United States Prepper Networks

It’s that time of year again. Most have already started months ago, but it’s never to late to plant a garden. In some parts of the country some of us are late through no fault of our own. First it was to cold, then it was to wet. I’m just now getting the main parts of my garden planted, but still expect to have some decent crop production.

I’ve heard two different people say recently “I live in town and I don’t have room for a garden”. My answer is always, and why not? I mean after all you’ve got all that grass you mow and you sometimes water and fertilize but you can’t eat it. And you spend money on those pretty flowers that you can’t eat either. Replace some of both with vegetables and you might be surprised at what the outcome might be. But, that’s not the real reason for this post. I want to tell you about an opportunity some of you may not have thought of before. There is a good bit of very usable garden space out there just lying fallow every year. Mostly this is because the owner is getting to old to take care of a big garden so they just put out tomato plants and such for fresh eating. There-in lies your opportunity to have your garden. It’s a win-win for the both of you, you get the benefits of your own garden and they reap benefits you’ll probably never think of. They get to see their garden spot back in production and know they’re helping someone, but importantly to them they get visitors a couple times a week and just as important to them, they get to pass some of their vast knowledge gain from a lifetime of gardening. And if you are smart you’ll take full advantage of that last one.Like I said it’s a win-win for you both.

I know these opportunities exist because I’m taking advantage of one such. I’m splitting a large garden space with an older gentleman who doesn’t want to try to take care of the whole thing. He gets the garden for his needs and I get a 35×50ft. space some main crops that I just can’t do in my “side of the mountain” garden beds. I’ll be planting potatoes and most likely green beans and tomatoes that I couldn’t other wise plant. So, get out there and look around you may find a golden, or in this case a green and edible, opportunity. Hope this gets you thinking. Have a nice day, Gary

I own dogs. It’s hard to see my dogs suffer from anything that hurts them. I think I’m like a lot of owners and I’ve tried to research what causes the health problems in my pets. Here’s what I’ve learned about allergies: like humans, pets are bombarded every minute of every day with particles; some large, some microscopic in the air, water and soil. Like our bodies, your pet’s immune system is constantly fighting these particulates to keep the body functioning and healthy. This all started because one of my girls, Missy, had a spot the size of a small saucer on her back near her tail that would on occasion scab over and had no hair. I talked to my vet and while he is a great vet that I trust I was not happy with what I was hearing about my dog let alone the high cost of the treatment being suggested. As I began looking for a viable alternative I went and talked with a local pet store about my problem. The following is what I learned from this store owner in sort of an interview style.

“Here’s my experience with allergies: Every day customers come into our pet store and report their vet told them their pet has allergies. When I hear this I know the “Allergy Scam” is under way. The pet allergy industry centers kick into high gear because they are going to make a pretty good profit off of your pet. Vets now have an excuse to see your pet on a regular basis to control the allergies, the pet food manufactures now can charge you more for pet food because the good old vet can control your pet’s allergies with special food (which the vet most likely sells) and the drug companies are cleaning up at your expense.

You will be told that if you really love your pet you need to get a series of allergy tests. You can expect at least a page full of stuff your pet is allergic. Remember, the longer the list the more profit for the pet industry. In the end the vet will most likely give your pet antibiotics or steroids or both and put your pet on a expensive diet while requiring you to return for treatment on a regular basis.

Back to what I’ve learned: This Band-Aid approach to your pet’s health care, in addition to being expensive, is most likely is bad for your pet’s overall all health. There are things that both people and pets are allergic too – such as bee stings, peanut butter etc. but, in my experience, the vast majority of allergy diagnoses are bogus, expensive and counter to the overall health of your pet. Of course antibiotics do have a place in medicinal treatment but it should be used sparingly as they have side effects, many bacteria are becoming resistant, and your pet may develop a tolerance over time that requires even more antibiotics in order to be effective. In my opinion, steroids should only be used as a treatment of last resort. The reasons are obvious – the side effects range from temperament changes to Cushing’s disease, liver and kidney failure, and increase risk of infection.

Yet, bottom line is most likely YOUR PET DOES NOT HAVE ALLERGIES! His scratching, dandruff and hot-spots, his “allergies” are probably symptoms of a depressed immune system, which does not allow your pet to overcome the affect of everyday particulates. Antibiotics and steroids actually suppress the very immune system needed to fight the allergens! So the cure to your pet’s allergies is not attacking the symptoms – it’s correcting the cause by boosting the immune system so your pet can overcome the allergic symptoms.

So what is the answer? After tons of research I found the answer. Vibrant Pets! This company provides a nutritional supplement that they guarantee will show signs of improvement in your pet’s health and allergies in 2 weeks or your money back. On their website www.vibrantpets.com are a bunch, and I mean a bunch, of testimonials that demonstrate just how powerful Vibrant Pets products really are. One in particular is a testimonial about Muffin, a 1-year-old Yorkie. On their website you can see pictures of Muffin when she literally had no hair because of allergies. I talked to the guys at Vibrant Pets and also to the owner of Muffin and found out that Vibrant Pets was able to turn a tragedy into a success. Because of Muffin’s allergies the Vets did the normal allergy tests and put Muffin on a series of steroids and antibiotics and nothing worked. Hundreds upon hundreds of dollars were spent after which the Vets recommended that Muffin be euthanized. In desperation, Muffin’s owners took her off of all the steroids and antibiotics and went strictly on Vibrant Pets and after just 5 ½ weeks, as the pictures show, Muffin was over her allergies and full coated again. Muffin is still alive and healthy. The total cost to save Muffin’s life was less than $20.00 using Vibrant Pets Ultimate Formulas. I’ve seen this result myself with my customer’s pets and all my dogs get Vibrant Pets every day.

If your pet shows signs of being allergic to anything I suggest you try Vibrant Pets before you do anything else. If it does not help your pet you get your money back. But when it helps your pet, you not only overcome the affects of the depressed immune system in you pet, you also have a healthier pet.

After talking with this store owner I called the folks at Vibrant Pets and found them to be super nice and quite easy to talk to and extremely helpful. As they are pet owners their main concern IS your pet. They are in the business of helping your pet. You can see this for yourself at the Vibrant Pets website here. Now you may ask what this has to do with preparedness or preppers? Well, in talking with the owners I found them to be preppers also. And since most preppers are cost conscious folks I do think this is a good subject for this blog. Not only that but if you go to their website and decide to order one or more of their products, enter the word “prepper” in the promo code box and get a 10% discount off your purchase. Not only that offer but they working on a new marketing idea where you don’t pay until “after” you see the results in your pet. I know, “Where’s the catch?”. The only “catch” is you have to call on the phone for this one. If you would like to talk to the guys at Vibrant Pets you can call 866-945-7387 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              866-945-7387      end_of_the_skype_highlighting And if you call you might get the president of the co./owner on the phone. Give them a chance to help your pet.

Before I go, back to my girl Missy. She is well on the way to being healthy with a full coat of hair with no more bald spot or scabs. Have a great day everyone, Gary.

First of all a Happy New Year wish to all. I hope it will be better than the last, but I fear things may have to get worse before we see them get better. Be a good time to take a critical look at your preparedness plans and fill in the gaps. We may need them sooner rather than later.

Now on to the first new change. As most of you know we here at USPN have a forum board of like-minded people where we hang-out and call home. Most if not all of the writers have moved to a new home forum. I can’t take credit for the choice, it was a group effort you might say. I’m not going to go in to reasons or trashing the old board, it was just something that had to happen. We have all moved on and are happy with our new home. Please don’t let the name in the address bar turn you off as it truly is a preparedness board. You can find the new forum, SHTF Survival, Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Forums, here. There are some very knowledgeable people who are more than willing to help others get better prepared and they have a very active chat room where can also get lots of help with any problem or question. Johnny the owner, also has a blogtalk radio show with great guest and lots of good info. Find more show details here . Our very own Herbalpagan is tonight’s guest, check her out here. We invite you to come join us at the new place and learn or share your knowledge with others. That is after-all how we all get better prepared.

And the second change you should see is the “American Preparedness Radio Net” linked on our main index page. Dave, aka WV Santa, and his group have always been a part of the networks, I’ve just been lax in getting it done after he was ready. This is a group of Ham Radio operators trying to folks involved in “emergency communications”. If you’re interested give them a visit via the link in the sidebar to the right.

And finally, I fully intend to do more writing here and endeavor to keep this page more current and up to date, also if anyone would like to try writing please contact us. Again, Happy New Year and as always have a great day, Gary.

I’ve noticed a lot more traffic to the blogs than usual and I now know why. It seems one of the sites in this network got mentioned at “Survival Blog”, thank you Mr. Rawles, and caused the increased traffic. Welcome to all our new guest. We are a small, but growing, group trying to help get information to folks wanting to get themselves better prepared for tough times ahead. We are always looking for new writers for the different blogs, so if you would like to try your hand and pass on information you have to others, please contact me or one of our other members. We are also trying to build a small forum board for the express and sole purpose of helping others get their prepping questions answered. You can check that out by using the link in the bar on the right. Again thanks for visiting and everyone have a nice day, Gary

I am trying to gather more how-to articles up on USPN to help folks get a bit more independent. I think here on the Prepper Networks we need to be helping people do things that save them money and, hopefully, improve their situation. I mean, anyone can tell you how to spend thousands of your hard earned dollars and point you toward this or that website thats having the latest and greatest gadget that you just have to have. I really don’t think that’s what we want to be about on the Prepper’s Network. Now, I can’t promise you will not get an occasional rant from me, but Santa and I have decided we would like to take WV in a little different direction, and try to put up more how-to info.

Today I want to tell you about a small and easy-to-make root cellar that I designed for an elderly customer of mine who lives in a small town and doesn’t have much room to work with on her lot. I think this could be used just about anywhere there is a need. This is a little different than some you can see at different websites as they are mostly for just one fruit or vegetable. I designed this so it could be used for up to four different items at the same time.

The materials needed for this are as follows:
* 1- straight wall, 55 gallon metal barrel with a clamp lid
* 1- sheet 3/4 in plywood
* some strofoam board/ or rubber foam such as you’d find in a sofa cushion

This is very simple to assemble and needs very few tools. You start by measuring the diameter and depth of your barrel on the inside. You subtract 1/2 in from the diameter measurement and 2 in from the depth measurement.

Then you take your plywood and cut two pieces from it using these measurements ( see table below) and then mark then center of each peice the length of the longest section. Then mark 1/2 in both sides of your center for half of the total length. This is the most critical point to remember, the old carpenter’s rule “measure twice, cut once”. Then cut this 1 in part out and measure on half the length.

Repeat with your other piece of plywood. When you finish you should be able to slide the first piece in the barrel with the long notch up and the second piece with the notch down. This should give you a barrel with four equal compartments. Then you ned to cut from the foam board three pieces that just fit inside the barrel, or one piece of the foam rubber.

You can then choose one of several ways to bury the barrel. You can completely bury it with just the lid sticking out or you can bury it half way and use the dug out dirt to cover the top, or you can just lay it on the ground and use bales of straw or mulch hay ( which you can use in your garden the following year). You can also use trash bags full of leaves to cover the barrel. You are trying to to insulate it enough to keep the temp near 10 degrees. You now have a functional root cellar ready for filling. When it is full you put your styrofoam disc or the foam rubber in and put the lid on. Hope this helps and if you decide to try, best of luck to you.
nitewalker (Click on picture for full size view)

I would like to offer my apologies to all of our readers. I have not been diligent about getting post on the blogs for some time now and I will do my best to remedy that situation. I’ve been so busy trying to keep my head above water that I let the blogs fall by the wayside and I’m sorry. Thanks for your support and interest, Gary

I was thinking that a helpful how-to post that can save you some much needed cash would be good for today. With that in mind I’ll try to help you build a functioning water filter. Directions as follows.

You can make your own “Big Berkey” type water filter for about one third the cost and a little bit of time on your part. The materials you will need for this project are two food grade buckets of two to five gallon size with lids, a “Black Berkey” filter, three brass or stainless one and one quarter inch 3/16ths bolts with nuts and two washers each, three rubber washers of the same size and either a cpvc threaded boiler drain or a flip-up spigot like those found on large coffee pots and some water coolers.
The first thing you want to do is scrub your buckets and lids meticulously clean and then wipe them with some bleach water and let air dry. Then put the lid on one bucket and sit the other bucket on top of the lid. It should nestle inside the rim of the lid nicely, then drill three holes the size of your bolts in a triangle pattern about 2in. in from the edge for small or three for large buckets. Then slide a rubber washer and a metal washer on your bolt then put them down through the top bucket and bottom lid. While the buckets are still in this position drill a hole 1/8th inch less than the thread size on your filter element, usually this will be 11/16ths, but double check that to be sure. Now lift the lid and bucket and lid off together and put a washer and nut on each bolt and tighten pulling the two snugly together. Now you want to drill a hole for your spigot near the bottom of the lower bucket, 1/16 smaller than the threads if using a cpvc boiler drain then screw the drain in keeping it as square in the hole as possible. If using the flip lever spigot make the hole the exact size needed and install spigot making sure you have one rubber washer on the inside and one on the outside. Now put the lid back on your bottom bucket and then screw your filter down through the hole you previously drilled in the center and you are now ready to put your new water filter in to service.Follow the instructions for cleaning the ceramic filter and be sure and pre-filter any “dirty” water and this system will do many, many gallons of water for you and your family.
Good luck and as always, if I may be of any assistance you need only ask. Everyone have a nice day, Gary.

It certainly is starting to look like things are on the brink of a irreversible slid in to an area this country hasn’t seen in 75yrs and I don’t think there is any stopping it now. The new spending package doesn’t seem to be making everyone feel warm and fuzzy like our gov said it would. Well duhhh, us peons out here in the real world could have told them that weeks if not months ago. If you haven’t got your preps together, now would be the time to move it to the front of the line and shift into high gear. I would suggest that you only have a small window of opportunity before the economy starts showing the effects of things that are happening now. Expect prices to rise sharply for most of the basic goods we need and I can see a rise in taxes and other services,if you can call it that, to go up also as the states try to balance budgets. I think now is the time to really hit the basics hard such as dry beans, rice,flour and other things you can use as the foundation to feed your family. You can still find some stuff at prices that will allow you to buy lots. Look in the Mexican section at Dollar General for pinto beans at $2.00 for a 4# bag and 10# bags of rice at $4.25 and they still have Treet at $1.00 per can. I mean the very basics here not the things you wish you could get but can’t afford or are otherwise out of reach. When you need them the most what you have on hand will trump what you wish you had every time. Get the most bang for your buck while you still can. Do what you have to do now and your family will thank you later.
On a related note, I mentioned old cookbooks the other day and I found a couple of links in my bookmarks I’ll pass on. The first is on how the Indians used the very basics,www.yvwiiusdinvnohii.net/NAIFood/NAIrecipes.htm and the second is an e-book from WW1 that has a lot of very basic stuff http://www.gutenburg.org/ebook/15464 Hope these may help you get an idea of what can be done with just the very basics.
I know everyone talks a lot about food but there is more things that will be needed so don’t make the mistake of honing in on just one thing like food and forgetting other things like water,light,the ability to cook and all the other things that go into staying alive when you can’t run to the store when you’ve forgotten something. Think about things like an extra pair of shoes for everyone and extra clothes and anything else that wears out or gets out grown. Start making it a point to hit Goodwill or Salvation Army stores and yard sales for things you can use to better your position. You will find lots of things like candles(extra care with these),cookware(get cast iron or alum because teflon will not last long over the fire) and many other useful items. Use your common sense and experience and you will find lots of things you can use. If you are just starting to get prepared do as much as you can and try to meet others of like mind and are also prepping and work together to the benefit of all. I wish I had better news but I just do not see any. Everyone have a nice day.

I was thinking about the new people that come to visit these networks and got to thinking of a good way to explain why we do some of the things we do so even new people could understand. Everyone should understand what security means. Normally when you say security people tend to think of firearms and ammo, but I would put forth the fact that I think it is much more than just that to we preppers. In fact I think it is sort of like the word prepper in that it means many different things and some we may not be able to describe. When you finally get that first three months worth of food in your pantry isn’t that security? I certainly feel more secure knowing it is there. When you stand back and look at all those jars of veggies, jellys and pickles on the shelf that got there thru your hard work, do you not feel more secure knowing you can do it again next year and the one after that. Or when you get two months or more of bill money stashed back in cash are you not more secure. When you learn how to fix things that break around the house you become more secure because now you don’t have to call the repairman and spend more money you could use for other things. I believe one of the biggest reasons most of us are prepping is so we are more able to take care of ourselves without outside help or interference. Firearms are part of our security to some of us, but I hope this can help you understand, there is much more to security than that to a prepper. People like us are usually working on many different things at any given time, but the central theme is always to secure that elusive thing called peace of mind. Now that’s prepper security. Have a nice day, Gary.

I’d like to take this opportunity to announce the opening of the new “Preppers Store” here at the United States Prepper Networks. This store may be found here. This is meant to be a place where other preppers can market there products to other preppers and will be mostly preparedness related in some way. We will not have the normal things like survival seeds, lts foods and other things you often see on preparedness sites. For this reason the inventory will be slow to build, but I will attempt to bring you quality products made and marketed by fellow preppers. As I’m sure most of you have noticed all of these sites(blogs) are ad free at present and it is my intention to keep them that way. Hopefully as it grows this store will provide enough income to pay the bills and keep us ad free. Some items will only be found here exclusively such as autographed copies of the book that is in the store now and another becoming available soon. If any of our readers think they have a product that would fit in this store please contact me at (nitewalker@unitedstatespreppernetworks.com). The store is being operated as an online consignment shop and I would be happy to discuss the details with you. I hope that you will consider supporting us and other preppers in this endeavor. Thanks, and have a great day, Gary