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Of course all preparedness and survival skills are serious. Survival and life are very serious businesses aren't they? Well, no, not always. Neglect of the mind and it's need to put things in a perspective it can handle can be deadly. Humour, however, can be life giving, if not life saving.

As I venture back into the world of pod casting, I've been trying to think about what it is that I want to say to you. What it is that I should like to change about the world. There are a million articles on how to grow vegetables, start a business and even generate your own electricity. Why would me posting about these same things make a spit of difference, except to add more noise to the signal.

What has happened that heating with wood is now considered an alternative heating method? Wood is now in the same category as solar panels and wind turbines. Remember when everybody heated with wood? This episode is just a quick chat about our conversion back to wood heating, somethings that we had to consider – cost, insurance, installation, efficiency, and placement. Get thinking about heating with wood, it’s efficient, cost effective, can get you some rebates, and is the only source of heat known to magically induce hot chocolate drinking and board game playing. Resources: Efficiency – Nova Scotia – Energy Grants and Rebates The Woodburner’s Companion: Practical Ways Of Heating With Wood – Link to Book on Indigo.ca Website Heating Fuel Comparison Calculator – Link to Excel Spreadsheet to Help Compare Heating Fuel Costs Wood Energy Transfer Technology – Find a WETT certified specialist near you. Photo: Ken Mayer

Our good friend, Peter Gray, shares his thoughts on utilizing the family cottage as a bug out location. He addresses the some of the pro's and con's, looks at his reasons for utilizing an electric chainsaw over a gas powered or battery powered one. Thank you Peter for sharing part of your world with us.

I didn’t have a title for this podcast when I started it, but near the end I realized there was a theme – chickens. Things that sit in a coop and cluck all day. Fortunately for us preparedness types, the feathery kind are productive! The suited kind – not so much! Today I ask you to ask some questions about the person and the party that you are going to vote for on election day. Voting on emotion isn’t really what Canada or you deserve. Ask yourself these questions and answer them honestly. I hope they get you thinking of other questions to ask. We head to the forum to see what the hot topic is and talk about the discussion. Seems lately chickens are on everyone’s minds. What’s the best way to raise chickens? How much space do chickens need? Coops? Paddocks? Free range? Let’s talk about it. BackyardChickens.com CanadaPrepared.com Chicken Forum NDP Conservative Party of Canada Liberal Party Green Party

Seems like an odd thing to say. Yet the things we should do to prepare our home to sell are the things that we should do even if we NEVER plan on selling. Why? Because you deserve to have a home that is clean, organized and in good repair just as much as someone who is looking to buy your home. I’d say even more so! I also look at an option to going the traditional real estate agent route for selling your home. It’s based solely on personal experience and you might find it interesting. Check the link below for a FREE BOOK on selling your home yourself. The Wealthy Home Seller – Free Book! PropertyGuys Red Deer – Twitter Page CanadaPrepared.com – On the Facebook

Today, I present some questions to ask of yourself and your future spouse about what you marriage might look like. Look at all the facets of married life - children, family, finances, careers and the possibility of what might end your marriage. Ask each other the "What if's".

This episode covers 2 more of life's most stressful events. Is anyone ever really prepared for these things to happen? Probably not, but even some degree of preparation can help you dramatically. Sometimes even just thinking about these things and recognizing that they do happen, can be some comfort.

One of our CanadaPrepared.com friends, Paul Cobham of SurvivalSchoolCanada.com, has put together a talk on micro hydroelectricity. Microhydro, as some call it, is perhaps the most consistent and reliable way to produce electricity for your home. It’s also a lot simpler than you might think! All you need is a good stream that doesn’t freeze up or dry out, a drop in elevation and the necessary equipment. Once installed, maintenance is on par with solar or wind, but the production is much more consistent. Coupling this technology with solar or wind would definitely make for the ideal off-grid situation. Keep in mind that you will need to talk with your local natural resources office for regulations and advice. Paul, a long time instructor of outdoors survival, speaks very well about this topic. I know you’ll enjoy it!

Bit of a mixed bag of topics in this podcast. I had a work trip, so I was on the road again and finally had some time to talk about a few things that have been important in my modern survivalist life: our new BOL in Nova Scotia, Naturopathy treatment, Airline Travel and Security and Keeping Tabs on Government by taking a look at the bills passing through the House of Commons and the Senate. There’s a break in the middle of the recording. I got a phone call, so I had to pull over. The train of thought only gets slightly derailed, but then I get back on topic. Hope to have more for you in the New Year! Show Resources: Dr. Joanne Day, Naturopathic Doctor Bills in House of Commons and Senate Real Estate in Canada – MLS.ca

Almost half of marriages in Canada end in divorce. Almost all of those divorces have the same thing cited as a reas0n - "I'm not happy anymore." With people using that kind of rationale, it's easy to see why divorces happen so often and how the situation can become utterly disastrous.

These events are the ones that are most likely to happen in your life. They are also the ones that are most likely cause an incredible amount of grief for you and your family. Yet we know that these things are almost inevitable, so we can plan for them and make them less stressful for ourselves. Once we have planned for them, they don’t have to loom in the back of our mind, like a gargoyle waiting to pounce. We can concern ourselves with more enjoyable things. By preparing, we can dramatically improve the quality of our lives today and in the event that these common life events happen. Today, we talk about being prepared for the passing of a spouse or of ourselves – to ease the burden of our grieving spouse and family by making sure you have wills in place and up to date. This is just an overview to get you thinking. Resources: What are trusts and how could they benefit you? Living Wills FAQ – CBC In-Depth Dying without a Will (Dying Intestate) – RBC Insurance

Using our $5 garage sale meat slicer and our FoodSaver vaccuum sealer, we’ve packaged about 20 pounds (or 10 kilograms) of sandwich meats and saved at least $60 in grocery bills. I wouldn’t recommend the Rival folding meat slicer we have, but for $5 bucks, it’ll do. If you add the logic of food prices constantly going up, then it could be even higher savings in the long run. Just think – if bologna goes up from $3.49 for 500 grams to $3.99 for 500 grams, I’ve just saved on the future expense of 50 cents per package PLUS what I saved by buying it bulk and parting it up. Why wouldn’t you do this? Of course, we’ve now got sandwich meat for pretty much the rest of the year. Should the household income go down, we can make bread cheaply and still have good sandwiches for lunches. Better today, better tomorrow. Links: FoodSaver Canada VacSealers.com – FoodSaver style bags in Canada Average Canadian Food Prices for 2009

It’s really insanity that the dignitaries would set up an explosive event in a major centre. It’s also insanity that the protesters would take the bait.  Here’s a few of my thoughts and a few ideas to help you avoid, or deal with, such a situation if you have to be near it. Of course I’ve got some political and philosophical thoughts about this whole G20 and G8 thing, yet I don’t really go into it in this podcast. As time goes on, you’ll find me addressing these sorts of events and news items more regularly. Hope you enjoy, let’s talk in the forum!

One of our excellent members, peter31, has done a video talking about his approach to survival gardening in his part of the world. I think you’ll find his methods well thought out and well explained. Especially simple, yet really intriguing, is using Rubbermaid bins as raised garden beds to get plants off to a good start. Seems so obvious. There’s a bit of wind, so you might miss a few words, however I’m sure you will get the entire meaning as well as some sparks for ideas of your own. I’d love to see your garden and gardening ideas in the CanadaPrepared.com forum. Come check out what my wonderful wife has done! She can make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. For further thoughts on gardening check out Episode 24 – About Home Food Production – Gardening. Really, there is never a bad time or place to start growing your own food.