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Wolf’s Gear Review: The Coleman Folding Shovel/Pick
Another of my recent acquisitions is a little folding Coleman Shovel and Pick.
I keep in my truck and it’s small overall size and ability to be easy assembled and disassembled means that it takes up practacilly no room whatsoever.
As you can see this is a nice compact little unit that unscrews and folds up into a handy carry pouch.
It’s small size also makes it suitable for most survival situations and you could easily throw one in your Bug Out Bag without having to worry about it taking up a large amount of room or weighing you down.
The positive locking collar firmly holds the blade in either the shovel or pick configuration.
Shovel configuration
Pick Configuration
Basic Stats:
•Small carrying pouch with belt loop included
•Can be used as a pick, shovel
•Positive locking collar which hold the blade firmly in configuration
•Open length 58 cm (23″) , folded length 25 cm (10″)
•Breaks down easily to a 10″-long compact kit
All and all I think the Coleman Camping Shovel/Pick is of very good quality.
I find the compact belt size package to be quite useful especilly if you want to strap it to your Bug Out Bag, belt, webbing, etc.
If you want a small camping/hiking/Bug Out Bag shovel then this is a great package, but it you are looking for something to dig trenches with then look elsewhere.
How To Survive The 2011 Economic Collapse
Holy Koala!!
That was my reaction when I saw that the IMF has stated that we are on a collision course for a MAJOR recession/depression in the very near future.
The deadly combination of a dire European financial situation coupled with the near non-existent growth of the US markets means that we may end up falling head first into a big ol’ pot of turmoil.
Once this news started spreading the Markets crapped themselves and started falling faster than lead coated bowling ball thus adding more fuel to the wildfire.
This is a shining example of how unstable the current world wide finanical situation is.
It’s safe to say that economic disaster is now imminant, we get that.
Now more importantly: How Can You Survive It??
Step 1: Growing Your Own Food
That’s right folks, the most obvious suggestion is first.
Some of you may think that all your need to do is buy a lot of seeds and tools and then once things start to collapse you can leap from your lounge chair, plow up the backyard and have food growing in no time.
Wrong!
Do you have any idea how fickle vege gardening can be?? You make one stuff up and you can screw up the entire growing season.
If you have no experiance then believe me, you will make mistakes (hell I’ve grown veges all my life and I still make the odd screw up!).
It’s one thing to screw up when your life doesn’t depend on it, but it’s entirely different when it does.
NOW is the time to start gardening so that when you really need to, you can depend on yourself to provide you and your’s with a source of food.
So what should you do first??
Read, read, and get to work!
Got backyard with a bit of lawn?? Chuck some raised beds on top.
Live in an apartment?? Get some large containers and grow things out of your balcony.
Got lots of room for a garden?? Borrow a tiller and go nuts!!
The most important thing is to do a truckload of research and constantly read up so that you have a better chance of success.
Also start buying seeds NOW (even if it is autumn in your part of the world) and keep them stored away safely.
Seeds will most likely be in short supply once a major crisis takes hold so get in first!
Note: Only purchase Open Pollinated or Heirloom seed varieties so that you can save the seed for the next season.
Seeds cannot be saved from Hybrid varieties.
So to wrap up this section here are some keypoints to remember:
. Do as much research as you can on vege gardening via the internet as well by purchasing some good gardening books that are specific for your geographical location.
. Pick a gardening style that best suites your living arrangment, whether it be container gardening, raised bed gardening , etc.
. Only buy seeds that are Heirloom or Open Pollinated varieties as Hybrid seeds cannot be saved.
. Don’t just buy a lot of seeds, put them in a box and forget about them. Seeds tends to lose viability as time goes on so rotation is very important.
. Start gardening now, even if it is on a tiny scale.
. Work out your area’s soil type, disease issues, pest issues, etc.
. Work out which tools you will need and purchase them as required.
. Work out what varieties grow best in your area and go with them.
Part 2 of How To Survive The 2011 Economic Collapse: Coming Soon
Stockpiling Seeds For TEOWTAWKI
So TSHTF and you can’t buy vege from the store anymore???
What the hell are you going to do?????
Garden and garden well!!!!!!!
Stockpiling food such as dried rice, beans and canned goods is fine and dandy, but that is a non-renewable resource!!!!
When you eat that last can of corn, can you plant the empty can and grow a canned corn plant for you to pick more cans off of? The hell it will!
To put it simply:
- Stockpiling food provides you and your family with a limited food source.
- Stockpiling seeds and growing your own food can provide an unlimited source of food for you and your family!!
Since the dawn of time people have raised what they wanted to eat.
There is nothing wrong with stockpiling food but it appears to me that a lot of survivalists put more focus on stockpiling a limited food source, than on learning how to develop an unlimited food source via gardening.
When it comes to food production during some kind of long term SHTF situation there will come a point in time when you have to grow your own food.
To do this you need seeds.
Survival Crops can be broken down into 3 categories – short term storage, mid term storage, long term storage.
Short term storage – these are the foods that need to be eaten within a few days to a couple of weeks of being harvested. This is going to include most of your leafy greens, radishes, cucumbers, broccoli, spinach.
Mid term storage – these are the foods that can be stored for several months before they have to be eaten. This list includes squash, potatoes and onions.
Long term storage – these are the foods that can be grown in the summer time, dried and stored through the winter. This includes wheat, barley, peas, beans and corn, potatoes, turnips, etc.
It is wise to stockup on a mix of these seeds so that you have a wide variety of food throughout the year.
Now for long term storage I recommend you purchase heirloom/open pollinated seeds (preferably vacum packed) from a reputable supplier and keep them in a cool dry location in an appropriate vermin proof container.
I personally keep my survival seeds safely stored in a large, air-tight plastic container.
Lastly, it is important to note that even if you have decent stash of survival seeds, after a few growing seasons or crop failures they are going to run out.
That is why it is VITAL that you learn how to save your own seeds from your garden.
Over the next few months I plan to put up some tutorials on the site on different seed saving methods so stay tuned!
Don’t Be A Picky Eater Once TSHTF!
If there is one thing you can’t afford to be in tough times it is a picky eater.
I only really put thought into today when I was out in the garden with an old friend I hadn’t seen in years, picking a cabbage for tonights dinner.
I found a really nice sized one but some of the leaves had been attacked by caterpillars.
Now I’m used to this and the way I see it a couple of bugs can easily be blown off with the garden hose and you have a nice cabbage to eat.
My friend (who lives in an apartment complex in the middle of a city BTW) almost vomitted when I showed him the cabbage!!!!
He thought I was joking when I said that was for dinner and then started saying how he would never never eat something that had had bugs on it even if he was starving(Oh really????).
I asked him why he thought it was safer to eat store bought vege and he replied that they are clean, sterilised and safe.
WHAT……………THE…………..HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I politely informed him of the E-Coli outbreak in Europe and told him that they were all STORE BOUGHT veges that had killed people but his response was that that was a once in a blue moon event and that store bought vegetables are still 100 times safer than home grown.
I then decided arguing with him was pointless so I changed the conversation and we trotted back inside with the cabbage (which he actually ate at dinner time!!).
All this got me thinking though.
Don’t we live in such a “soft” society.
I mean if a person is gonna freak out about a couple of bugs on a cabbage imagine when something major like a famine, earthquake, eruption, gridcrash, etc happens!!!!!!
I’m pretty sure they would have to rethink a couple of their ideas about life!
One things for sure though, I’ll take my home-grown cabbage over a store bought one any day.
At least I know where mine has been!!
Growing a Survival Garden
Are you interested in growing a survival garden?
When preparing for a disaster or food shortage emergency, it’s a great way to stock up or add to your emergency food supply.
There are countless benefits to growing your own vegetable garden such as:
•You will be more prepared for a food crisis or emergency!
•You will save money, time and fuel not driving to the store.
•It’s much cheaper than buying food.
•Organically grown vegetables are much healthier.
•You will become more self-sufficient and less dependent on your local grocery store.
•Plus… the physical activity is good for you, and you just might like growing your own food garden.
You will find there’s a learning curve in growing a garden, so don’t expect perfection in one year. Take your time with it and get a good understanding of what it takes to grow your own food, and before you know it, you WILL have a great survival garden.
This is actually why it is vital you start now before a crisis. If you screw up now you won’t starve but if you do it after the crap has hit the fan then it is likely you could starve!!
Small Garden Space
•If you don’t have the option of a large space, or just don’t want to overwhelm yourself by planting a huge garden, get started by using the area or containers that you do have.
•Some ideas are: make a box (box’s) out of lumber, cinder blocks, or other materials, to frame in your growing area. If your soil is already rich and fertile, fill your box or containers with good soil.
Use your imagination here; you can even use pots or buckets in a small area, such as a patio, to grow a fairly good selection of healthy vegetables or herbs.
•If you do not have good soil, obtain a rich humus soil in bulk from a local nursery source, or buy top soil by the bag, along with some peat moss and some composted manure. (Be cautious if you use a local soil and manure source, sometimes the soil isn’t that good and the compost/manure may contain weed seeds).
•Choose some vegetables and herbs that are easy to grow, store well, and that you like to eat. You can purchase many varieties of plants and seeds from a local store or nursery.
•With a small space garden, you won’t have a whole lot of survival food to store at the end of the year, but you will get a good understanding of what it takes to store your own food. Plus, every little bit helps supply you with more nutritious and organic food grown from your own survival garden.
Larger Garden Space
•Soil and Seed necessities will be the same as above, but it will be more cost effective if you can purchase any soil additives (manure, top soil, etc.) in larger bags, or from a bulk provider such as a local nursery or farm.
•For those of you who have a larger garden area, there’s quite a bit more variety that you can plant. A larger vegetable garden will increase the work and cost involved, but can greatly reduce the need for outside resources for your food source.
•Same advise as above: Choose vegetables that are easy to grow, store well, and that you like to eat. Difference here is that you will be able to choose many more varieties to plant and may therefore need several different methods of preserving and storing your harvest.
Storing Food – From Your Survival Garden
•A cool dark room, food pantry, or a root cellar are all good places to store your canned and dried goods.
•The best option for storing most of your food is a root cellar. A root cellar can be built directly into the ground or it could be a cool damp area set aside in a basement. Either way a root cellar is an excellent way to store food without the use of electricity or other outside resources.
•Root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, turnips, beets, and onions can be stored for a number of months in a root cellar. Squash does quite well in a root cellar as well as apples, oranges and grapes.
Preserving Food – From Your Survival Garden
•Freezing: Freezing foods is NOT the best option for emergency preparedness. Freezing works quite well with many types of foods, but it does require electricity and extra freezer space to store the food.
A Note from Violet: Unlike canning or drying (dehydrating), if the power goes out your frozen food storage will not last more than a couple of days at best.
•Canning: If you are knowledgeable and have the equipment for canning (also called bottling), it is a great time-tested way to preserve food from season to season.
•A Food Dehydrator: is an excellent way to preserve your garden produce without leaching out any of the nutrients. Dehydrators can preserve most vegetables, fruits and herbs.
Purchasing a quality food dehydrator is important and will ensure the proper moisture content is left in the food before sealing and storing.
Extra Tips:
Dehydrating food is a great way to save space, and because of the low heat used to dry foods, the vitamins and nutrients are not destroyed leaving them very nutritious.
If you have limited garden produce of your own, you can purchase good quality, fresh foods from your local market while they are in season, and dry them to store.
It is all good and well having a large stock of MRE’s and canned goods but they can’t last forever and when they run out DO you know how to grow more food?
I mean you can’t exactly take a empty can, plant it in the ground and get a canned goods tree growing now can you!
It is for this reason that if you want to survive the end times then you MUST know how to grow your own food.
Unless you have been living in the bush for the past 6 months with no human contact then you should know that there is a world wide shortage of food. Crikey! That ain’t good!!!
What to know something worse?? It’s only going to get worse and worse. Look at how Australia’s grain crop has been destroyed by drought, etc. They only harvested a 10th this season of what they usually do.