my evacuation ideas

[alamoman61]

in your book under the evacuation locations it says that you should be at least 100 miles away from a populated area. this will be hard to find for most people, won't it? unlike here (south tx) most places are pretty well populated. me and my wife plan on an evacuation point located in the big ben area, which is not very populated. i know that in the book you recommend staying away from the border areas but I think if something happens where you have to evacuate illegals wouldnt be a problem. there would be no reason for them to come over.

[Kenny]

Alamoman....thanks for the comments...maybe I should have been more specific, by populated area I meant larger populated cities such as 75,000 population and more....the larger the population the further away you should be....this would not only to reduce the chance of anyone happening upon your evacuation point and cache but also you would have a better chance of having clean raw water. As for the Mexican border...I am very familiar with the Big Bend Area having lived in West Texas. I agree it would be a great place for an evacuation point,provided you have a good source of water. Most people would be surprised at the game in the area. As for the illegals...again I agree they will not be a problem after an event....the problem I see is before the event. I would be hesitant in camping in the area and very hesitant in caching.

[airdrop]

well two aways to look at it run until your all alone waiting for raiders to show up or form a group to be less appealing as a target , more guns better defence. A bug out location off the road and hard to see might be good near or far.

[The Founder]

In the book I go into what I think would be the best plan which is having an evacuation point that has supplies cached. ideally there will be a number of other like minded folks in my Group. Not only is there strength in numbers but people need people and the more people in your Group the more needed skills there will be available.

[paprikafaa]

There is a place that is (a) near a couple large cities, & (b) completely isolated in Northern Florida/South Alabama. That is our evac point. If you can find it, great. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, look at a map. Nobody goes there. It has no cellular reception, it has no Google Maps, or MapQuest or Google Earth information. It's terribly green in the summer & winter.
One thing about this point, however. In cases of a crisis, climb a tree. I think if you look, you'd be able to find one. Mosquitoes are a menace in this part of the world. They carry pestilence & disease (such as malaria & Eastern Equine Encephalitis) so avoid them at all costs. That is why nobody goes there. They don't know of the magic plants that grow in the area, what they look like, smell like & what they do. One is called camphor. It's an amazing insect repellent. It is not edible. Garlic grows in plenty there, as well. It is edible.
Cached goods are not possible in this area, as there are a great number of wild animals that live in the area (more food) so the best thing my group will be able to do is carry most of their goods with them. That is why skills are so important. Also, the use of laminated books for those members of the group that do not have the skills, with detailed diagrams, should help.
One person cannot carry enough for survival; 2 can distribute the weight evenly, but it will weigh heavy; 3 can carry enough to begin a community; 4 can save dozens, 5 can save hundreds. Any number of people beyond this in the group, properly fitted with backpack & equipment, can carry enough supplies to safely and effectively feed, shelter & protect a number of people equal to 5 times their original number for a year. Whether you should is another matter entirely, & based upon your judgement as a group.

[The Founder]

Sounds like you guy's have a plan working....that's great....I was born and raised in Louisiana and spent a good bit of time in southern Alabama while in the Coast Guard...it is a good location for an evacuation point....climate is great and you can grow anything....lots of game and fish....like you said the only real draw back is mosquitoes and maybe snakes....but then again every place will have it bad points...really what you are accustomed to is best....I am located in the central Rockies and of course we have different problems...although there are locations up here that have terrible mosquito populations....the mosquitoes in this area are small in size compared to the monsters you have there......the camphor is a great tip...I have put it on my list of plants to add to the web...as for caching supplies...what we recommend is caching such items as building materials and tools....hammers, nails, saws, screening, tar paper....that sort of stuff.....these buried in a water proof container such as a barrel will last forever...we also cache #10 cans of dehydrated food, clothing, ammunition, fishing supplies and etc.......the laminated instruction sheets are also a very good idea....since you are planning on hiking in have you guys considered maybe a small hand pulled two wheel cart. these would be simple to build and would allow one person to carry in a lot of supplies....another advantage would be you could have these packed at all times.... Kenny

[paprikafaa]

I got bored. I'm busy knitting a sweater, writing a book about knitting sweaters, and running an online yarn store. I also have a few other projects I'm working on such as a crocheted nylon hammock, a set of knit & crocheted bags, and other boring girly things. I bet you have no idea how this has anything to do with survival, but I'll tell you: I can harvest fiber from a cat, spin it into chiengora singles, ply that singles with itself or other singles and make yarn, knit that yarn into a sweater, and clothe myself and my family with a cat. I can also grow a bucket garden with cotton plants in it, pluck the cotton when it's ripe, comb all the seeds out of it, and proceed with the spinning, plying, and knitting as described above, and clothe my family with a garden. I think I'd like to write an article or two about survival. (oh, yeah, need to get that book finished too)

[The Founder]

Sounds like you keep busy. Tell me how long will it take you to gather enough cat fur to make a sweater. I like to feature one of your tutorials on the Preparing to Survive site. Knitting and gardening would both be good subjects......

[becky]

Being a cat lover and a beginning knitter I just had to respond to your post. How long does it take to collect enough cat hair to make a sweater? What kind of cat do you have, or do you have more than one? Do you mix cotton and cat hair? This is a fascinating idea, hope I'm not bothering you with these questions! It seems it would be very useful in a survival situation where yarn is not readily available. I think an article on the subject would be very interesting on our website.
Good luck on the book, too!

[paprikafaa]

Having multiple cats helps. I'm not really picky about the color, so it usually ends up being a bit of a muddy brown color, or tawny-ish. I don't keep a cat right now, as I recently moved from Texas to Alabama, and had to give my 3 babies away (to a loving home with other animals) but the best kind of cat to have is a thick-furred cat that has a history of shedding a lot. This kind of cat can produce about half a pound of fur every month. (That's a lot of fur) Brushing the cat (or cats) every day helps. They enjoy the time with their human, and they enjoy the feeling of being brushed. I keep a couple dog brushes for this purpose. I also brush my friends' cats as well, so gathering enough cat fur to make a sweater depends on how often you brush and how much you get each time. The color of the cat also tends to affect the color of the fiber, as a calico can produce a light tawny color, or black, white, and/or orange for example. I use a drop spindle for the nonce, as I haven't got the materials with which to make my own spinning wheel. Those are kinda expensive too, ranging from $200 to $1000 each, depending on the manufacturer. The drop spindle take a while to get used to, and spinning fine singles on one can be difficult. Adding cotton, whether carded with the chiengora or plied with it after spinning, is definitely going to improve the yarn, and reduce the amount of chiengora you actually need for each sweater. Also, a quick reminder, chiengora is a protein fiber (animal fiber, like wool) and tends to felt when washed in hot water with agitation. I'd say that you need about a pound of chiengora (cat fur) for every medium-sized adult sweater. A pound of any fiber is a large amount. Check out Peace Fleece ( www.peacefleece.com/Chinny%27s%20Challenge.htm ) for an idea of what a pound of wool looks like. It's a comparable amount to what you'd have to have for chiengora. On average, spinning a slender singles (of which you were to use to make a 3-ply worsted weight yarn) you'd have to have about the same amount of yarn as the bobbin would hold. Roughly a thousand yards, I'm guessing. That really does translate to about a third of a pound, though it doesn't seem like it when you're looking at a pile of fiber and a drop spindle. It takes me about an hour to spin 3 ounces of fiber into a singles. It fills up my drop spindle, but that's because my drop spindle is a home-made wonder. (some days I wonder why it works, others I wonder if it'll ever slow down) It's inconsistent. (and I'm self-taught, so I'm sure I'm doing something wrong)
Cotton, seedless & combed, makes the most luscious fiber for spinning that I've ever used. (it's better than dog fur, cat fur, & wool, in my humble opinion) It's simple to turn this soft and amazingly easy fiber into THREAD. Not just your average thin singles, but thread that must be plied to make sock yarn. I love working with cotton, knitting and crocheting, because of it's versatility. Cotton, unlike animal fibers, doesn't have to be washed and fulled before working with it once it's plied. You can take it from the boll to the needle (or hook) and then wash it and it becomes something amazing in no time. It never felts, it helps make animal fibers washable when it's carded & spun with the other fiber, it's great for plying with other fibers, as it seems to want to do whatever the other fiber is doing, and it dyes like a dream. Animal fibers usually have to be prepared before dyeing, to allow the fiber to accept the dye. Cotton comes in several colors and lengths, and can be dyed any color of the rainbow if it starts out white or beige. Cotton can go into a bleach bath and go from a dyed black to grey, then after rinsing, it can go back to a bleach bath and become almost white. Bleach does damage the fiber a little, but not as much damage as bleach has on protein fiber (like wool).
My cats love being brushed, I have enough cotton seeds from my harvest this past fall to grow a good little garden for next year, and I doubt I'll ever run out of fiber to play with already.
I know I mentioned that I've used dog fur as well. This is also called chiengora, but I'm not entirely too fond of the animals (they're cute, cuddly, and soft, but the only ones I really have a use for are the muzzled or bark-less [Basenji] variety, or the ones so large they look like small horses and scare people with their imposing stature [Irish Wolfhound, for example]) and I don't own one. I have had a friend give me the fur from a recently-shaven Shi-tzu. That was fun. The staple on that fiber was about 6 inches long. The fur had an unmistakable scent of dog, though, and had to be washed several times immediately after I finished plying it. I think I washed my hands about a dozen times each day while I was spinning and plying it. I just don't like the smell. That's kind of sad to say, since I must admit my olfactory nerves haven't worked very well since I had an unfortunate encounter with a skunk (the car lost, but so did the skunk) when I was 16. Poodle, shi-tzu, Afghan hound, any dog with long fur really would work for the purpose of gathering fiber (unless it's one of those rope-furred dread-lock dogs) and spinning it, but I think I'd prefer to have an inside dog, the kind that gets bathed about once or twice a week, and brushed daily. Welsh Corgis tend to have thick fur, and shed a lot, which means they require brushing a lot (more fiber) and they'll produce about a pound of fiber every month. My mother-in-law has one, and he makes enough grey fiber to clothe a child, top & bottom, every other month. If anyone reading this happens to have a dog, these are the best kind to have for fiber and clothes-making.
I'm a bit of a prolific writer, & if I have provided entirely too much information, please, somebody say something. If you need/want more information, I'll be happy to provide it.

[The Founder]

This is all very interesting but way over my head....it would however make a interesting subject for an article.......

[paprikafaa]

I'm really sorry. My Da made me learn everything I could get my grubby little paws on, from gardening and anatomy to knitting and weaving, all the way through how to act like a dumb blonde in person, and fool most people. He also made sure I learned how to kill, clean and cook my own meat, tan the hides, and turn the horns & hooves ( and whatever pieces of tendon and fat I couldn't use) into glue for later use. He asked me to study art & architecture, history, and other varied and interesting subjects. I've learned how to make my own complex meals with little to no ingredients and cooking equipment. I've learned how to make my own cooking equipment. I learned how to knit, crochet, and spin in self-defense. It's a sit-down job. I recently learned information that I have to hide from Da for at least another 5 years, unless the world falls apart in 2012 like some people think it will. Then I'll have to hide it for 5 years from that date. At least. It's called Dales knitting, and they walked and knit. YEEP! Scary thought.
If you need an article on anything, you just let me know. I'm really sorry for being so verbose. You may find that you'll need someone in your group who can do all these things, and if that is the case, that person does not have to be female. My Da thought it would be in my best interests to learn martial arts, knife-making, sharpening, how to get out of a fight as well as how to end one (violence optional), bow-making, arrow-making, spear-making, and the making of all kinds of hunting weapons. The best way I can explain it is that he was determined to teach me, and have me learn on my own, everything. Only everything. Nothing more. I'm not even close to achieving that, but for the purposes of this forum, you can count on me to give you what I have. Knowledge does no one any good unless it's shared.