The Survival Weekly Dispatch - Volume 10, Issue 36

National Preparedness Month - Week 4

Sep 20, 2023

Hey everyone, thanks for checking out the newsletter this week. I spent much of the weekend in Escanaba, Michigan, attending an event called the Grind-In at Bark River Knives. Some of you may remember me talking about this in the past. Basically, twice a year (June and September), people are invited to go to the shop there and make their own knife (or knives) using Bark River’s materials and equipment. They have plenty of staff on site to help at each stage of the process and you’re encouraged to do as much, or as little, of the work as you want. Plus, they feed you incredibly well. They’ve been doing this for 20 years now and it is a blast. Many of us don’t even make knives, we’re just there for the camaraderie and companionship. It was a lot of fun reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones. Of course, I came home with several new knives, too, most of which were purchased at my dealer of choice, DLT Trading.

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Prepper Tip: For short-term emergencies, you don’t need a pallet of freeze-dried foods. Just stock up on the food your family normally eats that also has a long shelf-life. Things like canned goods, dry pasta, and even some snack foods will do just fine. Focus on the foods your family likes to eat that are shelf-stable and require little to no preparation beyond perhaps heating. Yes, if people get hungry enough, they’ll eat just about any foods, even ones they previously found unpalatable. That said, it makes very little sense to invest in foods nobody in the home likes to eat, even if it is a great deal at the store.

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I let Random (dot) org choose the subscription giveaway winner – congratulations to Jerry B.! I’ve sent off an email and am waiting for a response to find out which title Jerry would like, Prepper Survival Guide or Backwoods Survival Guide. We had over 40 entries for the giveaway. Thank you to everyone who entered.

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Prepper Tip -- First aid supplies are great; first aid training is even better. Seek out classes with the Red Cross or other providers. Learn how to use tourniquets and other ways to stop the bleed. It only takes one life saved to make all the effort worth it.

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On the work front, here’s what I’m doing this week.

Edit layouts for Backwoods Survival Guide 25.
Edit submissions for Backwoods 26 and Prepper 21.
Finish an article for Field & Stream.
Schedule Patreon posts.

So, a pretty light week, all things considered. I’m perfectly fine with that, too.

Outside of the work that pays the bills, the big project right now is gearing up to redo the siding on our garage. I’ve never done siding before, so this will definitely be a learning experience. We have the vinyl siding on hand already, along with most of the other supplies. I still need to pick up a few things, then we’ll get started tearing off the old stuff and making any necessary repairs. While I’m sure a pro could have this whole thing done in just a few days, it’s probably going to take us a bit longer.

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Check out this great ad the folks at Ulysses Press put together for me. It’ll be appearing in an upcoming issue of a magazine to be named later.

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Prepper Tip: Your pets depend on you, don’t let them down. Make sure to stock up on food and other supplies for them, as well as account for their water needs. Don’t overlook pet medications as well as first aid supplies, and know how to use them.

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Cover reveal! This is Backwoods Survival Guide 24.

It will be out in stores in about two weeks. Here are just a few of the topics you'll find inside:

Solo hiking
Search and Rescue
Magnet fishing
Growing food from kitchen scraps
A primer on homeschooling
Flint knapping
DIY throat medicines

Find it wherever magazines are sold, or subscribe here.

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Prepper Tip: Situational awareness means you’re paying attention to the world around you. This means getting your eyes off your phone when you’re out and about. While we often think of this as applying to detecting threats like muggers, situational awareness will also help you avoid things like traffic accidents.

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We stuck to a fairly short hike this week, given that I’d just made a 4.5-hour drive home. It was still a nice walk, just not as long as I think either of us truly wanted. But, man, I was beat after spending most of the weekend on my feet, then making the long drive back.

Survival Tip – Healthy Diet

One of the very best preps is improving and maintaining your health and physical fitness. To be fair, I say that as a guy who is about 50 pounds overweight, though I’m working on losing it.

A struggle with weight is won or lost at the dinner table. The better your diet, the better your health. It isn’t just how much you’re putting into your pie hole, but what you’re putting into your pie hole. Whole foods, meaning foods that have gone through a bare minimum of processing, are generally the best for you. These include:

Fresh fruits and vegetables
Nuts
Seeds
Whole grains
Fish
Meat
Eggs
Legumes

Processed foods have had ingredients added to them and/or have undergone some sort of modification, such as bleaching or had additives tossed into the mix. The end result is something that likely contains fewer nutrients than it did in its original state. That said, there’s processed and there’s processed. This is where reading labels comes into play. Canned fruit that contains no added sugar isn’t a bad choice. Nor is microwavable packages of brown rice that has nothing added to it. Breaded chicken nuggets dug out of the freezer section, maybe not so much.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that all processed foods are evil and are to be avoided at all costs. I’m enough of a realist to know that most people don’t have the time, energy, or budget to exist exclusively on whole foods. Let’s face it, eating healthy can be expensive. Everything in moderation, as they say. Getting takeout pizza and wings once in a while isn’t a horrible thing. But balance it by eating healthy most of the time.

Obviously, all of that flies out the window in the wake of a grid down scenario or some other disaster. Most long-term storage “survival” type foods aren’t all that healthy, if we’re being honest. Many of them are high in sodium, for starters. But, if you start out healthy, or at least healthy-ish, you’ll be ahead of the game if you are forced to rely on less than stellar fare for a while.

Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide

For those new to my little corner of the Internet, I am the Editor in Chief for both Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide magazines. Here are the covers for the current issues that are available in stores right now.