Tag Archives: BOL

Episode-1439- Gary Collins on Remote Homestead Scouting and Set Up

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Modern Survival| 53 Comments
Episode-1439- Gary Collins on Remote Homestead Scouting and Set Up [ 1:52:32 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Gary Collins, Creator of the Primal Power Plan

Gary Collins, Creator of the Primal Power Plan

After an exciting career in military intelligence Collins worked for the U.S. State Department, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a Special Agent. His career took him around the world and gave him a unique perspective on not only how the United States, but the world is affected by our food, drug and healthcare policies.

The highlights of his career took him from protecting some of the most powerful people in the world to investigations involving the biggest tainted pet food death case in the U.S. to the intricate dealings of one of the largest counterfeit prescription drug rings in the world. He has often said, “If American’s really knew what was going on in the area of healthcare and nutrition in this country, they would be appalled.”

Gary’s love for all things primal has now led him to begin a new chapter in his life.  He recently purchased 20 acres in Washington state, nearly a thousand miles north of his home in California.  Today he joins us to discuss finding rural land, the challenges of building off grid and more.  We also delve a bit into entrepreneurial topics near the end.

Resources for today’s show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK (866-658-4465) and you might hear yourself on the air.

Also remember we have an expert council you can address your calls to. If you do this you should email me right after your call at jack at thesurvivalpodcast.com with expert council call in the subject line. In the body of your email tell me that you just called in a question for the council and what number you called in from. I will then give the call priority when I screen calls.

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Episode-1329- Thoughts on Remote Land, BOLs, etc.

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Modern Survival| 33 Comments
Episode-1329- Thoughts on Remote Land, BOLs, etc. [ 1:20:05 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
A Pre Fab Mini Cabin at a BOL

A Pre Fab Mini Cabin at a BOL

A few of you guys have asked for a few shows that get a bit away from the homesteading/permaculture stuff and a bit deeper into some of the other more typical “survival topics” we have covered before.  Today we do the first of a few shows I have planned to answer that need.

Today we discuss remote land/home ownership and the unique advantages and challenges it represents.  Far to many see a BOL solely as a place for when the shit has really hit the fan, like TEOTWAWKI level stuff.  The reality is a BOL serves a variety of functions.

In our case we haven’t had a BOL since 2011 when we moved to Arkansas to a place that had been serving as such for about 6 years at that time.  After a shot stint up there of about two years, it was clear my wife’s heart was in Texas.  We decided to sell the remote property and use the gains to improve our new homestead in Texas.

Once again now I find myself scouring places like LandsOfTexas.com, LandWatch.com and UnitedCountry.com looking for that perfect get away property.  This time my goals are a bit different, yours may be more like my first property, the one I am looking for now or something entirely different.  The purpose of today’s show is to help you find the right property for your needs.  Further to decide if having such a property is even right for you at all.

Join Me Today to Discuss…

  • Why would you want a remote property
    • Fall back location
    • Recreation
    • Investment
  • What I think makes a property desirable
    • Water
    • Access
    • Structure
    • Distance
    • Grid
    • Near a Small Town
    • Secure
    • Good Neighbors
    • No Restrictions
  • Questions to ask yourself
    • Are there other things I really should do first
    • Can I really afford it
    • How often will I really use it
    • What do I most want out of it
  • Thoughts on “Teaming Up”
    • It can work, everyone just needs to be clear going in
    • Look for people with common goals and values
    • Define use and define guests very clearly
    • Decide between common ownership and defined areas going in
    • I would likely only do this if all parties could pay cash going in
    • There are many advantages to teaming up
  • Final thoughts on BOLs

Resources for today’s show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK (866-658-4465) and you might hear yourself on the air.

Also remember we have an expert council you can address your calls to. If you do this you should email me right after your call at jack at thesurvivalpodcast.com with expert council call in the subject line. In the body of your email tell me that you just called in a question for the council and what number you called in from. I will then give the call priority when I screen calls.

Our Expert Council is Made Up of…

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Episode-1149- William Golightly on Buying Rural Land

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Modern Survival| 19 Comments
Episode-1149- William Golightly on Buying Rural Land [ 59:55 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today on The Survival Podcast we are joined by William (Billy) Golightly.  Billy is a real estate agent that specializes in rural properties in north central Florida.

He joins us today to discuss searching for bug out or retreat properties.  We discuss things like buying old timber land that has been cut.  Earning income with a property to offset expenses.

We also talk about how to find the right type of agent for this type of property search.  When it makes sense to buy a property on the courthouse steps in a tax sale and when it doesn’t.  We cover the importance of surveys and title insurance and some creative ways to find great properties that are affordable.

Resources for today’s show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK (866-658-4465) and you might hear yourself on the air.

 

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Episode-1030- The Hands Off Self Sufficient BOL

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Modern Survival| 27 Comments
Episode-1030- The Hands Off Self Sufficient BOL [ 1:19:33 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

One thing many continue to ask me about is how to have land that is productive even if seldom managed.   The true dyed in the wool, off grid BOL.  As you might imagine Permaculture is part of the answer.

The key with land like this is it must be able to provide many of your needs but do so in a way that looks very natural.  Anyone passing near it must see it as mostly just scrub and woods like everything else around it.

The good news is the best land to do something like this with is often the cheapest land you can buy.  Generally you find “problems” that others don’t want to deal with and either you don’t care about these problems or you have a creative solution to them.  What I will lay out today is an almost perfect system and piece of land.  Odds our neither you or I will ever get anything up to this level of perfection.  We look at it only so that we can figure out how to get as close as possible based on our resources, our budgets and our region.

Join Me Today As I Discuss…

  • Why you would want to have a BOL like this in the first place
  • Shopping for land and thoughts on owner financing
  • Four big must haves for others and why you don’t want them (may be)
    • Electric Grid Access
    • Telephone Service
    • Grid water or easy well installation
    • Serviced road frontage
  • What land like this really needs to have
    • Guaranteed right of access
    • Surface water or the ability to create it
    • Decent soil
    • Trees and other on site resources
    • Reasonable terrain
    • Good solar access
    • Minimal regulations and no restrictions
    • Wildlife
  • The Perfect Piece of Land
    • River or stream on it
    • Natural spring on it
    • At least the perimeter is heavily treed
    • Native plants that are edible
    • Good population of wild game
    • Large the larger the better think 10 acres minimum, 50 is ideal
  • Some ideas for setting things up
    • Swales and ponds then more swales and ponds
    • Plant food forests and do so heavily
    • Set up some sort of hard building with a metal roof
    • Set up at minimum 2500 gallons of water catchment (potable)
    • Use coppicing and pollarding to harvest wood
    • Set up earth walled structures
    • Put in an underground structure if at all possible
    • Store as little as possible on site, hide the hell out of what you do
    • Set up high capacity wild life feeders (including for fish)
    • Build functional things that can’t be removed or easily vandalized
    • Create an “earth fence” and plant it with the nastiest stuff you can find
    • Have one way in, one apparent way out and many actual ways out
    • Use a compound approach
    • Consider “tiny houses” on tailors

Resources for Today’s Show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-966- Developing Raw Land into a Homestead or BOL Over the Long Haul

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Modern Survival| 41 Comments
Episode-966- Developing Raw Land into a Homestead or BOL Over the Long Haul [ 1:14:31 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
A Pre Fab Mini Cabin at a BOL

A Pre Fab Mini Cabin at a BOL

One of the more complex questions I was asked at Ben Falk’s PDC course was about a “long term bug out”, which I needed clarification on because it can mean so many things.  What the student meant turned out to be something very relevant for the TSP community so it has become the focus of today’s show.

This person found themselves in a situation many of us face.  They have a job, not a super job but one that pays the bills.  Said job requires life in a city/town of some size and they want to be prepared to get out someday (by design or possibly by need).  They can or have already scraped up enough money to buy some raw land, say a few acres or more.  However this land has no house on it, no infrastructure, no utilities, etc.

The question was given I have such a piece of land and can only put a few thousand a year into it, what should I be doing first and where should I be heading long term.  I partially answered this question at the evening fire though a proxy who explained all this, the student was apparently beat and went off to catch some sleep in his tent.   As I answered it I realized how much my answer had changed over the past 4 years and how some of it has stayed the same.

Join Me Today to Discuss…

  • Selecting a piece of land
    • Distance from your permanent residence
    • The consideration of climate
    • Utility access
    • Size of the property
    • Surrounding community
    • Ability to appear undisturbed
    • The value of water
  • The most critical infrastructure you can set up
    • Ponds and swale structures
    • Storage facilities
    • Shelter
    • Permanent plantings
  • Taking it to a higher level
    • Earth sheltered homes in the south
    • Timber frame homes in the cool climates
    • Water catchment for every roof like structure
    • Island gardens for land locked homesteaders
    • Design the end and work backwards
    • Don’t kid yourself about what can or will be done

Resources for Today’s Show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-924- Lessons Learned on the Arkansas Homestead

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Modern Survival| 35 Comments
Episode-924- Lessons Learned on the Arkansas Homestead [ 1:12:41 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Hugelkultur Was a Success at the Homestead

Hugelkultur Was a Success at the Homestead

As many of you know we are now looking to purchase a larger piece of land in Texas.  That will balance well with the apartment we keep in Arlington providing us living quarters both in the city and the country.  The new land in Texas will become our primary residence.

We are not sure about what to do with the Arkansas property right now.  On one hand it is very inexpensive on the other it would generate a lot of cash if we sold it at this point.  Many listeners who have watched me grow TSP from the early days have expressed a desire to hear exactly why we are not going to make Arkansas our permanent home when we put so much work into getting to a point were we could.   The reality is our property has a LOT going for it, it also has a lot missing from what we currently want.

My hope is today’s show will help others learn from both our successes and failures so they can make better choices about purchasing property, homesteading, raising livestock, etc.

Join Me Today As We Discuss…

  • Leaving family far behind may be harder then you thought
  • The importance of feeling “vested” in the larger community
  • As your view of the world changes so does your view of “perfect property”
  • 5 acres may be enough, it might not be, how does the land lay
  • Mountain land may not be all it is cracked up to be, or it might be
  • Why I feel so strongly now about putting a lot of a property into water structure
  • Why I am now more interested in daily self sufficiency and less in “buggin out”
  • Thoughts on having an ability to “house” additional people
  • Land that provides the opportunity to really teach others
  • Livestock I want to work with and why it won’t work in Ark
  • Deals are now available that just were not before
  • Some general principles we have learned
    • Always have an exit strategy
    • Invest in property to make it at least 1% better then its class
    • Mobile homes are fine for what they are
    • Having no real restrictions rocks
    • See a property for what it can be but count the cost
    • You really can’t go to low on an offer, you really can’t
    • The community is as important as the property
    • Useable land is more important then total land area

Resources for Today’s Show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-881- Joe Nobody on BOL Security and More

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Modern Survival| 32 Comments
Episode-881- Joe Nobody on BOL Security and More [ 1:06:35 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Security is Priority #1

Security is Priority #1

Joe Nobody is the author of several best selling books including “Holding Your Ground” ,”The TEOTWAWKI Tuxedo”, “Holding Their Own” and “Without Rule of Law”. Joe has over 30 years as a government and private contractor experience and is a professional firearms instructor and competition shooter.

He joins us today to discuss setting up a BOL or any other location for defense if it all falls apart.  Joe brings a blend of practical knowledge, creative improvising and real world observation to the table.  His understanding of a complete sociatial breakdown and the terrifying reality it presents is the result of on the ground experience in some of the worst modern examples of lawlessness.

Join Joe and I Today as we Discuss…

  • The biggest single mistake when it comes to BOL defense planning
  • The first five things to set up for defending a location
  • The most common myths about defense and security of a location
  • How much does it cost to set up the typical home for effective defense
  • The single most important aspect of defending a home during TEOTWAWKI
  • The role of dogs in home security
  • The value of remote locations and assessing a property
  • Looking like no one is there and how that helps
  • The role of remote monitoring and other force multipliers

Resources for Today’s Show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-868- Wade Bowlin on Bug Out Vehicles

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Modern Survival| 52 Comments
Episode-868- Wade Bowlin on Bug Out Vehicles [ 1:05:26 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Wade's 5-Ton XM820

Wade's 5-Ton XM820

Wade Bowlin is a self described computer nerd, network engineer, business guy, gear head, gun nut, survival junkie and prepping maniac. He joins us today to discuss bug out vehicles (BOVs).

Wade will talk to us about different ideas like: new vehicles, RVs, old vehicles, and most importantly military vehicles and trailers.  Wades bug out location is approximately 1200 west of his current location so he has put a lot of thought into getting there and have come up with two solutions:  Fast and agile or slow and tough.  My personal choices are a 2010 Ford F-150 Raptor and a 1971 AM General XM820.

Join Wade and I today as we Discuss…

  • What makes a good BOV
  • What about newer vehicles vs old vehicles
  • Where do you find and buy military surplus vehicles
  • Choosing a daily driver or special use vehicles
  • What items should you stock in your BOV at all times
  • What you should know before you buy a military vehicle
  • What a duce and a half may be a better option than a 5 ton
  • The good and bad of automatic and manual transmissions
  • What are the best resources for learning more about military vehicles
  • The value and simplicity of military technical manuals

Resources for today’s show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-657- Creating the Low Cost BOL

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Modern Survival| 35 Comments
Episode-657- Creating the Low Cost BOL [ 1:15:19 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Dirt Cheap Survival RetreatToday we are going to take a look at setting up a BOL on the cheap or at least inexpensively.  There are a ton of ways to accomplish this and land is still one of the best investments a person can make.

I also do a brief review today of a great resource for setting up that low cost retreat, it is called, The Dirt Cheap Survival Retreat by M.D. Creekmore, author of The Survivalist Blog.

If you have never read M.D. Blog take a look at it today because he has some great information and insights on modern survival living.

Join me today as I discuss…

  • New Prospective Guest Survey Form
  • Awesome money saving show on the way
  • My thoughts on M.D. Creekmore’s new book
  • Thoughts on land, what you need, what you don’t
  • Solar vs. wind vs. grid
  • Propane is your friend
  • Small generators
  • Creative battery charging
  • Travel trailer vs. shed/shack vs. shipping container
  • Distance desirable vs. distance tolerable
  • Security when off site
  • Internet access
  • Identify the area, then hunt

Additional Resources for Today’s Show

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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Episode-517- Survival Podcast Call In Friday 9-24-10

Posted on September 24, 2010 by Modern Survival| 26 Comments
Episode-517- Survival Podcast Call In Friday 9-24-10 [ 1:13:34 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It is Friday and time for another edition of “call in Friday” where I take your calls and comments on the air.  Today I have questions about food storage, credit, cold weather clothing, agricultural exemptionis, the free state project concept, using your preps and more.  If you would like to be on the show call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

Join me today as we take your calls on…

  • Dealing with beavers cutting down your fruit tress (yes really)
  • Storing food in mason jars for dry storage vs. mylar
  • Options for clothing including cotton, wool, blends and dealing with cold and hot weather
  • Getting your land an agricultural exemption
  • Free State Project at the city/town/county level?
  • Do you need a credit rating in America today
  • Will I get a second BOL when we move to Arkansas
  • What do you do after opening large freeze dried amounts of food you can’t use quickly
  • Why is unemployment higher but more people are now buying houses
  • A young high school girl SCHOOLS the school!  FRICKEN AWESOME!!

Resources for today’s show…

Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.

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