttling kids to practice and games and leaving no time in between for family time.

I used to want that life. I thought it was the way to live. I'd sigh with envy at my BFF and her husband living in a great house in the suburbs and always having somewhere to be. I am ashamed to say that I even went so far to tell her husband-to-be not to marry her and that I was interested in him. Thankfully, he didn't listen to me and married her anyway. They had a big house, nice cars, and what I thought was the perfect life. Little did I know, they were in debt, he was an alcoholic, and they have health issues aplenty. People were always dropping by the house for impromptu dinner parties and the young children were always around people drinking and smoking. Their door never seemed to be locked because there were constant guests at all hours.

He came from money, but it was tied up in rental properties and when his father died, the will stipulated that he couldn't touch the money until he was 35. That didn't stop them from spending, though. She had lots of work done on herself at his expense. They went on many vacations and overseas trips. Fancy clothes and private schools. Toys for the kids that never got picked up and I once saw my BFF sweep up a room and everything swept went into the wastebasket-- including toys. She went out of town once and came home to a sink full of dirty dishes and complained to her husband about it. His response? He grabbed the huge trash can that sits on the curb, dragged it in the house, and dumped every single dish, glass, pan and utensil into it. Then he went out and bought new sets of dishes, pots and pans, and utensils. Just so he didn't have to wash them.

Meanwhile, I married a man I fell in love with and we lived in a small apartment on the other side of the county. We spent our days off scouring the thrift shops for old things we liked and slowly built our life together. We decided that we wanted to live in a house with a bit of land instead of in the suburbs like everyone else we knew. The Realtor we talked to laughed at us when we asked for a house with 5 acres for $130,000. When he realized we were serious and stopped laughing, we were already out the door. We eventually found a house with a little more than an acre on a quiet country lane which required us to drive 45 miles one way to work. Unfortunately, we put ourselves into debt with several credit cards, buying furniture and a new car. Things we thought would make our lives happy and if we didn't have them, we would be miserable.

We started a small garden and I learned how to can rhubarb-strawberry jam all by myself. I quit work to raise our children without daycare. We started to really enjoy our country life and being so far away from my BFF and her suburban life, I stopped craving her lifestyle. The few times we went to their house for dinner, we hated to leave our country home and return to the hustle and bustle of the city. It was bad enough to have to go back and work there, but to visit on our days off? My eyes opened to the dark side of BFF's life and the problems that her husband had with alcohol and her spoiled children. I knew I didn't want my children there and so visits became less frequent.

After 5 years of country living, we wanted more. More land, more distance between us and the city. More US. We found a house with 14 acres in rural West Virginia, far enough to make us happy, not so far to make our family sad. Since moving here, we have grown to 4 children, added chickens, and a larger garden. I have learned to can much more than just jam and feel so proud to know that I can feed my family just on what I have put away in the pantry. My husband quit his job shortly after moving here, taking a lower-paying but closer to home job. We were able to pay off all our debt, which was over $50,000 in credit card debt using the money from the sale of our little house and now we live debt-free. What a feeling that is!

Our children are growing up knowing exactly where their food came from and help us with the care of the garden and chickens. We hope to add goats and a pig to our small homestead. They play outside most of the time, and their toys are picked up and put away after playing. Our clothes are mostly from yard sales and thrift stores, but you wouldn't know it if I didn't tell you. We still drive the same cars we bought 11 years ago that put us into debt in the first place. We are living the life WE want to live, no one telling us how or where or why. Our home might not have the latest style, but our furniture is comfortable and our house is clean. The dishes are old because we like vintage dishes and they are clean and put away. We don't go on lots of vacations or trips not just because money is tight, but we honestly don't feel the need to go anywhere. I did my traveling before I got married, as did my former Navy husband. We were ready to settle down when we met, to start our family and live.

We got rid of our TV service-- the commercials drove me crazy. The kids always begged for whatever toy was advertised, another example of being told what you're supposed to want. Since canceling the TV service, the kids no longer beg for the latest new craze and have become content with what they have already. We still watch movies on DVD, but under our supervision. We also have no video games except for some old ones we break out on rainy days and we all play together as a family.

When my BFF and her family come for a rare visit, her kids come armed with portable TVs, handheld video games and laptops. They wrinkle their noses at the food I serve asking where the pizza or chinese takeout is. They make fun of my oldest girl and her "pet" chicken. They are grossed out at eating a radish plucked from the dirt and spend most of their visit sitting in the van with their electronic toys. After they leave, my children ask why BFF's kids did not play with them. I struggle to answer. I decide to ask if they wanted to play with BFF's kids while they were here and their answer? "All they wanted to do was watch TV." Well, there you go.

As I sit and write this, my children are outside playing on the swings, chickens around their feet. My husband is home and preparing lunch for us. I have clothes on the clothesline, swaying in the wind. How can I not want this life? This life is so much richer than the life I used to want. Keeping up with the Joneses is too much work, too exhausting, too expensive and emotionally draining. I don't envy my BFF anymore. I'm not sure if I can call her that now, I haven't seen her in over a year. Our lives are far too different.

The last time my family visited, our children came home with attitudes and their behavior was very much like her spoiled children. It took a couple days for our children to return to normal. Her oldest daughter, 13, was telling me that her best friend's boyfriend had a birthday coming up and she wanted to buy him a bracelet as a gift, but had no money. The best friend asked the daughter for money who then asked her father for it. My mouth dropped when he forked over $100. The daughter then told me that her best friend better give her a good gift when her birthday rolls around because she spent a lot on hers. What are they learning here? Easy come, easy go? Give and expect something in return?

I am content to live the life we have. It's simple and uncomplicated. It's not always easy and sometimes I think how nice it would be to just buy what we want on a whim, much like BFF. But we appreciate every single thing we have. We work hard to put aside money for things we need and nothing goes to waste. Often, by the time we have enough money saved up, we find we don't want it anymore. We make do with less and truly don't miss all the stuff that society says we are supposed to want and have. We enjoy our family time at home, getting our hands dirty in the garden, raising chickens for meat and eggs, and chopping wood for heat. I wouldn't trade this life for anything, not even BFF's.

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Thank you Jennifer.

Just so you can see where you are in the rotation, I still have entries from:

Joseph
Kris

PS. If you sent something and I don't have you listed, let me know at shrewsburydon@hotmail.com

A new blog sponsor!

As you may have noticed, a few days ago we posted info on a writing contest sponsored by Safecastle LLC. on the subject of self-sufficiency and prepping. As a result of our readers’ interest (and click through count!), we were then invited to become a participating blog in the contest.

While all that was being set up, the owner of Safecastle wrote and said that he really enjoys reading Rural Revolution and asked if he could become an advertiser. Naturally we said yes.

So we would like to extend the warmest possible welcome to Safecastle LLC as the newest member of our select advertisers on Rural Revolution!

By select, we mean that we continue to partner only with companies and individuals whose products and professional behavior fit with the guidelines listed on our advertising page. We've actually turned down several potential advertisers so far, not because their products weren't good or because they weren't nice folks, but because they just didn’t 'fit' with our core philosophy.

This is definitely not the case for Safecastle. They are a respected and established provider of products directly applicable to Preppers. From ‘safe rooms’ to all the stuff you'd want to put in them, Safecastle is a web leader. They also have a unique product that I already purchased (and no, I didn't get a ‘deal’ because they're an advertiser; I paid my own money because it's simply too good to pass up). I'm talking about their Buyer’s Club which they describe as follows:

"In a nutshell, Buyer’s Club members pay a one-time $29 fee to join (click on the "recruiting image" link in the right column of every store page). That's a lifetime membership that never requires another renewal fee ... ever! As a return on that small investment, members receive a 20% discount on most everything in the store all the time (exceptions are clearly noted), free shipping to the lower 48 on everything in this store all the time, and special incentives, freebies, and promotional opportunities as they become available. (Be sure to watch the scintillating ‘About Us’ video.)"

This is truly a great service. And with just a couple of orders (even if you're as poor as we are), it pays for itself.

Safecastle has a BBB rating of A+ and a reputation for service that is second to none. So please everyone, if you're looking for self-sufficiency products, give them a try. And when you see their prices, mentally subtract 20% and shipping costs and you'll see why I joined the Buyer’s Club. (I've got my eye on a couple of Marine radios and a night scope. Time to start a new spare change jar.)

Welcome Safecastle LLC!

Contest!

From the messy desk of the Husband of the Boss:

Well...this is exciting.

As you may recall, we brought to your attention a new contest sponsored by Safecastle LLC. Specifically the contest asks for essays and video entrys on the subject of preparedness, self sufficiency and survivalism. We also provided a link so that you, our esteemed readers, could get information on the rules and the fourteen blogs where you could send your entries.

Apparently you folks went there and took a look. In fact, a LOT of you went there.

Yesterday we received an email from the folks at Safecastle. They had noted a lot of traffic coming from here to their blog. They also mentioned that they had originally planned for fifteen blog associates rather than fourteen, and would we like to take a place as the 15th?

We said yes.

So we are now officially a participating blog in the Safecastle Freedom Award 2010-2011 contest.

Once again, you can see their rules here.

Since you can now submit your essays directly to us, we have a few addendums to those rules. NOTE: We won't be editing any submission. We'll be posting your entry exactly as we get it. So make sure you cross your t's and dot those i's. If you are uncertain as to your composition abilities, have someone with those skills act as your editor.  (It's what I do. Fortunately I married her so as to keep my editorial expenses low.)

Another thing. While there are some great prizes for the contest as they stand, there can only be a few finalist winners (one essay and one video from each participating blog). Being the "politically correct" type of people we are, we just don't think that's fair. So we will be selecting the ten best submissions to Rural Revolution and awarding each of those submitters with a Rural Revolution laser engraved wooden tankard. And in keeping with current public school educational standards, each tankard awarded to our ten semifinalists will say "Winner." (Actual design of the laser engraved tankard to be determined down the road a' piece.)

Cherry tankard (no laser engraving)

Folks, you are the reason this blog has seen the success that it has. And not to put any of the other participating blogs down (since I read most of them and enjoy them), we here at Rural Revolution have a somewhat different take on preparedness and self-sufficiency then a lot of the other blogs out there. We live the way we do because we think it's the best way for us, regardless of what is coming down the pike. And from what we hear from a lot of you, you agree with this philosophy.

So. Want to write about the best kinds of ducks to raise or the best way to raise them? Goat keeping secrets? Building a better cistern? We'll post them. Want to make a video about why prepping is Godly? We'd love to see it. New to the whole prepping scene and want to tell us about your successes (and failures - we all have them)? Send it in! Got an idea for a better chicken tractor? (Yeah, I'm not real sure what it is either.  I'm guessing it's a D8 with a processing plant that rolls over the flock and leaves cleaned, plucked, and wrapped birds ready for the freezer.) Let us post it.

So. Here we go. Send in your pieces and let's start the discussion.

Notice to our Great Readers

Husband of the Boss Notice:

Hi Folks. I just wanted to bring this to your attention.

The folks at Safecastle are hosting a prepper-self sufficiency essay and video contest.
The prizes look pretty impressive and I know a bunch of you-all are certainly experts in your fields as well as excellent writers. You will need to check out the rules here to find the specific requirements, a list of the blogs you submit your entry to, and the list of possible prizes.

Be really nice if one of our readers (or more than one) wins a prize. So check it out!