This is the first of a series of articles about caching, the third
most important tool a survivalist has. The first being knowledge of how
to survive under any circumstance, the second is being in good enough physical
condition to survive under any circumstance.

We will start with the home cache. The home cache is
a supply of food and tools in the house (or other home) that would permit
you to exist in your home for a determined amount of time if all outside
support ends. If the grid goes down, communications are jammed or dead,
the water is cut off, and fuel sources are gone. When would such an event
happen, surprisingly enough our standard of living is built on a thin egg
shell, it could happen at any time by many different means. Here in South
Florida we have seen first hand how something like a hurricane can wipe
out your entire lifestyle in one day. 

To prepare for a storm or other disruption of living
norms we need to lay in a supply of food, water, fuel, in the home that
we (all those in our group or family) can survive for at least one month.
We can not continue to rely on the government to provide for us in 48 hours.
This was made painfully evident in Hurricane Andrew. And then when the
government did come in it was at the best merely life sustaining. We should
also consider protective gear which would include firearms and ammo. When
the troops came in to protect us they were told not to load their weapons.
It took the gangs of looters only a matter of an hour or so to figure this
out. There was even one incidence in which the gangs surrounded some troops
and demanded their weapons. Luckily the troops had seen what was going
on and radioed for a military helicopter with armed police on board who
arrived before there was bloodshed.

OK, where? This is a common concern, especially here
in S.Fl. where hurricanes have completely leveled entire developments.
Well, don't laugh, it has proven to be best to make the bathrooms a safe
haven. Bathrooms, partly because of their smaller size, partly because
of the fact many do not have windows are considered the strongest room
in any house not constructed with a "safe room"  where the walls
are especially constructed for the survivalist's needs.

Empty the cabinets and stock them with water, water
purification devices, a camping stove and a brand new can of fuel for the
stove (brand new because they are sealed for placement on store shelves
and usually don't leak unless punctured), food, flashlights and batteries
(in drawers not the cabinet), your family first aid kit, a couple of changes
of "roughing it" clothes, and a battery powered A.M./F.M. (and
CB or ham ) radio. You do not need to purchase special "backpacking"
foods for this cache, just your ordinary canned foods, stews, soups, etc.
Just consider it a pantry in a strange place. Oh, and if you own one the
cellular phone. You can keep your bathroom stocks (extra toilet paper,
etc.) in a hall closet with only a couple of rolls in the cabinet. 

You will notice I did not mention firearms. IF you
are going to keep a supply of self defense firearms in the house you must
be sure that small hands (if you have children, grandchildren, or fiends
and neighbors that drop by have any) can't find or get them. But then again
you don't want them locked up where you can't get to them yourself, especially
if you wind up running in there in the middle of the night with your key
ring on the dresser or in your pants pocket. I have seen some interesting
installations of medicine cabinets. I saw a house that had a medicine cabinet
in each bathroom that were originally built into the wall, high enough
that little folks would have trouble reaching them. The owner had made
a few changes though. He purchased a medicine chest that mounted flush
on the wall that was bigger than the original and removed the originals
leaving a nice hole in the wall. He custom made some shelves and placed
his weaponry in the "cache" on the shelves and then hung the
new medicine cabinet over it. He used a drill to drill a hole large enough
for the head of the mounting screws to fit through just below and touching
the smaller mounting holes, making "slotted " holes. By leaving
the screws just shy of being tight he could grab the medicine chest and
lift it about 1/4" and pull it off the wall. 

I am not going to pretend to be an arms expert and
tell you what you need in your cache for protection. My personal caches
have 22 long rifle rifles and handguns for protection against the four
legged vermin. After Andrew the rats got big enough to use as target practice
(some as big as cats) if you were not inclined to eat them. But then again,
that is a different survival topic. I also plan to have 9mm semi auto pistol
for protection from the 2 legged vermin. These are choices you will have
to make on your own. You will also have to make the decision whether or
not to have firearms around if you have children. These are moral topics
I do not care to go into.

Water is one of the most important needs in emergency
situations. Under normal circumstances I would have a gallon per day per
person on hand. If there are reasons you might be exerting physical energy
I would recommend twice or four times this amount. If you are going to
be on the move the size and weight of such preparations would be prohibitive.
So, you can substitute water purification products for a large quantity
of the water. If you are preparing a bug out route make sure there are
water sources along the way to allow for you to process and restore your
on hand supply of water. On our Appalachian trip (the pictures) our chosen
route was beside streams. Except for certain sections of the trip we had
access to replenishment of water so we could make do with just a couple
of canteens. Water availability needs to be a major concern in bug out
trail layout. If you live in an area that has access to a pond, lake, stream,
or canal then you may substitute water treatment equipment for the major
portion of the water supply. 

Your next concern should be for shelter or protection
from the elements. If you are expecting to still have the house or other
building as a shelter then you need to take into consideration the need
for insect repellent as you can not always expect the windows to still
be intact. If they are you can help the insect problem if there are screens.
Also, if in a Northern climate sleeping bags and cold weather protection
is advisable. In the case of storms or other natural phenomena the building
may be nothing more than a shell, some standing walls, or just a slab.
So, you should also have tents available for setting up inside what is
left of your home.

This brings about a point we need to cover. The home
cache in areas such as a hurricane zone need to take into consideration
the possibility of the home being destroyed. So, your first (in closeness
to the home) external cache should be right there in your yard. If you
examine pictures of disaster stuck areas (hurricane and tornado) one thing
you will notice is that usually the lawn is still there. Trees may be broken
off or bent over but from the grass down is still intact. So, I suggest
that you have a duplicate cache in terms of time of survival on the supplies
at hand. In other words, if you are keeping a months supply of food and
water in the house you should have a months supply of food and water (purification)
in the external underground caches in the yard.

Food in the external caches should be of more compact
and even portable foods like backpacking meals. The caches in your yard
are right there where you can keep an eye on them so the care of a remote
location is not necessary. I suggest placing the tubular caches in the
ground and placing a pot with a whole in it the size of the caching tube,
and then a shrub or flower bush in the same size pot can be placed in the
pot in the ground. I came to this idea while standing in line at a bank,
all of their plants were set up like this (except for the whole and tube)
so that they can come through every week or so and swap outdoor plants
with indoor plants to aid in their access to light. It was totally unnoticeable
until you grabbed the plant and pulled up. So, the idea of an entire garden
of potted plants in the front yard in such pots with caches underneath
each came to mind. You can tell your neighbors (if you have any that can
see your yard easily) that you are keeping the plants moveable in order
to assure that none are starved for light. 

Of course, you should become active "puttering"
in your garden in spare time so the neighbors would not think it unusual
to see you rolling a wheelbarrow and shovels and garden equipment around
in your yard. After they are use to this you can start placing your caches,
a few at a time. 

I will be getting some pictures to illustrate this
process as soon as I can so keep checking back on this homage for pictures.
Besides there are going to be other articles on caching in the future.

Besides the tubes I expect to have some ammo cans buried
under square oblong planters done similarly to hold items that the tubes
are not suitable for. A pistol and ammunition come to mind first for such
a cache. Possibly a larger than backpack able water purification system
in another. Remember that this cache will be dual purpose. Not only will
it be a backup for your home cache (in case it is blown away or destroyed)
but should also contain everything you need to make it to your first bug
out trail cache should the necessity be to remove your group from the home
location.

Discussion of the home caches will continue with my
next installment. Until then, start puttering in your yard, I'll fill you
in on tube construction next.