By Kellene Bishop

Many moons ago (I think nearly 11 years) my hubby and I decided to go to Walt Disney World for a delayed honeymoon. As a part of our Land/Cruise package, we were given about $300 in the form of a gift card that we could purchase any of our food with as well as any items that the restaurants sold.  We did such a good job in budgeting the use of this card while we were there that we found ourselves still with about $100 left the night before we were to board on the cruise ship. In essence, our gift card would be useless and expired as soon as we left the park. So, my husband, in one of his rare less-than-brilliant moments, decided that he wanted to use the leftover credit on some Cinderella steins at Cinderella’s Castle. I think it only took me a couple of years to finally donate those things to the local Salvation Army store.  My point in telling you this story is that soon, this is very similar to the position we all be in with the U.S. currency we presently hold. It’s called hyperinflation, and I firmly believe it’s in our own backyards, circling around to our front doors.

I firmly believe that if folks understood this, and they understood that their paychecks will soon not be able to purchase even the most basic essentials, I’m positive that they would start looking at ways to maximize their dollars right now, while they still DO something for them. While this may sound a bit overly dramatic, I assure you that it’s based on extensive research and experience in recognizing the looming hyperinflation that is an imminent threat to our nation right now.  Yes, I said, right now.  This shouldn’t sound like a new alarm to anyone reading this. Although I suspect we tend to block it out because we’ve been hearing it so much.  But don’t you think it would be an absolute shame to needlessly suffer simply because those who love us warned us “too much?”  How ironic is that!

As proud as I am to live in this country I believe we all have to realize that we are not the exception to the empirical rules of financial law…we cannot spend our way out of the debt that our nation is in.  IF debt was the only problem, then maybe such a move could be accomplished—but only because it was a lucky gamble. In this case though, it’s not a gamble—it’s an illicit manipulation and those who have the most to gain are definitely aware of the consequences. What does this mean? Well it means absolute bankruptcy. It means a halt to food stamps, unemployment benefits, critical municipal services, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security income. It means that folks who have IRA’s will all suddenly feel like they work for Enron in its last day.    It also means empty grocery stores, rationing of essentials, but even if you aren’t a part of that ostensibly elite group of manipulators, you are not left without a map.  There has NEVER been a time in history in which a nation has been able to sustain debt in excess of 15% of their Gross National Production.  Never.  The death warrant on a healthy economy has already been signed, sealed, and delivered, folks.  The only thing we can do is prepare for the consequences and I’m telling you today that using coupons is one of those ways that you can do so!

Regardless of the calories you expend at work, the numbers of hours you clock in, or the floor number of your office, you do not have any control over the value of the dollar in your paycheck.  Unless you are receiving a 13% raise every 4.3 weeks, you are not keeping up with the REAL cost of living increases.  This 13% represents an average of the increase of all of the “necessities” which we purchase on a regular basis.  So, are you in a losing game right now? Yes—BUT only if you ignore the problem.  If you take advantage of what tools that are available out there to help you combat hyperinflation, then you will make it through until the spiral death resets our economy.

First of all, let’s be clear, no one can presently cure hyperinflation of the U.S. dollar. Like I said before, we’ve already picked up the wrong end of the stick and the other end must follow. We can improve its impact, but the fact remains that there are trillions and trillions of dollars printed and in circulation. These dollars only exist to create the illusion that money is aplenty. Again, money is only worth what it can buy. And right now there are too many dollars chasing too few items to buy.  That may not ring true to those of us who never see such an abundance of dollars in our checking account. And I’m sorry to say, that’s exactly what the Federal Reserve is counting on—for you to only see things from your immediate point of view.  The uneducated have always been the most valuable tool of the maniacal. But, what we can do is get focused—not on the value of the dollar, but what that dollar can STILL do for us now.

No, coupons aren’t the answer to living during hyperinflation, but they are indeed an ideal solution for those who have the foresight to make use of them now! Seriously, if I could come to each one of your houses and speak to you for just a few moments about the importance of this tool in preparing yourselves against the disaster of hyperinflation, I would do it.  It’s that important to me. But, unfortunately, such a labor—regardless of how passionate and well-intended I may be motivated—is simply not realistic.  And so today, I try once more to get you mentally accept and act on this great tool—not to manipulate you, not because I have this pompous sense of having to be right all of the time—but seriously, because I am positive that I see things pretty clearly right now, and I KNOW that the coupons can help you and those around you very quickly, abundantly, and that they won’t be able to help for many more years. So I say, get while the getting is good! Once the financial collapse has undeniably occurred, the paper the coupons are printed on will be worth no more than the paper the currency is printed on.

Last month I was able to purchase over $950 worth of groceries and my total out of pocket was just under $204.00. How?  Well yes, coupons had a key roll in that, along with a store special.  But we should also take note that part of the reason why I can do that now is because so many products are at artificially low prices. We’ve all come to accept that there are “loss leaders” at grocery stores—you know those items which are such a ridiculously low price just to entice you into the store? Well, considering that I got three grocery carts full of stuff last month for free or cheap, I’d say that’s a whole heck of a lot of loss leaders, wouldn’t you? Just like the present rate of inflation, money printing, and national deficit, this is NOT something that can be sustained. The more I can get for “free or dirt cheap” the more the rational side of me gets a bit concerned because I know that what goes up, must come down.  When it finally hits that there are too many useless pieces of paper aka currency, chasing after too few products, the stuff is really going to hit the fan. The knee jerk reactions to this kind of a problem are price fixing and rations. When that takes place you then have a black market. No matter what, unprepared people go hungry.

So, I have a proposal for you folks.  PLEASE allow me to teach you how to effectively use coupons now, while you can.  We have a class coming up the end of this week on Saturday.  After that it will be on August 21^st.  However, I’m giving everyone fair warning—the prices of all webinars are increasing in prices the first week of August, so be sure you get registered to which webinars you’d like to attend, now. Our nation’s hyperinflation nightmare isn’t going to pay much heed to empty excuses later.  I know, 100%, that I can help ANYONE get ready for tougher time through this completely, kick-butt coupon boot camp! it’s about time that we all get a bit more serious and focused and fight fire with fire. I hope to see you there!

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Copyright Protected 2010, Preparedness Pro and Kellene Bishop. All Rights Reserved. No portion of any content on this site may be duplicated, transferred, copied, or published without written permission from the author. However, you are welcome to provide a link to the content on your site or in your written works.

By Kellene Bishop

You’ve not doubt heard the saying “Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.”  You could say that I live by this particular motto in my preparedness efforts. However, today I’m going to discuss with you a topic that I have never seen addressed in a preparedness venue—preparing for THE worst.  What is the “the worst?”

More than 200,000 American women every year—in a time of relative calm, comfort, and civil order—are raped. Yet, in every crisis scenario which has EVER occurred in our nation’s history in the last 70 years—such as hurricanes, earthquakes, financial collapse, etc—the numbers of rape reports increase substantially amidst the darkness of tragedy.  So, my question for you today is, what are you doing now to PREPARE to defend against THE Worst in your everyday life as well as during a time of great struggle?

Rape is a disgusting and horrifying crime, and to most women, their greatest nightmare. The very thought of the word repulses most. According to FBI records, more than 90,000 attacks are reported every year in the U.S. That number pales in comparison to what’s really happening. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that more than 300,000 women are forced to survive a rape each year.  But according to other studies, less than one in three women reports their real-life nightmare to police or other authorities. As such it is believed that one in five women in the U.S. today, under the age of 26 will be raped. I share this tidbit of information to you only for the purpose of getting you, my dear readers, to begin to comprehend the reality of this dark side of human tragedy because only when we understand the reality of this particular criminal event can we begin to prepare against it—in defense of it.

It pains me to even feel like I have to address this topic. But over the last 2 years I’ve had several conversations with women, their husbands, their children etc. which lead me to believe that there is an alarming amount of naïveté among good families who are trying their best to prepare for tougher times. Let’s get real here for just a moment, even if you don’t believe that this horrific event can happen to yourself or someone you love dearly right now, you must believe it is possible amidst a more challenging time.  Yes, desperation breeds horrors—horrors that most women never want to think about.  Do you recall the litany of nightmare stories which occurred during hurricane Katrina? The single location of the Louisiana Superdome became a carnival land for deranged and disconnected males, committing rape against women, elderly, and even children as young as 10 years of age.  Later, as refugees migrated to the Houston Astrodome, the same grotesque acts occurred, along with beatings, theft, and other acts in defiance of human decency.  Clearly, we don’t live in Disneyland, Folks, and it certainly will NOT get better during a crisis. It WILL get worse. So, what are you doing to prepare for it?

Ladies, we’ve got to stop assuming that someone else will be there to defend us against such an act.  For those of us who feel sufficiently connected to a knight in shining armor, understand that during a time of crisis that knight is likely to be off fighting known dragons elsewhere in the form of filling sand bags, foraging for food, being a sentinel to a larger perimeter.  Even the imaginative minds of cartoon crime fighters have never tried to create a super hero that could be in all places at all times, so why do so many of my female and MALE friends believe that they will “be there” to defend against such a horrific occasion? The possibility of your husband, boyfriend, father, or some other protector being present at “just the right time” when such an attack is thrust upon you is minimal even in today’s relative social climate.  It is much less likely in a strained social environment. As such, women (young and old) must educate themselves (mentally and physically) as to how to defend and PREVENT such instances. No nonsense mental and physical education such as that taught by Women of Caliber, is critical to your everyday survival.

Ladies, rape is not just a brutal sexual act that you bravely endure, nor is it just about the physical assault that usually goes hand in hand. If you are lucky enough to physically survive such an event you will find yourself fighting an even darker enemy in the subsequent months and years. Victims of rape also find themselves continually abused by the psychological aftermath. Many woman survive the physical assault only to have their quality of life destroyed because of the emotional damage. Worse, is when these same women are raped who also are raising children.  Insecurity, fear, anger, and even self-loathing are often the “after shocks” which destroy the virtuous legacy a mother desired to pass on to her children.  A mother’s projection of the pain she’s endured will inevitably affect her children if she doesn’t receive proper care following her attack.  And yet such care is not likely to exist in a time of great turmoil. So, me dear readers, we all have a choice to make. Will we prevent such an act from even coming into play in either ours or our loved one’s  life, or will we risk “just crossing that bridge when we come to it” or deny that it even exists?

Gentlemen,—particularly those who have an aversion towards tools of “excessive force” and protection—are you willing to risk that such an event will never happen to your wives, daughters, or other loved ones so that you can remain inside your comfort zone? Most men do not want to even consider that such an event would ever happen to the women they care about—let alone whether or not they will be capable of coming to the rescue. As a result, too many men are ill-prepared in their own preparedness efforts against this dark story of society. Sadly, some are even non-supportive of their wives’ efforts to take their own self-defense more seriously. I assure everyone who reads this that whatever comfort you have now by avoiding such a reality in your own immediate circle of relationships or more extended, will be insignificant the instant you painfully exclaim, “If only!”

The rampant criminal acts that took place during the Depression were not associated with obtaining food, money, or other vital need.  In an unsure world, deviant persons are likely to engage in ANY kind of an act which makes them feel like they are in control again.  This is why rape becomes so prevalent in a scenario of social tragedy. Ultimately, rape is about control.  This is why you hear of these same horrid acts in present-day Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Haiti, and S. Africa.  These nations are out of control.  Many of their mealtimes are full of nothing but desperation. Dark souls are being driven to establish some semblance of control into their lives.
Please understand that rape is not a crime of strangers.  Sixty-four percent of the time the woman is raped by a trusted companion! That’s a particularly dangerous problem because the ripple effect brutalizes them once again at close range. Compounding the problem is that the woman frequently has deep emotional feelings and even sincere love for the attacker so the crime is never reported, opting instead to give the perpetrator another chance, allowing the nightmare to continue. The survivor sits alone in silence, darkness, and fear…unless…

What if women, in particular, stopped relying on knights in shining armor to protect them from this heinous crime? What if, instead, women took their safety into their own hands by becoming fully informed and educated on how to recognize a looming rape occurrence and how to successfully thwart it?   A physical self-defense series.  A self-defense firearm training class.  All of these are ideal counter-measures to ensure that a woman never has to become a survivor and be left to simply dance to the present music that’s played for them.  If a rape is fought back with skill and a pre-conditioned mind, then the survivor will be able to much better cope with the incident, leaving it behind with a sense of conquering evil rather than being trampled in its path. The same is true of the men in our lives who genuinely care about us.  If they hold the tools and the knowledge to prevent and fight back against a rape, then their lives also have the real peace that’s necessary to survive a time of turmoil. And particularly in this case, there’s a lot to be said for Peace in Preparedness.

Lest anyone think that I’m simply agitating a problem without offering a solution, I am purposefully being incomplete in my assessment of solutions in this particular article. How a person elects to defend themselves is a very personal decision—one that must be made with conviction.  While I won’t attempt to be secretive that I believe firmly in the effectiveness and even the necessity of using a firearm to defend against such occasions, I cannot project that same belief on others. But what I can do is to demonstrate the reality of the need for serious preparedness and hopefully aid in the education that’s necessary to make an informed decision in this regard.  Too often I hear folks ignorantly believe that “protection” is only necessary for those who are not willing to share their goods and supplies. Today I’m sharing with you that that notion is a fallacy and I hope and pray that you will take this information today to heart—if not applicable for your own benefit, perhaps in your efforts to assist others in making this difficult but necessary decision. Ultimately I hope that I won’t conjure up nightmares for you, rather you find yourselves recipients of the peace that comes with proper, realistic preparedness.

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For any questions or comments on this article, please leave a comment on the blog site so that everyone can benefit! 

Copyright Protected 2010, Preparedness Pro and Kellene Bishop. All Rights Reserved. No portion of any content on this site may be duplicated, transferred, copied, or published without written permission from the author. However, you are welcome to provide a link to the content on your site or in your written works.

Author’s note: My wonderful friend and assistant, Vicky has the nerve to take off work this week so that she can participate in her son’s wedding. Geesh! Unfortunately, I’m completely inept at editing my own work, adding photos, links, etc. without her.  So you’ll have to endure the rough stuff until she returns next week. (unless I get a chance to work on it in the wee hours of the morning-Vicky)

By Kellene Bishop

Sure, I believe that we should love our neighbors, but trusting them with our safety and security is a whole ‘nother matter.

The History of Neighbors:

You may find it interesting to note that during the Hitler regime, the neighbors of the Jews and so-called “traitors” were the greatest asset to Hitler’s intelligence operations. Hitler used all manner of lies, propaganda, intimidation, and bullying to get regular, everyday citizens to betray their neighbors to the Reich for either being a Jew or being sympathetic towards the Jews.  If a particular person were to betray a significant number of their neighbors, then they would often be awarded additional food rations and other favors that irresistible to some during a time of famine, poverty, and chaos. As a result of the harshest of living conditions, many Germans would wrongfully accuse a neighbor of being a sympathizer simply so that the informant could put a meal on the table.

When the Soviets first occupied Lithuania in 1940, they did so under the deceptive position of liberation for the Lithuanian people. But some citizens did not fall for this guise and were wise to the true intents of the Soviets and the looming Nazi regime. These attentive patriots worked bravely and selflessly to escape the certain enslavement that was in store for their nation and were naturally motivated to likewise warn their neighbors of this pending demise. It’s important to note that the Soviets and the Third Reich did not tolerate lukewarm loyalty from any of their counterparts. The KGB (rightfully) believed that if a person was not vehemently supportive of the Soviet occupation, then such a person was a dissident and thus likely to compromise the strength of the Soviet plans for world power.  As such, if neighbors were not regularly providing the identities of other persons as “resisters” to the Soviet regime, then they would find themselves cast with a hue of suspicion and be considered as a rebel sympathizer—subsequently tortured to death. It was primarily through this means of intelligence gathering, that by the end of the war the KGB (and later, the Nazi’s) killed nearly 96 percent of all Jews in Lithuania all because there would rarely stand a man who had the courage to trade their own life for freedom and friendship.

Today, in stark contrast to the charm and friendliness of the citizens in Vilnius, Lithuania, there is The Museum of Genocide Victims. This museum tells the all too familiar story of neighbors turning on neighbors—usually in the name of a false sense of morality or financial gain. In this case, hundreds of thousands of Lithuanians and Poles were brutally murdered for standing up to an evil and suppressive regime throughout many years. Ironically, this museum is established in the former KGB headquarters where tortured and murdered persons were represented coldly by a name and a location by the very people that they celebrated, prayed, and wept with.

(As an aside note, I also find it interesting that the Soviets felt so threatened by opposing points of views even though a sparse few of the resisters were armed with any type of weaponry. It was simply their beliefs that the Soviets felt were so dangerous to their evil objective.)

I don’t share this information with you to remind you of a horrible blemish on the history of humanity, rather to remind you that such circumstances are not apt to be isolated solely to history. Any stressful or catastrophic future event is just as likely to challenge the strands of decency we bear. As I’ve said time and time again, desperation and fear cause people to do unspeakable acts.  Thus, in the interest of preparedness, I feel that it’s important that we recognize that the friends and neighbors with whom we share our preparedness efforts and plans must be chosen wisely and prayerfully; our lives may well depend upon it.  I realize—of course—that when one catches the spirit of self-reliance and independence we desperately want to share such convictions with other persons we care about.  There is certainly a strong case of wise stratagem in converting our own neighbors and friends to a state of preparedness for our own sakes. Those who are properly prepared are less likely to compromise our own reserves, right? However, we all must still prepare for “Plan B” in the event that the anticipated loyalty and bravery does not hold firm. As such, I encourage you to not be free flowing with specifics of the fruits of your self-reliant state or plans of relief until you are certain—spiritually and mentally—that such information will be held sacred by a brave soul.

Our Own Mental Fortitude:

While there is much to consider in this respect, “who can I trust?” I submit that there is an even more important question we ask ourselves while we have the peace and comfort to support such an exploration. “Who will I be under dire circumstances?”

I’m sure that I’m not the only person in the world today who’s ever been painfully betrayed by close friends.  In fact I dare say that some of my escapades of such cutting experiences would be suitable for a compelling auto-biography. But I know that I’m in good company with exceptional men and women such as George Washington, Tecumseh, Grace O’ Malley, and of course Jesus Christ.  I am not an exceptional recipient of these circumstances. But more importantly that what may be thrust upon us by the cowardice of others, I feel it’s vital that we ensure that we possess the appropriate amount of spiritual and mental preparedness to maintain a strength of character in all instances. Will I betray another for a meal?  Will I stand up for another’s freedom by surrendering my own life?  Will I be decent so long as my children’s lives are not in jeopardy? I feel that considering this series of possibilities will do much to strengthen our own mental fortitude.

Examples of Strength:

It doesn’t require much time on Facebook or in front of the daily news to realize that there are many persons surrounding you who do not believe in self-reliance, freedom, and independence as you do.  Worse, there are few persons who are willing to work hard to establish healthy state of preparedness and then back up the courage of convictions with bravery in light of all kinds of torture, starvation, or embarrassment. Instead they feel emboldened with a sense of entitlement that simply because you have, they should receive. This pervasive thought process may not seem life-threatening today, but under the cloud of war, famine, or other challenges, it may seem perfectly rash to a weak mind.

Love our neighbors? Certainly! I believe that because of such a love we are required to forgive them their wrongdoings. In fact, I believe that the scars of those who were betrayed so cruelly during the 2^nd World War will be healed contingent on the measure of forgiveness they extend to their traitors as well as the scars we carry by betrayal in our own lives. But let’s understand that the Parable of the 10 Virgins, Jesus’ betrayal by Judas, the sell-out of Joseph in Egypt by his brothers, and many other thought provoking scenarios only addresses loving of our neighbors, not blindly trusting them. In fact, in the case of Christ and Joseph in Egypt, we are given all kinds of examples of carrying cautiously in light of human betrayal. In light of all of these points, I feel that there’s a great deal of wisdom in the admonition to “trust not in the arm of flesh.” In fact we are warned of this reality in the scriptures as we are told that even brother shall fight against brother and even the strongest of bonds between a woman and her own child shall be shredded amidst times of turmoil and trial.

I like my neighbors, a lot. We talk over fences. We gather at celebrations. At Christmas time we all exchange homemade gifts of love and loveliness. But it’s a very different outlook when I ask myself if I could trust so and so with my life and freedom. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of people in this world that I feel I could answer affirmatively. As such, I either need to get to know them all better so that I can be accurate in my summation or I must be wise in my decisions of  who I can trust. After all, I believe I have a solemn responsibility to care for my family and choice friends so that we may fulfill all of our purposes here on earth.

The Reality:

There is a reality for which we must mentally prepare so that we might peacefully anticipate a day of great turmoil without losing our emotional strength. We have greater ability to be at peace if we acknowledge that such a compromise of trust could happen to us.  It’s wise and even peaceful to face this reality so long as we harbor no hatred or fear of those who would violate our trust. We must accept that vile brute force can and frequently does triumph over kindness, love, and decency. The Polish and Lithuanian Jews who were annihilated by the Einsatzgruppen didn’t believe that something so atrocious could ever happen to them.  George Washington never wanted to believe that Benedict Arnold would betray his country in exchange for a little financial gain. The great Chief Tecumseh couldn’t fathom that anyone would not want the Indian nations to be unified in strength and peace. After bravely conquering entire armies of men who threatened the destruction of Ireland’s civilization, Grace O’Malley never expected her own son to betray her into the hands of prison. Though Christ had foreknowledge of Judas’ betrayal, it still brought him tears of sorrow.  But all of these persons were able to thrive in peace and victory in spite of these crushing turns of event. And with a little bit of caution, we too can endure anything that life throws at us, in spite of fickle, fine feathered friends.

May your trusted friends be many and your preparedness efforts be even more abundant.

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Copyright Protected 2010, Preparedness Pro and Kellene Bishop. All Rights Reserved. No portion of any content on this site may be duplicated, transferred, copied, or published without written permission from the author. However, you are welcome to provide a link to the content on your site or in your written works.

By Kellene Bishop

The purpose of my article today is to help to outline some aspects of mental and physical preparedness that we must take into consideration prior to enduring a serious scenario.  Whether it be an earthquake, a flood, a hurricane, or a financial collapse, there are some consequences which will definitely take place and I feel that it’s important that all persons who desire peace in their preparedness efforts, take the time and the work necessary to prepare for this very important aspect of preparedness—giving help to others.

I believe in helping others and my preparedness efforts give proof to that end. However, understand that there is a well-deserved saying that “no good deed goes unpunished.” Unfortunately, there is truth in that statement as it relates to our fellow men, so that’s what I’m going to address today.

Confidentiality: For starters, know that your willingness to help others should be shared confidentially and only with those you intend to aid. The helping of others MUST be a pre-planned strategy, not a reactive, knee-jerk one, in order to ensure the utmost of safety and survival for you and your loved ones.  In other words, you need to have a set plan among your family members that under a specific set of circumstances you will plan on assisting them in accordance to their needs. In other words, suppose there is an earthquake in California where your brother and his family lives. Communicate clearly to your brother that under such circumstances they are to get to your home in Utah post haste with whatever supplies they can bring, and you will give them aid. Be sure that it is understood that this invitation is to be kept confidential between you and your intended recipients. Otherwise, you will be confronted with a desperate and aggressive army of other persons seeking aid. Regardless of the size of your heart you can NOT take care of everyone who comes to request assistance. Doing so will not only compromise your safety, but your life as well, and most certainly the lives of those you intended on helping all along. Clear communication and confidence is key in such circumstances.

No Flood Gates: There have been examples in every single disaster that has ever taken place in the history of the world in which well-intended caregivers lost  their sustenance, their shelter, and their lives because they opened the proverbial Wal-Mart doors on the morning of Black Friday to those in need.  Several instances were shared in which successful survivors of Hurricane Katrina were robbed, bludgeoned, or killed so that others could benefit from their supplies.  A church, which made every effort to try to help others, was suddenly forced by local authorities to take on all of the evacuees that the local law enforcement deemed necessary, regardless of the compromise of safety that such demands put upon the church and the others they were sheltering. Think of it as the camel getting his nose into your tent. You’ll never get him out after that and all you’ve done to prepare will be seriously compromised. A hospital in the aftermath of India’s historic tsunami was taken over not by patients who needed care, but by violent gangs who demanded access to drugs.  In order to ensure that you are not one of these statistics you must plan on being heavy handed and determined in the care you will extend to others.  This means you need to rehearse in your mind, discuss with your family, the severity of such circumstances and make sure that everyone is educated in maintaining the safety of your group.

Stand Your Ground: Planning on helping others cannot just be about the amount of supplies and the foundation of your religious beliefs. Remember that desperate circumstances create monsters out of some of the best of persons.  As such, no person can be completely prepared without accepting this reality.  Food, water, clothing, etc. are only a small part of your preparedness efforts. There’s a reason why I teach that the third most important part of preparedness is your Physical Preparedness. Some think that I’m simply referring to ones health when I say this. In actuality, I’m also referring to ones physical security as well.  Your supplies are meaningless if you cannot ensure that they will be used in safety and security. As such we must all obtain the  proper knowledge and supplies to ensure our safety and that our decisions on behalf of our safety are respected and obeyed.  This also means that mental fortitude must be established before a disaster comes calling. And, sorry to say it folks, but this also means that you must learn how to effectively protect yourself, and your loved ones, even if you are in a high stress situation.

Community: This brings me to my next point. I’ve said it previously in other posts, but I believe it bears repeating. There is something to be said for strength in numbers. Part of the reason in you preparing to share you goods with a specific person should be in anticipation of the man power it will take to protect those goods as well as lives.  A single, lone person doesn’t  man an empty Fort Knox today. So I suspect that it will take more than a single person with knowledge and skill to protect your shelter—whether it be an automobile traveling for safety, a tent community, or a single home.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: Lastly, it’s critical that you know your rights sufficiently so that you are committed to maintaining those rights. My favorite motto when I was in sales holds true to just about any scenario: “Whoever is more committed, wins.”  Throughout even recent situations of natural disasters, many persons have given up their freedoms with the least little bit of aggravation in a “disaster scenario.”  (shelter in LA, guns in NC, speech in MI, etc.) Let me be perfectly clear in hopes that you openly discuss this with your family and friends for future planning– It’s not ok for you to be taken somewhere else when you have chosen to stay in your home. If folks can sign a “do not resuscitate” (DNR) order, then they sure as heck have the right to “Do Not Rescue” as well.  In fact, I suggest that you make a “DNR” sign for your front door in the event of a natural disaster. You and your family should always plan on staying together—if for no other reason than the safety of your family and the mental well being in knowing how everyone is doing.  Your GOD GIVEN rights, which no court in the land can legally infringe upon, gives you that right to stay together even if a uniformed person tries to convince you otherwise in a disaster scenario. And you know what, if Fido or Brutus are one of your family members, then you darn well better PLAN for them to remain a part of your family with your preparedness efforts.

Always remember, disasters do not alienate you from your unalienable rights. Keep in mind that the Declaration of Independence was written during a time of disaster, war, and turmoil. If it had efficacy during such a time, then a little ole earthquake, hurricane, or other Act of God or U.S. Government certainly does not take those rights of survival away from you simply because times are tough. In accordance to the U.S. Constitution, you also have a right to arms—in a disaster or in peace time. You also have a right to your property—regardless of who does not have their own property. The Constitution doesn’t say that “Mr. Smith shall only retain his foods in the event of everyone else having three meals a day,” right?  There’s nothing even remotely in our laws which intimates such a posture.  So, what I’m saying is that you must decided ahead of time what your committed posture will be in the event of a disaster in order to you to have your rights and decisions heeded.  Will you stay or go. Will you give to others? Will you defend your lives under all threats of loss or impairment?

As you know, I continually teach peaceful preparedness efforts. I also believe that you can have peace in the midst of you needing the fruits of your preparedness efforts. However, if you do not mentally and physically prepare in some of the ways I’ve suggested, then you will have liberated peace from your family and surroundings. We all need to prepare now to keep the peace.

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Copyright Protected 2010, Preparedness Pro and Kellene Bishop. All Rights Reserved. No portion of any content on this site may be duplicated, transferred, copied, or published without written permission from the author. However, you are welcome to provide a link to the content on your site or in your written works.

By Kellene Bishop

Last night I laid restless the entire night—yup, the entire night.  As I’m not a morning person, it’s rare that I am conscious enough to hear my husband’s alarm go off—both of them. (grin) But this morning I did.  As I heard the unfamiliar static of the talk radio station which usually rouses him into the planned activities of his day, I couldn’t help but wonder what would it require for the people that I care about to finally hear the rational, logical wake-up call for action—to be more independent of vulnerabilities which surround them?

The end of the great Roman Empire was not brought about by a depression or even a recession.  While history shows us that entire industry and commerce itself was crumbled into dust, we can’t simply blame their demise on the attack of foreign enemies. The more important view of that epic fall is to see that it was brought about because of a failed economic system of ease and entitlement. What we can learn from the fall of that nation is that those in power were permitted to conspire and control the flow of vital supplies through a monopoly of specialized skills held by a few instead of the talents  and work ethics of everyday persons—skills which could be handed down from one family to another. 

The persons who understand and control our nation’s flow of supplies are few and unfortunately, the ability to plan, prepare, sow, harvest, and reap is also scarce. Think about it.  Does the job of overseeing six feet of a conveyor belt prepare them for a meaningful contribution and sustainment of a flourishing society? Such a “skill” does nothing to prepare someone to render any other skills or assets to contribute to a society other than their tax dollars.  But what happens when our nation’s dollar value comes into question?  Who pays for the skilled few to oversee and ensure the flow of vital supplies? What then happens when the food supply is interrupted or when there is an oversight of supply needs for everyday medical supplies? Sadly, this same person, and so many others like them, will suffer needlessly for a lack of preparation in knowledge and supplies which can help produce a self-sustaining community.  In the name of “efficiency” and “immediate satisfaction,” without the risk of investment or labor on our part, we have allowed our food and medical supplies to be vulnerable to a highly volatile system managed by a relatively small number.  This flow of vital supplies in our country reminds me of a top secret project that is so secret, no one person is able to see the entire picture, only the small, snippet of specialized secrecy which they are required to work on before passing it on to only one other person, who then works on their narrow segment of information, and then passes it on to the next person, and so on, and so on.  Just how vulnerable is our present system of supplies?

Only sixty years ago, the average family had enough grain and preserved produce to last them seven years. In 1964, the Federal Government bragged of having enough food stockpiled to feed our entire nation for three years. Recently, FEMA admitted that they have the means of feeding only 6 million persons—once—in spite of the fact that our nation has over 300 million members. Today, we have naively accepted that it’s ok for our nation’s residents as a whole to only have FOUR WEEKS supply of food. Even worse, the majority of Americans who are NOT even considered to be living at the poverty income level have no more than three weeks supply of food in their home.   Why does FEMA only have enough food for 6 million persons in a nation of 300 million?  Because it’s simply not their job to feed the nation.  It’s their responsibility to provide aid to those who are thrust into exceptional living circumstances. As surely as our freedom is our own responsibility, so is our sustenance for now and in the future.

The bottom line? Our access to vital supplies such as food, herbs, and medicinal plants is not threatened because of a scarcity—at this moment.  Rather the abundance of such is threatened because of our lack of skills to reproduce and distribute such supplies independent of specialized skills among a few persons. Thus our access to such supplies is at a highly vulnerable state because we have not taken measures to prepare against such a time—NOT because of a specific looming famine, act of war, or cataclysmic event.  A needy, clingy society is no more awarded with independence and prosperity than a sniveling, groveling emotionally unstable woman is to a single man.  Ironically, a prepared, self-reliant home in our nation is as specialized and niched as are the skills necessary to sustain a thriving community. Many of us do not have sufficient supplies in our own home, nor have we mastered the sufficient skills needed to ensure that we can produce our own food with a modest amount of care independent of outside sources. To me, this just isn’t acceptable. If I behaved that way, I’d consider myself to be ungrateful for what I presently have been blessed with; akin to a spoiled brat, presuming that I’m entitled to what I have for the rest of my life without a care or concern as to how I’m going to receive it. 

I also feel that this scenario is a somewhat alarming state of vulnerability—more so because it is not necessary.  We all have the ability to alter away that vulnerability and replace it with strength, confidence, competence, independence, and peace.  Yet so many I care about consciously choose to bring about painful consequences upon themselves.  Case in point—as a nation we mindlessly spend over $500 billion dollars a year protecting things such as houses, boats, RVs, and automobiles, and yet so many commit nothing in the form of time, money, or intelligence, towards protecting our own persons and our family.  $500 billion spent on overpriced insurance so that folks can replace inanimate, non-living things; and yet sadly, encouraging someone to simply spend at least $20 a month on their future security by purchasing necessary provisions seems to be too much of a stretch mentally and/or financially to these very same persons.  The really ironic angle of all of this, is somehow the persons who spends hundreds of dollars insuring toys and non-essentials label those of us who are willing to plan for the future as “wackos, crazy survivalists, or extremists”! Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?  Just because some of us plan for a realistic rainy day and have the audacity to learn how to start a fire without a blow torch, we’re somehow worthy of the label “nut job.” *heavy sigh…recollect myself.*

In the past I usually really try to put my thoughts out there in a bit more educational, neutral, kind, and inoffensive manner. However today, I’ve decided to acknowledge the fact that death isn’t too kind to those of us left behind. It’s real. It’s painful. And it’s a lot more costly than the alternative in the long run. Thus I will close by saying that a dearth of critical supplies only encroaches on a society that ignores the eternal truth of self-reliance. In such an instance, even the strongest, most stable economy can find itself crippled, begging to be enslaved to such self-defeating behaviors once again, all in the name of progress.

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Copyright Protected 2010, Preparedness Pro and Kellene Bishop. All Rights Reserved. No portion of any content on this site may be duplicated, transferred, copied, or published without written permission from the author. However, you are welcome to provide a link to the content on your site or in your written works.

By Kellene Bishop

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, then you have figured out by now that I’m not one of the gloom and doomers. In fact, I try diligently to simply take a situation, examine it, and try to determine how I can best avoid an undesirable consequence and vulnerability to it simply by being better prepared. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times, “preparedness is about peace, not panic.”

I still stand by that belief and I’d like you to remember that as I direct you towards an interesting article I read today.  True to the typical brainless “preppers” hype  the article was posted on someone else’s “emergency preparedness” site as an incentive for everyone to dig nuclear bomb shelters or create full-sized Faraday cages “asap”. But when I read the article I felt that it simply gave us a nice, gentle reminder that we are indeed vulnerable to a loss of the electrical or computerized power which keeps our nation civilized.  On April 20, 2010, the Sacramento Press reported that the CIA Director conveyed the reality of our vulnerability to international hacker terrorists and admitted that it’s a full-time job preventing them from collapsing our nation financially, physically, and throwing our society back to the early 1900’s.  (See full article here: http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/25185/CIA_Director_tells_CaptoCap_delegates_Cyber_attack_could_be_next_Pearl_Harbor)

For those of you who have not participated in my “Lights Out, Now What?” webinar, I want to remind everyone that there’s a speedy and unavoidable domino effect when and if our financial or electrical system is interrupted.  Because our financial doings are so heavily reliant on all of our modes of communication—to the point that even a mere hour without electricity can cost our economy billions of dollars—if our communication lines are downed for more than 72 hours nationally, it would cause a financial collapse. If a financial collapse occurs, then a national blackout is a natural consequence which will follow quickly on the heels of such a disaster.  If a significant power outage occurs in just one regional grid in the U.S. then that will also cause a financial collapse. A cluster of hard copy research which I read last year suggested the due to the present regional power grids not being strong enough to carry their respective areas on their own, rather are intended to carry the weight as a nationally collective whole, then if our entire nation were to go black at the same time, the task of bringing everything back online is estimated to take a mere 36 months. Apparently no single grid on its own can handle the weight of supporting the surrounding grids long enough to power up the next ones.  (Remember the blackouts that occurred throughout the Western States a couple of years ago simply because a part of the California grid wasn’t functioning well?) With over 250,000 trucking companies in the U.S. and the fact that our economic system relies heavily on such systems, then it is also intimated that if our fuel costs were to exceed $4.00 a gallon, at least 17 % of the trucking companies would have to shut down. Very few transportation companies have the capital to take such a cost increase in a “must have” category of running their businesses.  (Apparently even the trucking companies run their business with a thin margin of profit just like our very own households have done for decades.) Keep in mind that the airlines just got hit with billions of dollars of losses from the recent “volcano black out”—this after they had already opted for the cannibalization pricing practice of taxing their customers for essentials such as luggage, in-flight entertainment, 1 ounce of padding known as a pillow, and 2 ounces of mysteriously colored air known as a blanket. Imagine what even a short-term power outage could do to that industry, especially if it is coupled with a sharp increase in fuel costs.

 So, once again, don’t panic.  Instead, calmly determine how you are able to insulate yourself now from as little vulnerability as possible.  How can you make yourself more independent when it comes to providing environmental control, security, cooking, heat, light, medical aid, and necessary commerce transactions in your life? To answer that, look at what has been done in past history when the luxury of electricity and the internet was not so abundant. Look at what some third world and even European countries do today in order to mitigate the high cost of fuel and sporadic accessibility to power.  Solar power, alternative fuels, butane stoves, pressure cookers, kerosene lanterns. These items aren’t “emergency preparedness” tools for many areas of the world. These are tools of wisdom used in everyday living for real people like you and me. So, take a moment to review the posted article. Ask yourself how you may be vulnerable to the “what ifs” and then determine what you can do today with the control and freedom that you now have to alter those vulnerabilities into strengths of independence.

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Copyright Protected 2010, Preparedness Pro and Kellene Bishop. All Rights Reserved. No portion of any content on this site may be duplicated, transferred, copied, or published without written permission from the author. However, you are welcome to provide a link to the content on your site or in your written works.

Counter Commodity Security

By Kellene Bishop

To be completely forthright, I wanted to write this particular article first in this particular series. However, I knew that it wouldn’t have as much of an impact if the foundation hadn’t been laid out properly with the previous articles. So think of this article as the cymbal clash that follows your drum roll.

As I’ve shared with you previously, preparedness is not about being ready for an “end of the world” type of scenario. It’s about independence of everyday scenarios.  I am positive that if we are prepared to handle everyday scenarios head on, then even when such scenarios are compounded into more alarming, widespread scenarios, then we will also be ready for those as well.

 I’m going to assume that most of the world would agree that we are reliant on others for our food sources. Very, very few persons in the world nowadays have the skills or the wherewithal to produce all that they and their family consumes in terms of nutrition.  As such, we are reliant on the grocery stores to stock what we want, we are reliant on our paychecks clearing the banks in a timely manner so that we can purchase the food we need; we are reliant on the health inspectors to ensure that we don’t die or get violently ill as a result of the food we eat; we are reliant on the Federal Reserve to make sure that the money which we pay for our foods has sufficient value to buy enough of what we need; we are reliant on transportations flowing smoothly so that we can get our food delivery; and we are reliant upon Mother Nature to nurture and grow the foods that are planted and harvested each year. Frankly, an interruption in any of these areas will not only affect our personal food supply, but because such a snag in a constantly tenable situation would be so widespread, it would also bring with it some dire domino consequences.  As you can see, food preparedness is very closely tied to many other areas of preparedness including physical, medical, and financial.  This is exactly why I’ve attempted to lay a better foundation for you relative to understanding how tenable the financial world in on an international basis. Because you need to understand that are in order to understand why an imminent true-blue food shortage is about to change your financial world as you know it.

 No, I don’t say the words “worldwide food shortage” lightly.  I don’t believe in fear mongering, inducing panic, or chaos.  That kind of emotional manipulation only helps the retailers of “emergency preparedness” supplies.  But what I do believe in is education.  If you are able to see the scenario we have before us in it’s proper light, then you are able to calmly, deliberately, and strategically prepare for a more serious scenario.

Food Shortages photo c/o www.foodshortageusa.com

 FOOD SHORTAGE—the two words that initially bring about distrust, disgust, and denial in most persons who hear them. And yet even our government officials are blatantly sharing food shortage information with us on the USDA website. The disturbing thing is though that the USDA has such food shortage information on the exact same page in which they are predicting a bumper crop scenario this year.  In addition to the USDA reports, there is unlimited, credible, and undeniable information that there will indeed be a food shortage for 2010.  Even the mainstream media has dared to share information of the 450% increase in pricing on some standard produce such as tomatoes and green beans due to weather related harvest shortages.

So, why are we sure to experience a food shortage this year?

1)      Mother nature has wreaked havoc in several key areas of the world—including in the farming capital of the world, our own Midwestern states.  Our spring last year was so wet, causing many farmers to plant later in the year.  Unfortunately, the water continued to wreak havoc on the farms as they attempted to harvest their crops. Over 30% of all of our key crops in the Midwest went unharvested due to the wet soil conditions (as in the Mid-west and the South), record droughts (as in Texas) or unexpected freezes (as in Florida). Click here to see article.  We are already playing things close in our food supplies this last harvest. We really couldn’t afford a 30% hit.  

Tie this in to how it plays out in the financial world, it means that there will be less supply of food in spite of increasing demand.  Larger demand for something in short supply requires higher prices. At present circumstances, you food budget may purchase as little as 30 percent less food than it did before but as much as 400% less food than it did before—yup, that means you’ll be in the negative.

2)      Several key exporting food nations have experienced the same kinds of shortages who have been some of the key exporters of wheat, rice and other grains. Unfortunately, these nations are having to rely on food IMPORTS this year.

The tie in to this problem as it relates to the financial aspect is the same as #1, except that it pinched not just the pricing, but the plain and simple availability of food.  In which case, money won’t make a bit of difference if you don’t even have the commodity around to purchase it.

3)      2009’s early financial crisis.  Farmers could not get credit to run their farms properly and certainly not in response to the additional help they needed in the face of adverse weather conditions. As a result, there was drastic drop in the number of crops that were planted.

This means that they are, at the very least, behind one harvest season—and that’s assuming that they were able to make it through this past one in spite of a lack of financial aid.  This inhibits the farmers from being able to get ahead by planting enough to make up the financial difference.  Unfortunately, the further behind one gets financially, the less likely they are to qualify for financial aid. A lack of farmers definitely means a lack of foods. According to David Miller, Director of Research for Iowa Farm Bureau, as of December 2009, the net farm income was down by one third! He predicts that the drop in income will continue during 2010 as well. In other words, once the farming industry gets behind on food production, it’s unlikely that they can catch up.  Our population is ever increasing in the U.S., not going down. Thus the need for food will continue to increase as well. We’re in a vicious downward cycle right now.

fusarium head blight or scab, photo c/o www.ars.usda.gov

4)      New insect enemies have begun to infiltrate entire wheat and soybean crops that we do not yet have a suitable weapon for. Officially called a fusarium head blight or scab, it’s more commonly  known as “tombstone” because of the white tombstone-like appearance it has on the dead crops. It’s a toxin-infecting fungus that attacks the wheat flowers. The cooler and more moist the growing environment, the more the scabs flourish.  Unfortunately the cool, wet weather we’ve had in our crops the last two years have been an expensive weather pattern. The way to combat this problem is to develop wheat strains that are resistant to this disease. Obviously, discovering such requires more than one harvest, and historically requires 4 harvests to be sure.  With the present food crisis we have in the world, I’m not sure we have the luxury of waiting through four harvests to get back on our feet.

In addition to this, many parts of the country experienced a dearth of grasshoppers consuming their hay reserves for their livestock. (South Dakota and Wyoming, for example)   Considering that many farmers only yielded one-sixth of what they typically do, this was a traumatic setback for many.

 Again, the financial consequences of this affect the supply and demand in our food market.  Wheat, corn and soy are king in nearly everything we consume in one way or another. Meat needs the nutrition of quality feed and plenty of it. Without proper feed, every aspect of our meal get formidably expensive.

food recall photo c/o lunchbox.hospsrvc.ttu.edu

 

5)      The last two years have brought about the largest number of food recalls ever.  And merely 4 weeks ago, we experienced the largest food recall in American history with the salmonella discovered in the manufacturing plant in Las Vegas. This plant was the largest producer of hydrolyzed vegetable protein, which is found in nearly every processed food on the market. As a result, our market got hit with a massive food recall, which also impacts profits of grocers and cash flow for them to be able to provide additional food for their shelves.

 Can you see the financial consequences on this one?

 6)      Gas prices are on the rise again.  I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but fuel has risen over 30 cents per gallon in the last two weeks where I am.  When I see fuel rising I immediately think of food costs. It takes fuel to harvest, transport, clean, and process food, Folks.  With unemployment at record high numbers, accompanied by abysmal inflation, that’s a recipe for a lack of access for many folks to purchase food. If food can’t assuredly be sold off of the shelves before it spoils because folks are having to be more cautious in their spending, then grocery stores will pull back on how much they stock on their shelves so that they don’t have to take the financial hit for spoilage.

7)      The wheat and other food reserves have already been exhausted or are inaccessible.  China has long bragged that they hold an enormous wheat reserve of over 150 to 200 million tons (2009). But news articles over the last 5 years account for China reducing that reserve is far in excess of what they claimed to have stored.  No one can verify today that there is any wheat in reserve in China.

India, which has a burgeoning population growth long bragged about their wheat reserves. Unfortunately, such reserves have been completely exhausted due to stark poverty and agriculture problems and replaced with low quality, rotting wheat instead. Under India’s FCI act, the government is required to purchase all of the wheat, regardless of the quality. Thus, in an attempt to keep up with export contracts, India had to raid their stores of quality wheat and replace them with their poor quality, disease-ridden wheat instead for their own people.

As you know, the U.S. no longer has any wheat reserves. The fact that the dollar has been so soft, makes the importing of U.S. wheat by other countries very attractive as their own currencies remain strong against the U.S. dollar. (See, even they understand that “stuff” is more important than money.)

 Argentine dock workers going on strike has made worldwide access to the 3^rd largest supplier of soy useless as the soy harvests simply sit in the port until concessions can be made. (A particularly uncomfortable problem for Europe, which is already experiencing a soy shortage due to the South American crops yielding less than normal.)  Oh, and did I mention that Argentina is experiencing unusually heavy rains so far this year?

 And the financial consequences continue…

 Food shortages have many financial affects, including triple digit food inflation numbers.  But it’s an impact that very few persons can avoid because we all need to eat, right?  The evidence shows that not only will food cost substantially more in 2010, but there will plain and simple be the elimination of food in many aspects.

food harvesting photo c/o www.extension.iastate.edu

The production of food is cyclical. We rely on harvests. Much of our food has been destroyed and thus we cannot create more until the next harvest cycle.  Since the U.S. and most other nations have eliminated their “just in case” food supplies as a result of the previous year’s weather and economic related problems worldwide, we simply do not have a back-up plan. That’s why some food will simply not even exist, even if someone did have the money to pay a higher price for it. In fact, it’s in part attributed to the USDA’s false prediction of a bumper crop for the past two years that the U.S. chose to walk the edge of the cliff when they got rid of their excess food supplies and sold them or donated them to hurting countries.  The USDA told them that the food they were exporting would be easily replaced by the next two year’s harvests.  In fact, they even went so far are to claim that we would have the “largest ever soy crop and the second largest corn crop. Well, here we are, two harvests later, and Mother Nature pulled a fast one on the USDA. In direct contrast to the suspicious predictions by the USDA, we experienced some of the WORST harvests of 25 years!

 So, why did the USDA come out right and just plain LIE about the bumper crop predictions?  Well, our friends, the Chinese have a lot to do with this one. They are the most heavily invested in our debt and they rely heavily on the U.S. for the food supplies.  Remember, money is only as good as what it can purchase, right?  So if China relies heavily on our ability to export food to them, then it requires them to play nice with us, right?  So it’s important to the USDA anyway, that we keep up the pretense that our food supply is just fine and dandy and capable of keeping up with our own supply and demand as well as that of other nations which rely on us to feed them.  Oops. We’re about to be discovered real soon folks.  Not just by China (which latest numbers indicated that they own 25% of our foreign debt) but also by Japan, which is at 22% ownership of our foreign debt.

Zimbabwe inflation photo c/o stan.uio.no/

Here’s where the real crisis begins, folks. If China does not get their food needs met by their relationships with nations who are willing to export their foods, then China has no other choice but to DUMP their U.S. currency and debt back into the market so that they can reclaim their own currency (yuan or Renminbi) so that they can purchase “stuff” to feed their nation with instead of just having debt or currency sitting around.  What happens if China dumps their debt and currency back into the open market?  Our existing currency value will drop way, way down, due to an oversupply in our economic system.  What that then means is that the money which we rely on to purchase our own food, will simply not purchase as much as it used to.  (Think Zimbabwe—in which they had to brings BAGS of cash just to purchase a loaf of bread)

China drought photo c/o physorg.com

 To make matters worse, are you aware that China is experiencing the worst drought ever this year?  On March 19, 2010 one of the provinces worst hit by the drought , Guizhou Provice, released a statement claiming that the existing drought has affected 84 counties, cities and other areas within China, with a total affected population of 17.28 million persons.  Of that 17.28 million, the report claimed that over 3.1 million people are literally starving from a lack of food. This drought has affected the drinking water supply for over 18 million people as well, including the water necessary for about 12.5 million acres of crop and livestock farms.   They claim that over 2.9 million acres of land are already completely destroyed and unsalvageable.   So far, this drought has caused a loss of $2.85 billion (US).  The leader of the Yunnan Province, another province affected by the drought, told the Bejing News that local citizens in this area should “prepare for the worst.”  Does this put China in a vulnerable position in which they are likely to do something desperate in order to protect their greatest asset—their man-power? Of course it does.

 So, what does all of this mean to you?  It means you need to mitigate your risk of exposure to soaring food costs by purchasing smart NOW. Purchase food that has a long shelf-life with plenty of nutrition. (i.e. freeze-dried produce, whole grains, and canned meats).   Utilize coupons as much as possible. While a coupon may only be 50 cents off of an item, the items add up to a sizeable savings—as much as 110%!  Even the 50 cents savings on a $3 item is a better return than most of Wall Street is experiencing presently. And forget about the couponing stigma! No one would accuse Warren Buffet of being a “hoarder of stocks” would they? Just because he kept buying stocks that he recognized as being valuable didn’t make him some kind of a crazy, right? Well, the same holds true to those of you who take the initiative in purchasing a commodity that will still have it’s value 5, 10, or even 30 years from now—food. Food prices will NOT be going down. They are only going to keep rising. So mitigate your vulnerable position by investing heavily in quality foods now.  There’s a big difference between being a crazy food hoarder and stabilizing your grocery budget over the long-term. At least you can ensure that your money works for you today and years from now in that capacity of your life.  Remember, that’s what preparedness is about—eliminating your vulnerabilities and establishing independence.

 May your dinner table be independent for decades to come in spite of what Mother Nature or foreign nations throw at you.

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Copyright Protected 2010, Preparedness Pro and Kellene Bishop. All Rights Reserved. No portion of any content on this site may be duplicated, transferred, copied, or published without written permission from the author. However, you are welcome to provide a link to the content on your site or in your written works.

By Kellene Bishop

At the age of 6, I was doing dishes and cooking meals on my own.  Yes, looking at my young nieces and nephews now, I agree that 6 years old is quite young to be doing such tasks, but I didn’t feel like a kid at that age. Mom was a single mother of three at that time and so we all had to pitch in and I can honestly say that today, I’m so grateful that she did.

Children cooking photo c/o www.umbriacooks4u.com

I’ll never forget the first thing I ever cooked—Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.  I was looking forward to surprising Mom when she came downstairs. I had the table all set like a fancy restaurant. (At least I thought it was fancy with a fork, knife, spoon and even a napkin placed by the plate and cup.)  Unfortunately, I failed to read and comprehend all of the instructions on the box. I did not know that you were supposed to drain the macaroni prior to adding the milk, butter, and cheese packet.  That was some kind of nasty dinner that night!  (I can still remember that awful “soup” to this day!) But I have to say that at least I learned the importance of reading the entire recipe prior to trying to cook something. The very next day I got back into the kitchen. With the magical imagination that a six year old is known for, I was committed and convinced that I would open up a cookbook, and land right on the recipe that the kitchen fairies wanted me to conquer that day.  As the fairy dust, (flour) fell all around me, I felt downright giddy while I made a beautiful Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

Mom had an elderly friend over to help with some house repairs that night. I was shocked that she offered to “thank  him” by providing him with some of the cake that I had just made. He bravely tried a bit of this 6 year-old’s culinary effort.  He ate the entire serving, knelt down and looked at me, and told me that that it was the best Pineapple Upside Down Cake he had ever had. I don’t know if he was being nice or if he was sincere, but that night I was 100% hooked on the praise that came from cooking well for others.  Since that time I have been quite fearless of cooking, trying all sorts of fancy schmancy recipes. In fact, I realized when I got married that I had focused so much on the finer cuisines that I had failed to hone the skills of making the “down home cooking basics” that my husband most enjoys, such as a pot roast and corn on the cob, opting instead to make Coquille St- Jacques Mornay. (Don’t worry. I learned. And my husband no longer starves.) Over the last several decades I have happily found myself in the kitchen. To this day my favorite compliment my father has ever paid me was when he and my step-mother came to eat at my small, inept apartment in Maryland.  Not being able to afford taking them out for dinner during their brief visit, I had instead created a Hot and Sour Soup for them from scratch as well as a few other new kitchen experiments. As Dad was half way through the first course he said to me “Honey. This is the best restaurant I have ever enjoyed!” For me, there’s simply no drug or alternative emotion that can take the place of delivering a satisfying meal to others. 

Cooking at home is the best photo c/o hopeseguin.wordpress.com

In constant pursuit of this emotional high, no gathering for a meal has ever been too big or too important for me to resist. No recipe has been too new or “odd” for me to try out on others—with mixed results, I’m sure. Once I offered to handle the dinner at a wedding reception for some good friends of mine.  I poured through cookbooks and decided what I would make—even though I had never tried them previously.  Confidently I hauled all of my groceries into the on-site kitchen and whipped up some delicious food.  (I make the Swiss Cheese Fondue sauce the same way to this day—YUM!)  Somehow, in defiance of common sense, I never managed to botch anything beyond the patient palates of my friends and family. (Although I do have to say that my wheat meat recipes have had to be revised several times.) I even foolishly elected to make my own wedding cake and prep all of the 5 course meal for my own wedding day. (No. I do NOT advise this kind of insanity, folks) In other words, I’m a confident, albeit occasionally reckless cook and I enjoy the satisfaction so much that I simply can’t leave it alone—even when prudence would yell at one to run away.

It seems like where there is good food, there are smiles. When there are tears, there always seems to be a good food to help wash the sadness away. My life feels balanced and orderly when I’m in the kitchen.  No matter how you look at it, food is a comfort to us on so many levels–not only for the recipients but for those who prepare it as well.  Very few historic events take place throughout the world without the companionship of a fork or a spoon being raised in celebration.  Children make connections with their parents based on foods i.e. “nobody makes this dish quite like Mom,” and relationships are taken to the next level of passion through a great meal i.e. “I was hooked the moment I tasted her spaghetti.” Many business deals have been closed over a perfectly cooked steak. And many friendships have been kindled by a shared affinity for a nutritional way of life. Eyes light up as recipes are shared.  Heroes are made when “good eats” saunter onto a scene.

Having a Preparedness Pantry makes it so you are never afraid of hearing: "What's for Dinner Mom?" photo c/o www.diabeticlivingonline.com

Because good meals play such a positive role in my life I’m determined to make sure that my access to culinary confidence never comes under threat from the mistakes or beliefs of others.  Great memories that are associated with a good meal are too valuable to me to have them just disappear because of an earthquake, food recall, or new government rules on genetically modified seeds supplies.  I strive for independence in the area of Food Preparedness not simply so that my family could survive a famine or a long-term unemployment but because I want to make sure that my friends and loved ones still THRIVE in a chaotic event. I truly do believe that I have the ability to ensure that they have access to the same great memories and moments that I’ve enjoyed throughout my life by preparing appropriately now. Knowledge, skills, confidence, and necessary staples and tools of the culinary world will serve me and my family well under all circumstances in the name of Everyday Preparedness.  While I cannot accurately anticipate the trials that may be nipping at our heels as we enjoy such moments of memorable meals, I can sure as heck make sure that Trouble is not invited to my dinner table.

That’s it for me today, folks. I’m now going to make up some soup for my father who’s flying in tonight.  Hmmm…maybe a Mexican Corn Chowder made from freeze-dried potatoes and corn, some Shirley J’s awesome Universal Sauce and a dash of green chilies. That, served up with some homemade wheat bread, and I just might make another great memory for both of us.

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Copyright Protected 2010, Preparedness Pro and Kellene Bishop. All Rights Reserved. No portion of any content on this site may be duplicated, transferred, copied, or published without written permission from the author. However, you are welcome to provide a link to the content on your site or in your written works.

by Kellene Bishop

Filling your preparedness pantry doesn't have to cost a bucket load of money. photo c/o www.mcdowelltech.edu

While perusing advertisements for “emergency preparedness” supplies, I saw some pretty hefty price tags just for a year’s worth of food. This doesn’t count the bucket loads of money that one could spend on other gadgets like a solar oven, pressure cooker, first aid supplies, etc. So, let’s get real.  What can a person with only a few hundred bucks a year do to increase their state of preparedness?  Well, here are a few of my suggestions.

First and foremost, spend your money in order of prioritization.  Stick to the priorities. If you’re starting from scratch, review the 10 Areas of Preparedness. Remember that such a list is a prioritized one.  The higher up an area is on the list, the sooner you’ll be confronted with it in need or crisis scenario.  This also means that areas of preparedness further down the list will essentially be at the mercy of your preparedness level on areas of higher prioritization.

The first area is Spiritual preparedness. Fortunately, that area doesn’t require much in the form of funds to implement.

The next area is Mental Preparedness. You could spend a bit of money in that area in the form of books and classes, but a great deal of knowledge, thus mental preparedness, can be provided to you via the library and the internet. 

Physical preparedness is a must in completing the Ten Areas of Preparedness

The next area is Physical preparedness.  Again, this is an area that does not necessarily require money but rather a consciousness effort to get your body in better health. This does not need to come at the cost of expensive supplements and gym memberships.

The next area is Medical Preparedness.  Remember, that this are may require you some preliminary funds in terms of first aid supplies for you and your family and then for others. But keep in mind that providing medical care for you and your family is the first priority. So only spend enough money to take care of that first and foremost.  I have found that with coupons I have been able to acquire a boatload of medical supplies for free or very cheap. Also, in the vein of Medical Preparedness I have taken advantage of whatever free community classes I can that teach CPR, and other areas of commonly necessary medical knowledge. As I review my medical supplies, including medication alternatives, I know that I’ve spent very little by making use of coupons and alternative medical options.

Be sure your 72 hour kit is packed and ready to go. photo c/o coolshadesails.com

The next area is Clothing/Shelter Preparedness.  Most of you are already starting out with some kind of shelter complete with bedding and clothing. So you can usually check that off the list. However, I also recommend folks having a weather-appropriate change of clothes that they can grab and go in a hurry if necessary.  I can assure you that when I created such outfits, I didn’t take them from my existing wardrobe. Instead, I went to the thrift stores and purchased complete outfits for very, very cheap. I then store those outfits in my “get up and go quickly” supplies. That way I’m never stuck with “just the clothes on my back.”  Along with that though is alternative shelter such as blankets and a pup tent for a “get up and go quickly” scenario. Again, these were obtained very cheaply thanks to army surplus and thrift stores.

cheap sources for fuel, such as butane and alcohol complete your preparedness pantry.

Fuel comes next. This is an area in which you can’t cut corners on. As such I would recommend focusing the majority of your available funds in this particular area.  While you will be able to get much of the equipment at an army surplus store, you will need to purchase your fuel via mainstream venues like the rest of us. However, there are less expensive forms of fuel than others such as butane and isopropyl alcohol. I’ve been able to stock up on my cans of butane as cheaply as $1.27 each.  And I’ve been able to get my butane stoves as cheaply as $12 each.  We also have recently purchased lanterns for only $1.97 each!  The key is to keep your eyes open for the equipment you need. Compare prices. If you have the appropriate heating and light equipment, getting a 55 gallon barrel of isopropyl alcohol delivered to your home is very economical and you can keep it outside since it won’t freeze.  See? This is why mental preparedness comes before these other areas-so that you can use these kinds of ideas.

After fuel finally comes your Water Preparedness.  Water is obviously an affordable commodity. There are plenty of corners you can cut. You don’t have to be a purchaser of 2 liter bottles of soda pop to obtain plenty of those kinds of containers from neighbors and friends.  Simply get the used containers from others, wash them out well, and fill them up and store them.  No money necessary.

Then there’s the Food Preparedness.  The most affordable way to have a sufficient amount of food cheaply is to simply utilize coupons in your regular shopping so that you can purchase more of it—at least this is definitely what I’ve discovered to be the case. If you’re one of those people who read this, though, and say that couponing takes too much time, or that you can’t get all that you want with coupons, I recommend that you search on the articles that I’ve

Freeze-Dried Foods are tasty, nutritious, have a long shelf life, and are a real asset to your preparedness pantry.

previously written about couponing. I assure you that there’s very little food stuffs that I haven’t been able to purchase free or cheap. Also keep in mind that freeze-dried produce is actually less expensive than fresh produce, not to mention cleaner, more convenient, lasts longer, etc.  If all you want to do though is to buy some food items and forget it, then I would recommend purchasing whole wheat, sprouts, a quality powdered milk, salt, and a quality honey. None of these items should break the bank if you are prudent in your selections of them. If you spend money on no other food, I would recommend that you at least have these five.

After the Food Preparedness area then you have the areas of Financial Preparedness and Communication. These areas aren’t so much a cost to you as they are disciplines, and perhaps a Ham Radio license.  What I’m trying to get at is that preparedness doesn’t need to cost you much more money than you are already spending living your days. See? Everyday preparedness not only works better, but it costs a heck of a lot less money.

(By the way, Five Star Preparedness has a Group Buy on Raw Honey this month. Just go to www.fivestarpreparedness.com/GroupBuy).

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Copyright Protected 2010, Preparedness Pro and Kellene Bishop. All Rights Reserved. No portion of any content on this site may be duplicated, transferred, copied, or published without written permission from the author. However, you are welcome to provide a link to the content on your site or in your written works.

by Kellene Bishop

Safety in a carjacking situation photo c/o www.womenofcaliber.com

Recently there was a rare occurrence of a car jacking in the State of Utah.  In the name of everyday preparedness I thought I’d address this crime, which is actually rampant elsewhere in the nation and thus should be properly addressed to ensure maximum safety of you and your family.  The good news though is that there are several simple ways you can protect yourself from being a carjacking statistic.

1^st: Your safety boils down to being aware.  You can’t afford to be oblivious. If someone is approaching your car, you need to notice them ahead of time. Make use of your rearview and side mirrors when you are stopped at a light or getting in and out of your car in a parking lot.  It’s important that you pay attention to the cars which are parked near you too. Is there someone in the car?  Is there anything amiss in YOUR car as you’re getting in it again?

2^nd: Never stop at a traffic light or stop sign directly behind another car. While learning to drive in the crazy area of Connecticut, tailgating was virtually a must. But at a stop light or stop sign or even in the midst of a traffic jam, it’s a recipe for disaster.  You should always be able to see at least the bumper and the rear wheels of the car in front of you in order to have the ideal safety. At the risk of sounding paranoid, I always give myself an “escape route” when I’m stopped at a light or caught in traffic, even on the freeway.  If someone is coming towards my car, the first thing you should do is ensure your doors are locked, your car is in gear, and have your foot on the gas. If you have any doubt as to the intentions of the approaching person, step on the gas and have somewhere to go.

3^rd: Keep your purse and your defense weapon nearby—whether that is an Asp, red-dyed pepper spray, or my defense of choice—a firearm.   In the truck, I have a firearm just under the dash in a holster that I can easily and discreetly grab if I am held up at gun point.  Under many circumstances I also have a gun on my person in the event I’m grabbed just prior to getting into the car or getting out of it. The truth be told, a firearm on the person of a competent individual is the safest and the most effective place it can be.

4^th: Always park your vehicle in a well lit area.  When I’m in a parking lot, I don’t necessarily look for a spot closest to the door. I look for a spot that’s well lit, first and foremost. Worst case scenario, use a bright flashlight attachment on your key ring as well.

5^th: Look around before you get in your car and before you get out of your car. Your errands are never so important that you don’t have three seconds to evaluate your surroundings.  I always look in my rearview mirror and in my two side mirrors before I exit my car.  And I always look around me as I walk to my car as well. Even if I’m only taking out 2 light grocery bags, I still use the shopping cart in order that my hands are “free” to pull my gun if necessary (or your Asp, pepper spray, mace, or panic button).

6^th: Always have your cell phone handy. You should have 9-1-1 on a one button speed dial on your phone.  Don’t rely on your fine motor skills to dial in the midst of an emergency—even if you think it’s only 3 numbers.  Also, make your vocal concerns well heard by everyone around you. Screaming can easily be misconstrued in today’s society. So use words instead.  “Get away from my car.  Help, he’s beating me!”—even if such is not the case. These words are perfectly permissible even if you are under threat of such.

Make sure to keep your doors locked at all times photo c/o 4.bp.blogspot.com

Lastly, be sure you lock your doors as soon as you get in the car and that YOU control when your doors are unlocked when you park the car. Don’t have your car’s automatic settings to unlock the doors when you put the car in park. There are many criminals that are familiar with this feature and will use it to their advantage. They will also use the innocence of children in the back seat who may eagerly open their own car door to their advantage as well. Program your locks so that the kids get out only after you’ve given the all clear.  And be sure that your children get into the car under your watchful eye before you reenter the vehicle.

A little awareness goes a long ways, folks. In fact, just approaching your car with more awareness will be obvious to a perpetrator and thus you are less likely to be the victim of a crime.  Perpetrators are lazy.  They go for the easy strike. Make sure you don’t portray yourself as “easy” and you’ve one half of the real-life battle that plagues over 2,700 persons per day.

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Copyright Protected 2010, Preparedness Pro and Kellene Bishop. All Rights Reserved. No portion of any content on this site may be duplicated, transferred, copied, or published without written permission from the author. However, you are welcome to provide a link to the content on your site or in your written works.