OFG-HowToFreeYourself.svg

prepper

Doomsday Bunker – book review

Bradley Garrett’s tour of bunker sites and the people who own them is a snapshot of the way the most paranoid react to the pandemic.

A “bunker mentality”  means a refusal to look around and change opinions in the light of changing facts. However, it is possible that the rational response to the current state of the world is to retreat into …. a  bunker?

In his book Bunker: Building for End Times, (buy it in UK)Bradley Garrett, an American “experimental geographer” and “urban explorer”, visits people whose response to the proliferation of threats these days by digging in.

In Switzerland, says Garrett, there is bunker space for 8.6 million people. And North Korea “is the most bunkered society in the history of the Earth”.

In America we meet families rushing to buy access to underground bunkers at Fortitude Ranch, a growing community of doomsday preppers. Established a few years ago by former air force intelligence officer Dr Drew Miller, who has a PhD from Harvard in operations research, the 50-acre ranch is guarded by watchtowers and barbed-wire fences. It stockpiles tinned food, face masks, loo roll, antibiotics and – this being America – guns and ammunition. Their experts track “trigger events” – cataclysmic incidents that might spark a collapse of society.

At various other bunker sites, a handful of families even decided that it was the right moment to descend underground. Most emerged after just a few weeks, once they realised that Covid was not causing the sky to fall. But their willingness to abandon their day-to-day lives at a moment’s notice is evidence of a “second doom boom”, says Garrett.

“In 2020, we’ve had a taste of what it means to have our lives upended,” says Garrett from his home in Los Angeles.

“We’ve built a society now that is very dependent upon international trade and fragile supply lines.”

We have long harboured a morbid fascination with how our world might end. As early as 1200BC in Cappadocia, in what is now Turkey, the Hittites carved subterranean shelters into the sides of volcanoes. In the Roman city of Pompeii, a wealthy resident chiselled a hidden chamber beneath his villa, which was preserved by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD. In the 19th century, the dark writing of HG Wells reflected a fear that new technology might usher in the end of life as people knew it.

But the first real “doom boom” arrived in the Sixties, when President John F Kennedy urged Americans to prepare for the threat of nuclear armageddon by building fallout shelters in their gardens. The British government also built bunkers to protect officials in the event of a Soviet nuclear strike. The most famous is Burlington, a 35-acre complex 120ft underground in Wiltshire. Containing 60 miles of underground roads, the site could accommodate 4,000 people for three months, including the Cabinet. …

Read More »
Community

Visiting Outback Prepper + Budget Prepping links

With one phone call, I’ve accidentally ended up in a survival caravan fit out for a nuclear holocaust. But within days, I’m converted, and perhaps you should be too.

It’s pitch dark in a way you only get in the bush as I arrive at the property of a man I met an hour ago.

“This is my base”, he says. “I have everything you need.”

Peering through the darkness, I realise he means it. There’s chickens, a veggie garden that’d put WholeFoods Market to shame, solar panels and septic tanks. And then, “what’s in the basement?”

“Six months of fuel and some basic weapons.”

“Weapons?!”

“Just basic ones.”

Suddenly, I realise what this charming bush cottage actually is.

It’s a “bug out” — a well-equipped base that survivalists keep ready for when “TSHTF” (the shit hits the fan).

And this man? He’s a “prepper” — someone who’s turned “prepping” for disaster into a way of life.

He had needed someone to drive his second car from Perth to the desert, where he lived, deep in a national park, for half of each year — a friend asked could I help him?

I couldn’t resist the lure of a new escapade — my flight (and shower) would have to wait a little longer.

Now, I’m faced with the vehicle we’ll drive 17 hours into the outback tomorrow: a floral-patterned 1970s caravan, full of supplies for a nuclear holocaust.

And I’ll be living out of this caravan-cross-bunker for the next 10 days.

I lift the bed to stash my bags underneath. There’s two months of tinned food and an axe.

I open a cupboard beside the bed. An avalanche of toothbrushes and dental floss rains down on me.

Crouched on the caravan floor, gathering up the toothbrushes like an apocalyptic “pick-up sticks”, I stare up at the prepper, waiting for an explanation.

“Gum health and heart disease are linked,” he says. “No-one ever thinks about dental floss. You’re holding apocalypse gold there.”

In my Gollum-crouch, I grab the floss and try to imagine a world where that could be “my precious”.

I’m not convinced it’s a world I want to live in. But in a few days, that all changes.

Aussies are getting ‘prepped’

“Doomsday prepping”, or “survivalism”, is on the rise.

This is despite “preppers” being widely met with ridicule or fear (as the , prepping reality TV shows “are full of people lovingly cradling their weaponry, which in many cases is frighteningly extensive”).

Preppers make themselves easy targets, between the YouTube tutorials on how to make a crossbow from a ski, and the graded sequence of Mary-Poppins-meets-Bear-Grylls survival bags.

If you’re a minimalist prepper who’s just read Marie Kondo, you might get by with just the BOB (“) and the INCH (“). And yes, preppers have more acronyms than the public service.

As we dragged our catastrophe-caravan to the …

Read More »
Community

Apocalypse Then

surivalcar* Hundreds of survivalists and ‘Preppers’ gathered in Salt Lake City last weekend to forestall the Apocalypse

* Shown underground bunkers, tactical weapons and an armed $2,500 Motoped Survival Bike

* Taught how to store food and dressed as zombies for special contest

Hundreds of survivalists and “preppers” were gathered in the Salt Lake City suburb of Sandy for the first PrepperCon, last friday, featuring demonstrations of underground bunkers, food storage and armoured vehicles.
Scott Stallings, one of the show’s founders, says the event was inspired by the success of ComicCon and is amping up the entertainment with the hope of attracting younger people who may not be enthusiasts of food storage and other survivalist strategies.

Among the expo’s main events is a zombie apocalypse costume contest and appearances by actors from the AMC hit show “The Walking Dead.”

During the two-day expo, visitors were shown specially-equipped underground bunkers, learned new methods of storing food, tried out solar powered flashlights, knives of all shapes and sizes, hi-tech gadgets, food storage units, first aid supplies and armored trucks. There were also live demonstrations and a survival cooking contest.

Motoped employee Ken Stone showed off the Motoped Survival Bike, described by the company as a ‘tactical blank canvas’ with a 500-mile range, 200mpg efficiency and a heavy-duty universal rack.

THE MOTOPED SURVIVAL BIKE

The Motoped Survival Bike is described as something in between a ‘hard-core downhill mountain bike and a fully-fledged motorcycle’.
It can be pedaled or motored without stopping to make a change, and can ‘go where stand alone bicycles or motorcycles can’t’.
Unit weight: 132 pounds
Range: 500 miles (805 km)
Efficiency: 200 mpg (1.2 L/100km)
Top speed: 24mph
Engine Displacement: 49cc / 125cc
Max Horsepower: 49cc – 2.41 HP @ 7500 RPM / 125cc – 7.78 @ 7500 RPM
Front Suspension: Adjustable DNM USD-8 Forks (8″ travel)
Rear Suspension: Adjustable DNM Burner – RCP2 Shock
Seat Height: 35″ (Adjustable)
Cost: $2,499
Source: Motoped
The $2,500 bike can be pedaled or motored without stopping to make a change, and can ‘go where stand alone bicycles or motorcycles can’t’.
But with a top speed of 24mph, could it outrun zombies?
The company certainly appears to think so. ‘This bike was built for the creative survivalist. Apply your favorite gear and escape with your life,’ an online description of the vehicle reads.
Following PrepperCon, Miller, 15, told KUTV that she thought the expo had been ‘really cool’ and that Salt Lake City was a ‘gorgeous’ region.
‘I enjoy meeting the fans and getting their perspective on the show,’ she added.
The North Carolina teenager was joined at the event on Saturday by her co-star, Theo Crane.
Celebrity survival expert Mykel Hawke, a retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer who is best known for his role on the reality TV series ‘Man, Woman, Wild’, also made an appearance.
On its website, PrepperCon describes …

Read More »
Community

A Peek into an Organic Prepper’s Pantry

quinoa

Having extra food put aside is something I have talked about quite a lot here, it’s a very important insurance policy for you and your family. Most lists and suggestions for what foods to store tend to be less than nutritious, of course having that is better than nothing. Here are ways to have some more nutritious foods in your pantry and in your stockpile of foods.

Read More »
Community

Be the Hero, Not the Victim

This pairs well with my “Prepping on a budget” series, this is about the “what if” scenarios, it’s something all of us should do more often, not just once and then forget about it. Going to the store and purchasing a few bags of beans and rice to put up is a good thing, but don’t let that be the main thing or (gasp) the only thing you do to prepare for potentially hard times. And remember, hard times don’t have to be on a global or regional scale to affect you, it can be something as simple as losing your job, having your hours cut, getting hurt, having an unexpected bill… It’s important to be proactive about your situation, and the more you plan ahead, the better off you will be in the event of something unexpected happening.

Read More »
Community

Off-Grid living in the UK

How many people are living off the grid in the UK?

In 2010 Off-Grid.net estimated there were 100,000 living off the grid in the UK. We think it has increased since then to 200,000, mainly due to the increase in mobile off-grid living – in vans, boats cars and buses. But also due to a growth in the number of off-grid communities and the increasing size of each of those off-grid communities.

Types of off-gridder

There are many reasons for living off-grid – the most common is wanting to live an ecological life – reducing your carbon footprint- – but there are also survivalists and preppers who think they are protecting themselves against the coming social collapse. Then there are those who live this way because they have no choice – they are living off-grid to save money. Even if that is not the primary motive you are likely to save money when you cut out Utility bills and remembering that off-grid properties are likely to be cheaper to buy or rent than connected properties. The environment will supply you with energy, heat, water, and food.

It may seem daunting as you contemplate setting out on your off-grid life – but remember: over a billion people already live off the grid around the world. And their challenges are probably far greater than your own.

But let’s not underestimate the problems.

UK Off-Grid Living, Living Off the Grid in the UK – Which is the Correct Phrase & What does it all mean?

In the UK we tend to say “off-grid”. In the USA they prefer to say “off the grid” except when talking about technical energy infrastructure arrangements.

It makes a huge difference where you choose to go off-grid – every part of the planet is different and UK off-grid living is vastly easier than, say, off-grid living in Alaska where the extreme cold magnifies the problems. There is an initial cost of setting up and it is greater in the UK than for example going off-grid in India. And it is hard work – in general, the less you pay, the harder the work. But if you intend to live off the grid in the UK, there are no insurmountable obstacles.

You will be adding to your workload when you run your own power supply, water supply, and deal with your own waste. You may miss the urban support systems – but in exchange, you will be spending more of your time in nature than you did before stepping outside the system. You find you feel closer to nature, as the weather on any given day will affect your life much more directly, in terms of your renewable energy production as well as the temperature.

You may also decide to produce your own food – but that is not necessary, and can add an extra back-breaking load to an …

Read More »

How to go off-grid in Canada

One of our readers, called Craig, posted these tips as a comment on LandBuddy but they deserve a wider audience.

Some simple hints if you are going to come here to Canada.

1) The cheapest land is in northwestern Ontario or maritimes. Forget about BC unless you really want to get way off the beaten path like on the Cassiar highway.

2) Be prepared for winter. Yes it is cold here half the year except for areas in the okanogan of BC on on the coast. You might like the constant rain though being from England. Kamloops is a neat deserty place but the ecomony kind of sucks. Okanogan nice but expensive.

Read More »

Survivalism vs the media

Cody Lundin, the survivalist author, spent two years spent living in a brush shelter in the woods where he slept on pine needles and cooked over an open fire, becoming disenchanted with his new role in the elite class of television survivalism presenters.

It seems like Hell may have broken loose after Cody issued a bizarre letter at the end of the first week filming his new series, Dual Survivor, for Discovery Channel.

“I have little if any control over how Dual Survivor is ultimately concepted, produced, and edited….” Lundin tells a small group of survivalism fans.

Read More »

off-grid.net

Join the global off-grid community

Register for a better experiencE on this site!