Survival Toolkit: Stop reading and start PREPARING !!

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HOLLY NOTE: Whatever your political persuasion, put those thoughts aside for the next two minutes and read this first-hand account of the help FEMA didn't give those in need after Hurricane Ike. The American Red Cross' lack of assistance is a shock. You'll also read some eye-opening information on how insurance companies operate after a disaster. There are exceptions in every disaster scenario, but since Hurricane Katrina, insurance horror stories are increasingly the norm. Cheryl's narrative underscores the need for personal responsibility in the preparedness arena and why you must rely on yourself and your family to see you through. Do what you can now to prepare and forget FEMA. IF they come to your aid, consider it an unexpected plus. As this article points out, just because they show up, doesn't mean you count on FEMA beyond a blue tarp.

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October 19, 2008
Cheryl, Texas

Colin Powell endorsed Obama this morning. I had told everyone I would go whichever direction Colin would go. Well I told everyone that but in reality I surely would not have voted Repug. From the corporate paid and run US news I switched to the UK news. I checked out the Guardian and found out that Wall Street top bankers will get as much as 70 billion each in bonuses this year. My comment on this is “May the fleas of a thousand camels infest in the bankers armpits.” That said I must also say three million Americans got scammed **BIG TIME.*** There's more to come. Much more. They've only just begun to get started. They must be laughing their asses off now. They just STOLE our money and in some cases house as well. And all we did was 'whined a bit on the internet'. It just encourages them to do it again and again.

So after reading that I filtered through some insurance papers. We have been dealing with FEMA, Texas Windstorm Insurance and of all people the Salvation Army. Today they are closing all shelters in Houston and the area. Tent cities have sprung up over night. We are cleaning out the garage and bringing over school clothes for the kids, school supplies, backpacks, pillows, blankets, coolers, etc. I just got back from Walmart where I bought blow up mattresses. So the van is packed and the girl scouts donated about a thousand dollars worth of toiletries they bought yesterday. My daughter is the leader and they had $1600 left in their cookie money which they were going to use for a trip to San Antonio but they decided to donate all of it. All day yesterday this looked like a crack house with all the cars pulling up with donations. The Salvation Army has been helping with shelters and the American Red Cross has done next to nothing. I did get a new bucket and mop from them. They were handing them out for cleanup. The bucket is great and I will use it for years to come. The mop handle broke already. Insurance is a real scam. FEMA won't help anyone until they settle with their insurance company. They did put a tarp on our houses and that was the end of that!

Insurance companies are offering inadequate payments for damages that people believed were covered since they were listed on their policies. No federal law has yet held the insurance industry accountable for how it mistreated Americans in the aftermath of any disaster. In fact, federal law is actually the problem. It has long given the insurance industry preferential treatment when compared to all other American industries. They have special exemption from federal antitrust laws and each state handles the insurance industries in their own state. So insurance is a monopoly with price fixing and the ability to block fair dispute and resolution claims. Of course this means fantastic profits in the insurance industry.

So if you are going to fight you have to go to civil court. Insurance has several tools at their disposal to continue to defraud their customers and they will delay everything and the consumer will end up losing in court and paying off the fees for court and in interest generally equates to more than the value of their property. My fried Sue was over yesterday afternoon and she just cried most of the time. She lost her health food store and home from IKE. She had 5 feet of water in both and both were totaled. The value of her property was half a million. Not a lot but it was pretty much a small store. She was ashamed as she borrowed money. She is house rich but now has no house and is poor. No job and no place to live. No FEMA and insurance will not return her calls. We have a neighbor who took her and her son in. He is in college…. We need to get this country straightened out and not pass this greed onto our children and grandchildren.

Ike Spirit Then I went outside and grabbed the paper out of the driveway. Remember all those months when we were not allowed to say war about Iraq and instead say insurgency. Well now we are to say recession instead of depression. Actually we are not in a depression yet but that also is most likely on the horizon. So in this morning's paper on the front page was an article about depression. Like trying to show how far away a real depression is. Then I turned the page and a weekly columnist wrote about his parents and how they lived through the depression. The Houston Chronicle is breaking the rule and starting to wrote about DEPRESSION.

I bought olive oil yesterday and I think it has doubled in price. It was always expensive but WOW! Then I bought another 20 pounds of rice and vacuum packaged it. Bananas went up to 50 cents a pound so I skipped those. I will wait until they are in bad shape and get them for 10 cents a pound. That is what I did last week. I bought 3 more bags of flour and vacuum packed that also. Did the same with corn starch and sugar I don't need to vacuum package that since it will last for 30 years even if it is out and exposed.

OK here is another article from a friend on Survival Blog:

Damage It is not too late to prepare for the hard times that are coming. But time is short, so I am going to be brutally blunt. Prices are going up. If you don't already expect double digit inflation, you haven't been paying attention. If you are just realizing that you need to prepare for the future, forget buying barter goods. Forget precious metals to swap for what others may be willing to sell.

The idea of buying things so that you can swap them for other goods or services later is bad policy. That's right. I'm advocating that you buy no precious metals and no barter goods. Instead- you need to prioritize purchases of things that you need right now. Sitting on a pile of sewing needles, can openers, or thousands of dollars of face value in gold or silver is not going to stop you from starving to death, freezing to death, or dying gasping in your own fluids.

This is not a slam on previous writers excellent advice to invest in tangibles. It is not even a criticism of his recent post on barter items to acquire, or advice to invest in precious metals. This article is a reminder that all those things are good advice only after you have squared away your personal needs. Only after you have duplicate sources of potable water, shelter, a substantial food supply, a deep medicine chest, and ample supplies of sturdy clothing and footwear should you invest in barter goods or precious metals.

Here are your priorities:

You need breathable air to live. Most of us expect that to be available for free. Your next priority for sustaining life is shelter from extreme elements (your home and a way to heat it during winter), then potable water. Let me make this explicitly clear. Unless you have clean water to drink, you will die in a matter of days. It is not the government's job to make sure that you stay alive. It is your responsibility to care for yourself and your dependants. You are responsible to ensure that you have access to clean drinking water or a method to filter, boil, or collect it. If you have no method to do so, go get one. At the very least, plan on a way to boil water over an outside fire or solar oven.

After air, shelter, and water - you need food. Come what may, you and those who you love will need to eat. Buy food. The cheapest food that you can get will keep you alive, but my advice is to buy extra of what you already eat. Oatmeal, grits, rice, pasta and potatoes are all relatively affordable and life sustaining. Potatoes will store for months. The others will store for years if properly packaged. Yes these alone would make a very bland diet. Use them to stretch your regular grocery meals while the other supplies last.

What next? Get over-the-counter medicines. Diarrhea will kill you. The stomach flu will kill you. Pneumonia will kill you. Allergic reactions will kill you. There may not be any 911 to send help. There may not be an emergency room to flee to as a last resort. There may not be a pharmacy with inventory to sell at 3 a.m.. Buy vital medicines now. Look in your medicine cabinet. If you do not have the medicines to treat an allergic reaction, stomach flu, and a chest cold; go buy them today. $10 spent on medicine could save your child's life. It won't if you can't give it to them. Go buy it before you go to sleep tonight.

Photo: My neighbor made his bird house into a FEMA birdhouse. That is how all our roofs look with the exception of that one house that is almost totally covered.

If you can avoid getting sick that's even better than treating illness. Hygiene is critical to health. Buy toilet paper and tissues. You will need them, why don't you already have them?

You should have sturdy warm clothes and footwear for each member of your family.

And yes, you should also have a means of defense and forage. A simple shotgun and shells for it will let you defend your doorway and harvest birds and bunnies if need be. If you are contemplating buying your first firearm then I strongly recommend that you take an NRA-sponsored firearms safety course as soon as possible. Firearms are a vital tool, but whether you ever need to defend your home, you will need to drink, sleep in a dry place, eat, and stay healthy. God has given you the resources and wisdom to prepare, the rest is up to you. Now pray for wisdom and go take action. - From Mr. Yankee.

So there you go…By the way I bought what I thought was 3 boxes of paper matches yesterday only to find out there were 6 boxes. I have 6000 matches in plastic bags and now I need to get more clothespins. They break easily…

So my advice is quit reading the paper, looking at the TV news and the internet news. It will get you confused and instead start looking at how to take care of you and your loved ones.

Pictures: The bird just stood there and let me get off about 10 shots before he flew off. I was like 10 feet away from him. Have a great day everyone...

http://grantwriter.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!932859C467A6E601!3360.entry

SURVIVAL TOOLKIT: Are feds stockpiling survival food?

Just reporting what is sent to me. Not saying martial law is inevitable.

V

These circumstances certainly raise red flags'

July 24, 2008

A Wall Street Journal columnist has advised people to "start stockpiling food" and an ABC News Report says "there are worrying signs appearing in the United States where some … locals are beginning to hoard supplies." Now there's concern that the U.S. Government may be competing with consumers for stocks of storable food.

"We're told that the feds bought the entire container of canned butter when it hit the California docks. (Something's up!)," said officials at Best Prices Storable Foods in an advisory to customers.

Spokesman Bruce Hopkins told WND he also has had trouble obtaining No. 10 cans of various products from one of the world's larger suppliers of food stores, Oregon Freeze Dry.

He said a company official told him on the telephone when he discussed the status of his order that it was because the government had purchased massive quantities of products, leaving none for other customers.

That, however, was denied by Oregon Freeze Dry. In a website statement, the company confirmed it cannot assure supplying some items to customers.

"We regret to inform you Oregon Freeze Dry cannot satisfy all Mountain House #10 can orders and we have removed #10 cans from our website temporarily," the company tells frustrated customers. "The reason for this is sales of #10 cans have continued to increase. OFD is allocating as much production capacity as possible to this market segment, but we must maintain capacity for our other market segments as well."

The company statement continues, "We want to clarify inaccurate information we’ve seen on the Internet. This situation is not due to sales to the government domestically or in Iraq. We do sell products to this market, but we also sell other market segments … The reason for this decision is solely due to an unprecedented sales spike in #10 cans sales.

"We expect this situation to be necessary for several months although this isn’t a guarantee. We will update this information as soon as we know more. We apologize for this inconvenience and appreciate your patience. We sincerely hope you will continue to be Mountain House customers in the future," the company statement said.

But Hopkins wasn't backing away from his concerns.

"The government just came in and said they're buying it. They did pay for it," he told WND about the summertime shipment of long-term storage butter. "They took it and no one else could have it.

"We don't know why. The feds then went to freeze dried companies, and bought most of their canned stock," he said.

A spokeswoman for Oregon Freeze Dry, sales manager Melanie Cornutt, told WND that the increasing demand for food that can be stored has been on the rise since Hurricane Katrina devastated large sections of the Gulf Coast, cutting off ordinary supply routes.

"We are currently out of stock on our cans. We are not selling any of our cans," she confirmed.

She then raised the issue of government purchases herself.

"We do sell to the government [but] it is not the reason [for company sales limits]," she said.

Officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency told WND whatever government agency is buying in a surge it isn't them. They reported a stockpile of about six million meals which has not changed significantly in an extended period.

But Hopkins said it was his opinion the government is purchasing huge quantities of food for stockpiles, and Americans will have to surmise why.

"We don't have shelters that [are being] stocked with food. We're not doing this for the public. My only conclusion is that they're stocking up for themselves," he said of government officials.

Blogger Holly Deyo issued an alert this week announcing, "Unprecedented demand cleans out major storable food supplier through 2009."

"It came to our attention today, that the world's largest producer of storable foods, Mountain House, is currently out of stock of ALL #10 cans of freeze dried foods, not just the Turkey Tetrazzini. They will NOT have product now through 2009," she said.

"This information was learned by a Mountain House dealer who shared it with me this morning. In personally talking with the company immediately after, Mountain House verified the information is true. Customer service stated, 'I'm surprised they don't have this posted on the website yet.' She said they have such a backlog of orders, Mountain House will not be taking any #10 can food requests through the remainder of this year and all of the next.

"Mountain House claims this situation is due to a backlog of orders, which may very well be true, but who is purchasing all of their food? This is a massive global corporation.

"One idea: the military. Tensions are ramping up with Iran and news segments debate whether or not we will implement a preemptive strike in conjunction with Israel," she wrote.

Hopkins raised some of the same concerns, suggesting a military conflict could cause oil supplies to plummet, triggering a huge increase in the cost of food – when it would be available – because of the transportation issues.

The ABC report from just a few weeks ago quoted Jim Rawles, a former U.S. intelligence officer who runs a survival blog, saying food shortages soon could become a matter of survival in the U.S.

"I think that families should be prepared for times of crisis, whether it's a man-made disaster or a natural disaster, and I think it's wise and prudent to stock up on food," he told ABC.

"If you get into a situation where fuel supplies are disrupted or even if the power grid were to go down for short periods of time, people can work around that," he said. "But you can't work around a lack of food – people starve, people panic and you end up with chaos in the streets."

At his California ranch, the location of which is kept secret, he said, "

We have more than a three-year supply of food here."

In the Wall Street Journal, columnist Brett Arends warned, "Maybe it's time for Americans to start stockpiling food.

"No, this is not a drill," he wrote.

His concern was about various food shortages around the globe, and the fact that in a global market, prices in the U.S. reflect difficulties in other parts of the world quickly.

Professor Lawrence F. Roberge, a biologist who has worked with a number of universities and has taught online courses, told WND he's been following the growing concern over food supplies.

He also confirmed to WND reports of the government purchasing vast quantities of long-term storable foods.

He said that naturally would be kept secret to avoid panicking the public, such as when word leaks out to customers that a bank may be insolvent, and depositors frantically try to retrieve their cash.

"[These] circumstances certainly raise red flags," he said.

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Related videos:

MTV Martial Law Warnings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiEaQ6HDUq4

Operation Garden Plot - Activated?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CXPtmvdWDo&NR=1

As we fast approach total economic collapse what evidence is there that America will be taken into Martial Law? Operation Garden Plot is a declassified document detailing the plan to mobilize US Armed Forces and UN Troops against US Citizens. How much of it is a reality?

FEMA Coffin Round Up: Get Ready to Die!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGa_sdyRS7Q

Good essay on US martial law, from freedom in our time

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Martial Law: A License to Loot, a Permit to Plunder

Breaking and entering: Where does this fit under the heading "To protect and serve"? A paramilitary "strike team" commits a felonious break-in of a home in the flood-ravaged Midwest.


Digging up the planted axioms that litter our ordinary conversations can be a revealing exercise. We learn how deeply rooted our supposedly free society has become in collectivist and militarist assumptions.

For example: How often do we hear or read language that draws a distinction between "police" and "civilians"?

Our republican framework of government supposedly prohibits the use of the military in domestic law enforcement. Yet if a police officer isn't a civilian, he of necessity must be considered some variety of soldier: He bears arms, belongs to a force organized in a military hierarchy, issues orders, and expects immediate obedience to his demands.


Police are supposedly civilian "peace officers," distinguished from the rest of the citizenry (to paraphrase Robert Peel) only by the fact that they are specially charged to protect the rights and property of the innocent as a permanent assignment, rather than an occasional necessity.


Yet when non-professional police officers are given "law enforcement" duties by local governments -- as in Gilbert, Arizona, where such people are part of a unit that can issue traffic citations and investigate accidents -- they are referred to as "civilian auxiliaries" of police departments. Again we see the critical distinction: The regular police are something other than civilians.


Roughly a year ago, USA Today reported that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had created a shortage of ammunition, leaving police and "civilians" at the back of the line. Annual police awards ceremonies across the country routinely honor not only law enforcement officers but "civilians" for various distinguished acts.


Cultivating a new crop of "law enforcement" officers: Teenagers participating in a summer police training program receive instructions from SWAT operators at a firing range.



And, significantly, it is very common for "civilians" to be charged with "disobeying an officer" even when no other alleged offense is involved. That charge makes little sense unless it is assumed not only that police exercise authority akin to military personnel, but that common civilians are at the bottom of the hierarchy. Were this actually a country in which governments and their enforcement agencies derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, wouldn't it be possible to charge a police officer with "disobeying a citizen"?


As I mentioned above, these assumptions are usually buried and carefully ignored. But they are rudely exposed whenever crisis descends on a community and the familiar pretenses are blown away. Catastrophic natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina or this year's Midwestern floods are eagerly embraced by law enforcement agencies as a pretext for overtly exercising the kind of power that many of them covertly lust to employ all the time -- the power to regiment their communities at gunpoint under a form of martial law.

Think, once again, of the roots of that expression: "Martial" has its origin in the proper name Mars, referring to the pagan deity of -- what activity?

The term unmistakably refers to a military posture, or a state of war. It is the suspension of normal life via force majeure, resulting in rule by unalloyed force. And the capacity for rule of this kind is embedded in every law enforcement body in every community across the country, simply waiting for an excuse to manifest itself.

Many who reside in our flood-ravaged Midwest are learning, as residents of New Orleans did before them, that our paramilitary "protectors" will eagerly exploit disasters in ways that compound the suffering inflicted by a natural disaster. Many citizens in such circumstances prefer to stay in their homes, running their own risks in order to protect what is theirs. But it is
standard operating procedure for police -- aided, at times, by National Guardsmen -- to force such people out of their homes, and to use the force of arms to prevent those who have left from returning.

In the wake of the floodwaters in Iowa came all of the impedimentia of military occupation -- armed guards, checkpoints, detention areas. These strictures were imposed on communities already reeling from a deadly caprice of nature. Rather than permitting people to inspect their own property, "strike teams" that included armed police broke into locked homes, including the occasional occupied dwelling.

One Cedar Rapids homeowner, understandably outraged that a "strike team" had broken into his otherwise undamaged home, confronted them and made his feelings known in forceful but measured terms. This prompted police officer Josh Bell to threaten the homeowner with arrest for "harassing" the "strike team."


The business end of government "compassion": Armed "protectors" arrest Cedar Rapids homeowner Ricky Blazek at gunpoint (left, below).


That aggravated homeowner was relatively fortunate.


Fellow Cedar Rapids resident Ricky Blazek, one of several thousand flood victims reasonably infuriated by "checkpoints" preventing them from returning to their homes, tried to circumnavigate one such roadblock in his automobile. This resulted in Blazek being forced out of his car at gunpoint and arrested.


While the armed "strike teams" had unfettered access to homes of flood victims, and the media was given limited access in order to chronicle the supposed heroism of the government functionaries, homeowners basted in a seething broth of frustrated suspicion.


After all, would any thinking person feel secure knowing that government agents, freed by a natural disaster from the constraints of the pesky Fourth Amendment, had free rein to break into their homes and help themselves to anything they found therein?


Last year, the small town of Greensburg, Kansas was all but obliterated by a tornado of a ferocity not seen in the region since Dorothy Gale's house was rapted away to Oz and deposited rudely on top of Hillary Clinton's long-forgotten sister.


That's certainly more than enough for any town to suffer. However, the police establishment, displaying government's infallible gift for compounding tragedy, made matters immeasurably worse by barring residents from their homes and then selectively looting them for firearms (and, in some cases, jewelry and other valuables).

Gun Week reports that these thefts were made possible because officers "from various agencies" -- local and state police, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, FEMA, and the ATF -- "allegedly claimed that martial law had been imposed when it had not, and ordered all residents to leave the town."


Those residents who discovered the thefts and demanded the return of their firearms found them, in many cases, damaged to the point of being useless. A few opened gun cases only to discover that their firearms had been replaced with guns of inferior quality.


Bob Martin, an 83-year-old trap shooter, returned to his home the morning after the tornado to discover that several of his guns were missing. Like Ricky Blazek, Martin was originally barred access to his home by officers who claimed, falsely, that martial law had been declared by the municipal or state government. He was forced to take a circuitous route to his home; by the time he got there, his gun safe had been plundered.


After getting back several -- but not all -- of his guns (which had been damaged in police custody, Martin, along with his wife, moved out of Greensburg. He now regrets not shooting his way through the police barricade that kept him from defending his home and property.


"If I'd have known [that the martial law claim was a ruse, and the police were looting his gun collection], I had a gun of my own in the car, and I'd [have] loaded it and gone in," Martin says. "Ain't nobody going to keep me off my property."


Whatever it is that prompts a man in his ninth decade to take such a commendably militant stance toward the looters in blue, I earnestly hope it's contagious.


Provoked by the police crime wave that descended on tornado-ravaged Greenburg, the Kansas state legislature this year enacted HB 2280 (.pdf), a law that (per the official summary) "prohibits officials, during a declared state of emergency, from forcibly dispossessing an owner of any firearm not otherwise prohibited by law, or from requiring registration of firearms not required to be registered under state law."


Now, that bill was pockmarked with troubling qualifications (for instance, no peaceful and law-abiding citizen can properly be "prohibited by law" from owning any weapon he has the means to purchase and the skill to operate, "laws" holding otherwise notwithstanding). But the fundamental point here is of the "Well, duh" variety: Police shouldn't take advantage of natural disasters to steal firearms from citizens, any more than street crooks should capitalize on the opportunity to swipe consumer electronics from undefended retail stores.


Thus it is hugely significant that HB 2280, which only prohibits police from doing something they weren't authorized to do in the first place, was opposed by the Pratt County (Kansas) Sheriff, the Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police, and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.


From their point of view, it's just not worth the trouble of having a natural disaster if the event can't be exploited to regiment local civilians and confiscate their firearms.

Available now!

Survival Toolkit: MUST READ: How scarcity, crime, overpopulation, tribalism, and disease are rapidly destroying the social fabric of our planet

Because Wolfy and I care about YOU, we want to repost this article.

It is a classic that's been posted here before.

It's an article from a 1994 Atlantic Monthly with indispensible synthesis.

Excerpt:  It is time to understand The Environment for what it is: the national-security issue of the early twenty-first century. The political and strategic impact of surging populations, spreading disease, deforestation and soil erosion, water depletion, air pollution, and, possibly, rising sea levels in critical, overcrowded regions like the Nile Delta and Bangladesh—developments that will prompt mass migrations and, in turn, incite group conflicts—will be the core foreign-policy challenge from which most others will ultimately emanate, arousing the public and uniting assorted interests left over from the Cold War. 

The Coming Anarchy


The Minister's eyes were like egg yolks, an aftereffect of some of the many illnesses, malaria especially, endemic in his country. There was also an irrefutable sadness in his eyes. He spoke in a slow and creaking voice, the voice of hope about to expire. Flame trees, coconut palms, and a ballpoint-blue Atlantic composed the background. None of it seemed beautiful, though. "In forty-five years I have never seen things so bad. We did not manage ourselves well after the British departed. But what we have now is something worse—the revenge of the poor, of the social failures, of the people least able to bring up children in a modern society." Then he referred to the recent coup in the West African country Sierra Leone. "The boys who took power in Sierra Leone come from houses like this." The Minister jabbed his finger at a corrugated metal shack teeming with children. "In three months these boys confiscated all the official Mercedes, Volvos, and BMWs and willfully wrecked them on the road." The Minister mentioned one of the coup's leaders, Solomon Anthony Joseph Musa, who shot the people who had paid for his schooling, "in order to erase the humiliation and mitigate the power his middle-class sponsors held over him." 

Tyranny is nothing new in Sierra Leone or in the rest of West Africa. But it is now part and parcel of an increasing lawlessness that is far more significant than any coup, rebel incursion, or episodic experiment in democracy. Crime was what my friend—a top-ranking African official whose life would be threatened were I to identify him more precisely—really wanted to talk about. Crime is what makes West Africa a natural point of departure for my report on what the political character of our planet is likely to be in the twenty-first century.

the rest can be read here

<<>MUST READ > >

Art Two reminders on nuclear radiation

State Maps and Information for
Nuclear Survival
(Updated as of October 1st, 2002)

For the last several years, these pages USED TO include a list of hundreds of (Email VERIFIED) Intentional Communities and Survival Preparedness Groups along with an Ark Two state TEAM Leader in forty-eight of the 50 States. Because of the changing circumstances that some see as the increasing immediacy of the threat, and because of a perception that there has been a recent change in the social / governmental attitude towards individual rights regarding freedom and property there has been a growing consensus among the individuals that were listed here that it is no longer prudent for them to make their names and locations public. It has become too arduous to maintain the list in response to the growing number of requests for deletion, and the fact that the list was going to become too skimpy to be useful has now led us to have to regrettably abandon it altogether after these many years of effort spent to assemble it. While for years we have encouraged people to form survival communities and groups and to build shelters and otherwise make preparation - most of those who have done so are of the opinion that there may not any longer be sufficient time to integrate further members into their groups and communities. They are concerned that if the threat situation continues to increase, at the rate that it presently is, they will be overwhelmed by individuals who are not prepared and that those individuals instead of adding to their resources would only be a drag and potential for depletion to what they have prepared. It is with regret that we have come to this point. Ark Two itself still welcomes any who wish to join its community in Canada AND we are still maintaining the structure of these pages AND THE REGISTRY so that in case of a nuclear war we may be able to implement these structures for providing assistance during the RECOVERY and REORGANIZATION phases. We hope at that time to be able to re-establish contact with, or appoint new, TEAM leaders in all the states and localities and then provide a network for developing assistance and cooperation among them.

The following States in "red" Generate the MAJOR FALLOUT According to FEMA

Click on your STATE'S NAME in the DIRECTORY below to see its targets and other IMPORTANT information. Also look at the TWO maps at the botom of this page.

Alabama	Alaska	Arizona	Arkansas	California
Colorado	Connecticut	Delaware	Florida	Georgia
Hawaii	Idaho	Illinois	Indiana	Iowa
Kansas	Kentucky	Louisiana	Maine	Maryland
Massachusetts	Michigan	Minnesota	Mississippi	Missouri
Montana	Nebraska	Nevada	New Hampshire	New Jersey
New Mexico	New York	North Carolina	North Dakota	Ohio
Oklahoma	Oregon	Pennsylvania	Rhode Island	South Carolina
South Dakota	Tennessee	Texas	Utah	Vermont
Virgina	Washington	West Virginia	Wisconsin	Wyoming

Because we are so often asked about nuclear reactor sites we have taken the following picture from Stan and Holly Deyo showing U.S. Nuclear Reactor Sites in relation to earthquake zones.

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The following is the most commonly used prevailing wind predicted fallout pattern, but remember, fallout can go anywhere or everywhere (and probably will).

Continental US Fallout Pattern for Prevailing Winds (FEMA-196/September 1990)

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SURVIVAL TOOLKIT: plant disease primer (repost)

		Products eNewsletters Entire Site IN THIS ISSUE Dear Organic Gardeners Further reflections on fatherhood and introducing a new life to gardening... Kale An in depth look at this phytonutrient master of the garden, recipe included... Is There a Doctor in the Garden? This first in a series of plant disease primers focuses on tomato plants... Compost and Compost Tea Info on boosting soil vitality from compost consultant Cindy Salter... Farm Report: June '06 Consuming the Farm's bounty in creative ways, evaluating varieties, and collecting data... News & Views New Studies Question Environmental Impact of Ethanol Fuels... Slow Food USA Places ARK of Taste List on Website... Permaculturists to teach "First Responder" Course in CA... Iowa Mennonite FFA Receives $1,000 Grant for Permaculture Project... Please send letters regarding this eNewsletter to: Scott Vlaun, Editor.
Is There a Doctor in the Garden? A Plant Disease Primer by Emily Gatch Diagnosing and treating plant diseases in the garden can be a challenge, especially when compared to the unambiguous assault of such insect pests as the tomato hornworm—those fat green caterpillars whose discovery on tomato plants causes an inward squeal of disgust and delight in every gardener. Yellow spots on leaves or a sudden wilting are, by comparison, much harder to pin to an identifiable source and certainly not one that can be picked off and squashed under a boot (oh, the satisfaction). Many gardeners, however, find themselves either reluctantly or enthusiastically drawn to the study of plant diseases and the microorganisms, referred to as plant pathogens, that cause them. Frequently, the motivating force behind a sudden and desperate interest in the world of plant pathogens is an epidemic in the garden. (Why are my tomato plants all dying from the bottom up and what can I do about it?!?) Armed with a little knowledge about how these pathogens work and how best to foil their progress, the disease-savvy gardener will soon find herself dispensing wisdom and Latin names of fungi across the fence. It is to these emerging plant pathologists that the following comments are addressed. Plant pathogens belong to one of four primary groups: Fungi: Fungi cause the majority of plant diseases, particularly in humid parts of the world. Fungi obtain nutrients by breaking down and absorbing dead organic matter (a lifestyle referred to as saprophytic) or by parasitizing live tissue. Most plant pathogenic fungi are parasitic and attack living plant tissue, although some pathogens can also survive as saprophytes on dead plant matter. Fungi are composed of branching filaments called hyphae which, when clumped together, form a mycelium. A mycelium is often the visible evidence or "sign" of a plant pathogen, and can look like a fuzzy growth associated with lesions, spots, and cankers, which are considered symptoms. Fungi can reproduce asexually, by forming clumps of hardened hyphae called sclerotia that can survive long periods of time in soil, or by mating and forming reproductive spores. Spores and other reproductive units can be spread by wind, rain, animals, equipment, and insects, and can be found in soil and on seed. There are many variations on these two basic reproductive modes and when and how each occurs, but the important thing to remember is that fungi have evolved complex ways to propagate themselves in response to environmental challenges; for each plant disease, this life cycle must be understood in order to identify proper prevention and control methods. In the specific disease profiles that follow, the basic reproductive cycles are outlined. Various symptoms may be associated with a particular fungal pathogen, including wilting due to the plugging of vascular tissue, the formation of spots or lesions that can coalesce and cause the death of entire leaves and whole plants, and the production of galls and smuts, which are abnormal, "cancerous" growths of plant tissues. Bacteria: Bacteria are one-celled microorganisms that are second to the fungi in the damage they cause to crop plants. Like fungi, they enter plants through natural openings such as stomata or through wounds, or, in some cases, they are transmitted by insects (e.g., cucumber wilt is a bacterial disease spread by spotted and striped cucumber beetles). Bacteria secrete toxic compounds that kill plant cells and then absorb the contents of the destroyed cells. Plants will often try to isolate an invasion of bacteria by triggering the death of cells in the immediate area of attack, which contributes to the formation of the classic bacterial spot and speck symptoms. A bacterial disease may superficially resemble a fungal disease, but sometimes bacteria can be identified as the causal agent by cutting open diseased tissue and observing a gooey bacterial streaming. Diagnoses of this sort can be complicated by the fact that many secondary microbial invaders will come in after the primary pathogen has begun its destruction. Viruses: Viruses consist of nothing more than a few strands of genetic material (DNA or RNA) encased in a protein coat. Technically, they are not considered alive, since they do not respire and are unable to reproduce outside a living host. Essentially, they turn host cells into mini-factories for the reproduction of more virus particles. Viruses can be carried on seeds, in the guts of insects, and on infected tools, equipment, the hands of workers, and plant debris. Many of the most damaging plant viruses are transmitted by insects, which are called vectors. Aphids, leafhoppers, and thrips are the most common virus vectors. Viruses can cause yellowing, stunting, and discoloration in characteristic patterns such as mosaics and rings; these symptoms may occur on all plant parts, including fruit. Other malformations, including puckering and rolling of leaves, may also appear. Nematodes: Nematodes are unsegmented roundworms that are ubiquitous in the natural world and range in size from microscopic to a few inches long; those responsible for plant diseases are soil dwelling and are not visible to the human eye. Although they are somewhat dissimilar to the other three groups of pathogens, they are studied with plant diseases because the symptoms they cause and the methods used to control them are similar. Plant pathogenic nematodes have a needlelike mouthpart called a stylet that pierces delicate plant roots and sucks digested tissue out of them. A severe nematode infestation can lead to yellowing, stunting, and eventually, plant death. They do not move further than a few inches in the soil; so, they are typically introduced into a new area through the movement of infested soil, equipment, or running water. The presence of a pathogen from any of these groups does not necessarily result in an immediate epidemic. Plant pathologists refer to what is known as the "disease triangle," which describes a disease as the result of the interaction between a pathogen, a susceptible host (some hosts may have certain levels of resistance to a pathogen), and proper environmental conditions, which in most cases consist of a certain amount of free moisture on plant tissues, high relative humidity, and a specific temperature range. The extent to which all these factors are present—a susceptible host, a virulent strain of the pathogen, and the right environmental conditions, determines the severity of the disease that develops. The disease triangle can also be a useful tool to identify ways to control diseases: by reducing the contribution of any of these factors, disease can be minimized or avoided. For example, the gardener can easily manipulate the environment through the following cultural methods: Avoid overhead watering: this reduces free moisture on leaves and relative humidity within the plant canopy, which will create an inhospitable environment for the proliferation of many pathogens. Prune plants and avoid tight plant spacing to promote air movement, which works against the successful establishment of plant pathogens. The "size" of the host factor (the extent to which the pathogen is already present in the garden) can be manipulated in the following ways: Remove every other weedy host or volunteer crop plant that provides a haven for overwintering pathogens. Rotate crops to prevent the build up of crop-specific pathogens in the soil and in plant debris. Remove crop debris that may be infested with pathogens upon harvest. Preserve natural enemies of pathogens, particularly through application of compost to the soil and to plant surfaces in the form of compost tea. Compost is a source of rich microbial diversity, and many of these microorganisms will compete with pathogens for space and nutrients on plant surfaces. The contribution of the host to disease development is perhaps harder to alter, but can be done by selecting varieties known to be resistant to certain diseases; seed catalogs will often list any known resistance to diseases of their varietal selections. It is beyond the scope of this introductory overview to describe the major diseases affecting every crop group, so we will begin with tomatoes in this issue and continue highlighting a specific crop in each of the coming issues. Fungal Diseases of Tomatoes: Early Blight (Alternaria solani): Life Cycle/Symptoms: Spores of this fungus can be seedborne, but typically the inoculum source is in the soil and spreads to the plant by splashing rainfall. Symptoms are first observed on older leaves of established plants and consist of dark spots with concentric rings. The lesions eventually coalesce and the entire infected leaf dies. The disease can be quite severe in areas of high rainfall and heavy dew. Prevention/Control: Adequate mulching will prevent splash dispersal of spores, and wider plant spacing will help maintain good air circulation. A minimum two-year rotation and removal of crop residues is recommended for inoculum reduction. Seedborne transmission is rare, particularly if seed is fermented during the cleaning process. Fusarium Wilt (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersicae): Life Cycle/Symptoms: This fungus is common in soils, but is more problematic in warm, coastal areas. Invasion occurs through the roots and spreads through the vascular system of the plant. The first symptom is wilting, typically of one side of the plant or one stem. A cross section of the infected stem will reveal a discolored ring of vascular tissue. Vines infected with fusarium wilt should be pulled and discarded in the trash, not composted or turned under, as the fungus can persist in soils for up to eight years. Prevention/Control: Control methods include long rotations of five to seven years, good sanitation practices, including cleaning equipment, tools, and stakes between fields, and use of clean seed, as the pathogen can be seedborne. Septoria Leaf Spot (Septoria lycopersici): Life Cycle/Symptoms: This fungus is dispersed by splashing rain or irrigation water from the infected debris in the soil, and can be spread by workers and equipment once introduced. Symptoms occur first on older leaves and are circular lesions with dark-brown margins and tan to gray centers. The disease progresses to newer tissue and can become severe during conditions of high humidity and high temperatures. Prevention/Control: Field sanitation, crop rotation of one to two years, removal of host weeds such as horsenettle, removal of crop debris, and drip irrigation will reduce occurrence of this disease. Verticillium Wilt (Verticillium albo-atrum and V. dahliae): Life Cycle/Symptoms: These fungi occur widely and affect many species of vegetables. Symptoms can be confused with fusarium wilt; the first indication may be a diurnal wilting pattern, with plants wilting during the hottest part of the day and recovering at night. Lower leaves may develop a distinctive, interveinal, v-shaped yellow lesion. Vascular discoloration is also evident in stems. The pathogen survives in soil for up to eight years and infects through the roots. This is a cool-weather disease that is more severe in alkaline soils. It is not known to be seedborne. Prevention/Control: Rotation is of limited use because of the wide host range of the pathogen. Removal and destruction of infected debris will reduce the amount of inoculum in the soil. In severely infested soils, soil solarization (not sterilization) is an option to consider. White Mold (Sclerotinia sclerotiorum): Life Cycle/Symptoms: This disease is favored by cool, moist conditions. Symptoms usually appear at the time of flowering and are characterized by water-soaked lesions in stem joints. Infected stems become bleached and dry, similar to animal bones. A white, cottony mold often appears on stems. The fungus survives in soil as small, hard, black masses of mycelium called sclerotia, typically on the surface or in the top inch of soil. When conditions are cool and moist, spores are released from these sclerotia which colonize the stem at the soil line. Infected fallen flower petals become a secondary source of infection. The disease is not seedborne. Prevention/Control: Increasing plant spacing to ensure maximum air circulation will reduce white mold severity. Bacterial Diseases: Bacterial Canker (Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis): Life Cycle/Symptoms: This disease occurs worldwide, including in major seed-producing areas. The principal symptom is a systematic wilt, characterized by downward turning of leaves (starting with lower leaves), and leaf-margin necrosis. Symptoms on the fruit are described as bird's-eye spot: lesions with raised brown centers surrounded by a white halo. Sources of inoculum include survival in plant debris, weed hosts and volunteer plants, stakes, and seed. Secondary spread can occur through poor sanitation and pruning/staking procedures. Prevention/Control: Disease-free seed is critical for prevention of bacterial canker. Disinfect pruners and clippers between plants. If an infection has occurred and stakes are to be reused the following season, wash the stakes in a 1% bleach solution (notify certifying agency). Incorporation of plant residue into soil hastens decomposition of the bacteria. Crop rotation is also recommended. Bacterial Speck (Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato): Life Cycle/Symptoms: This disease is widespread but not typically severe. It is favored by low temperatures and high moisture, and it is characterized by minute lesions on fruit and slightly larger lesions on leaves. Early lesions lack a halo and have a raised appearance. The bacteria are seedborne; reports of incidence have been increasing worldwide. It overwinters in crop residue and on weed species and is disseminated by splashing rain and pruning/clipping instruments. Prevention/Control: Disease-free seed is critical for prevention of bacterial speck. Disinfect pruners and clippers between plants. Remove crop debris, weeds, and volunteer plants from production fields. Incorporation of plant residue into soil hastens decomposition of the bacteria. Crop rotation is also recommended. Viral Diseases: Curly Top Virus: This virus infects a wide range of crops throughout the western U.S. This virus is transmitted by leafhoppers, which overwinter on weed hosts and move to tomato plants when weeds start drying up in late spring. Russian thistle (tumbleweed) is a common weed host for the virus and its vector. Plants infected when young are typically killed, while older plants survive but with reduced vigor and with symptoms that include stunting, thickened leaves that roll upward, purplish veins, and prematurely ripened fruit. The virus is not normally transmitted mechanically. The virus is not seedborne. Control measures may include eliminating weed hosts to the extent possible and avoiding planting fields near overwintered beets. Tomato and Tobacco Mosaic: These viruses are very similar and are common in production systems requiring frequent plant handling. Infected seed and plant debris are the most common sources of inoculum (which can survive for up to two years in buried root debris), and spread occurs most readily by human activity. The characteristic symptom is light- and dark-green mottling on the leaves, with some curling and stunting of leaves as well. Fruit may exhibit uneven ripening and reduction in size/number. Control measures include avoiding use of tobacco products (no smoking!) and crop rotation. Emily Gatch Greenhouse Coordinator and Assistant Seed Cleaner References: Pleasant, Barbara. 1995. Plant diseases: the gardener's guide to earth-safe remedies. Pownal, VT: Storey Books. Jones, J.B., J.P. Jones, R.E. Stall, and T.A., Zitter (eds.). 1991. Compendium of tomato diseases. APS Press. (The American Phytopathological Society publishes excellent crop-specific compendia of plant diseases, which can be purchased from www.apsnet.org at the online bookstore.) Vegetable MD Online from Cornell University http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/cropindex.htm This website offers excellent disease diagnosis and management information for a wide variety of vegetables. Photo captions: (1) Tomato hornworm image courtesy of the National Gardening Association (2) Graphic representation of the disease triangle (3) Fusarium wilt in a row of tomato plants courtesy of Dr. Randy Gardner, NC State University (4) Septoria Leaf Spot image courtesy of University of Illinois Dept. of Crop Sciences collection (5) Verticillium wilt image courtesy of Lewis Jett Assistant Professor University of Missouri (6) White mold photo courtesy of T.A. Zitter, Cornell University (7)Bacterial canker photo courtesy of T.A. Zitter, Cornell University Shipping Information | Contact Us | Privacy | Organic Certification Our Call Center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Orders can only be accepted for U.S. and Canadian addresses