When people say to me, "Is the world going to come to an end?" I say, "I don’t know." —U.S. Sen. Robert Bennett
When asked if cyber-survivalists should be considered wacky, Mary Jane Collipriest, Bennett’s communications director, said no. When asked whether everyone else should begin taking similar steps, she replied, "Not yet." —Chicago Tribune story, "Bunker mentality taking hold in fear of Y2K glitch," August 3, 1998.
Your key to Y2K preparation for the physical welfare of your family is to beat the crowd. You still have time to prepare as long as those like Sen. Bennett and his aides are muting the alarm. They realize Y2K is a very serious threat, but they don’t want to be accused of creating a panic.
Well, if you have not started your plan for physical survival, now would be a good time to panic. Why wait until everyone else is panicking next year and essential supplies are no longer available?
So are we playing the fear-mongers? Yes and no. If you don’t have a rush of fear at some point about Y2K, you are still living in denial. You probably need a good dose of fear to get you moving. But then we don’t think you should continue to be motivated by fear. Do you duty to protect your loved ones, and then entrust yourself to God (see "Isaiah Addresses Y2K" in this issue).
Given that it is September 1998, let us issue you a very strong warning: YOU NEED TO MAKE YOUR Y2K CONTINGENCY PLANS NOW, OR IT WILL BE TOO LATE. By "contingency plans" we mean those plans for how you will drink, eat, stay warm, etc. come a serious disruption. By "now" we mean NOW. The problem is that traffic jams are already developing and will only get worse in the months to come.
Traffic Jam
When we lived in St. Louis I would occasionally take the boys to a Cardinal baseball game. The part I hated most (after the spilled beer in the seats and having to pass popcorn and change down the row between the vendors and the purchasers) was trying to get out of the parking lot to get home. We would always have to sit, and sit, and sit as we waited for the hundreds of cars ahead of us to get out of the lot onto roads already crowed with thousands of other cars. The problem, of course, was simply that everyone wanted to get on the roads at the same time. But the lots were designed to let a few people in and out at a time, not half of St. Louis. So we had to wait.
We placed an order with a major bulk food supplier in March of this year, six months ago. We placed another the first of July. We haven’t seen our food yet and have no idea when we will. Traffic jam.
A few weeks ago we talked to the man who works at the local Mormon cannery. Although he had received a shipment of food just days before, he was out of many items. He said he had had as much volume pass through the cannery in the previous three weeks as they had seen in three months a year ago. Traffic jam.
A friend was told by Lehman’s non-electric hardware store that they had just received a big order of Aladdin oil lamps, so they had plenty. However, the store clerk added ominously, they were told by the supplier that once these were gone they would not be able to get any more until June of 1999! Traffic jam.
The problem is simply this: the "road system" that supplies alternative lifestyle items is an old, narrow road system. It is meant for a few "travelers" to use at any one time. Now you have as many as ten, twenty, a hundred times the normal number of people trying to get supplies from these providers and they are simply not able to handle the volume. It’s a traffic jam. But it will only get worse. Impossibly worse.
We believe that you may have as little as a few weeks to a few months to purchase certain essential alternative supplies before the supply lines get hopelessly clogged and backlogged. So if you want to assure delivery before the year 2000 you had better act soon.
Priorities
It is already so late in the Y2K preparation game that we don’t want to fuel any measure of complacency by suggesting there are priority items you need to get now and so the rest can safely wait until later. It is already later.
My family goal is to have all of our alternative supplies on hand by December 1998 (storage food, oil lamps, wood stoves, generators, etc.), the kinds of things which are produced in limited quantities in normal times. Next year we can still work at obtaining things that are readily available all the time (extra sewing supplies, food with shorter shelf life, an extra supply of wood, etc.).
If you have not started your preparation yet, here are the most important things to be working on immediately, if you plan to do them at all:
Secure location. If you plan to move from the city to a more rural location, you should plan to do that this Fall. You don’t know what the market will be like next Spring and beyond. We could spin into a deflationary depression by then (the stock market is running very bearish at the moment) and you may not be able to sell your present house.
Plus, it takes time to set up a homestead that is self-sufficient. You have to get your independent water supply in place, dig and plant your gardens, dig a root cellar, hook up your wood stove, wire your generator into your system, put up fence for your animals, build a chicken house, etc. All of these take time and money. You can’t do it all in one season.
Independent water supply. Do you have a reliable supply of clean water if the electricity goes off and the water pumps can’t pump? You can live longer without food than you can without water. We have a propane generator and a thousand gallons of propane just to assure that our well water pump can supply our water if the power is off. Then we have a hand pump on a second well for when the generator breaks or the fuel runs out. We take fresh water very seriously.
Your solution could include what we have done, or it could be a property with a spring. It could be a nearby creek with a water filtering system and a supply of bleach for purification. It could be hundreds of gallons of water in barrels in your basement or in an unused septic tank set shallow in your back yard. It could be a cistern that collects water runoff from your roof.
—Resource idea: Cottage Water Systems, by Max Burns, Cottage Life Books, Toronto Canada, 1993.
—Both Lehman’s and Cumberland General Store carry all kinds of hand pumps and supplies (see "food production" below).
Warmth. Y2K will hit in force in the middle of winter. If the power goes off, how will you keep your family warm? The obvious solution is a wood stove and an ample supply of wood. This will be hard to maintain in the city since cold neighbors will help themselves to your wood, but perhaps you could have a locked shed which you discretely supply with wood. Of course, if neighbors see the smoke pouring from your chimney … well, the city is not going to be a great place to be if things get really bad. But you do what you can with what you’ve got.
You should be able to get wood stoves locally. You can order them from Lehman’s (see "food production" below).
Storage Food. Disruption of the food supply system is a very real Y2K prospect. You need to have some storage food on hand if it happens. We recommend at least a year’s supply. More is better given the uncertainties ahead. Here are some suppliers we recommend you check with:
—The Millennium Market. 1-877-Food2000 (toll free). Paul Moore and his associates will take the time to make sure you get your questions answered. Plus, they have a wide range of price options.
—Ready Reserve Foods. 1-800-519-6502. Tim Stephenson will give you a price break if you mention you came through our referral (mention Patriarch magazine, our other publication).
—Homestead Foods. 1-406-642-6414. John Harrington has put together some creative and inexpensive supply alternatives.
—Maple Leaf Industries. 1-800-671-5323. An excellent source of the bulk-packed buckets and gallon cans.
Claimed delivery time for most of these suppliers is about six to twelve weeks as of the beginning of September. Do not order from anyone who will not give you a delivery time when you order.
Food production. If the system breaks down badly you may need to produce your own food. Even if we just have a horrible Depression (our most optimistic Y2K scenario), producing your own food will come in handy. This requires a garden, hand tools to work it, seeds, animals, and the means to process and preserve your food. Here are some resources to help you plan in this area.
—Lehman’s Non-Electric Catalog. 1-330-857-5757. PO Box 41, Kidron, OH 44636.
—Cumberland General Store. 1-800-334-4640. #1 Hwy. 68, Crossville, TN 38555.
—Back to Eden (TLC Greenhouse). 1-970-527-3375. 3976 M-50 Lane, Paonia, CO 81428. These folks supply non-hybrid seed packages, vacuum-packed for long-term storage, and tailored to your part of the country. You want non-hybrid seeds since you can save the seeds from the plants you grow and plant next year’s crop. Almost all seeds you get in the stores are hybrid and the seeds from the fruit or vegetables you grow will not reproduce reliably. What if stores are not open or do not have seeds post Y2K?
Start making your Y2K preparation priority list today! Don’t yield to the false sense that there is plenty of time yet. There is not! Many people who knew about the Y2K threat will have to live with the knowledge that they had enough warning to prepare but procrastinated too long and missed their chance. Don’t be one of those unhappy souls. Take care of your family. Plan ahead.
This is an article from Babel 2000 — Judgment and Hope. For more information on this newsletter, see our home page (www.babel2000.com), or write Babel 2000, PO Box 725, Rolla, MO 65402. Suggested donaton is $48 for the print edition (16 issues, 9/98 to 12/99), or $32 for the e-mail edition. All requests to be added to either list must be made in writing by regular mail, accompanied by donation. All back issues will be sent to those who subscribe after the first issue is published. Permission to reprint this article is hereby granted as long as the newsletter name, complete address, and subscription information are given.