I will be bugging in to my own place which is fairly isolated, but still I plan to have a root cellar with a hidden entrance. And another hidden hobbit hole place with supplies on the end of my land furthest from the house.
One very simple basic but important point that I`d like to make is that you have to be careful what totes you use. Many of the totes I have found have `drainage holes`in the handles, but only the rubbermaid ones have the handles separate from the body of the tote. Next time you are in a store have a look and you will see what I mean. Personally I do not want holes that moisture and bugs can get in-sort of eleminates the water-tightness aspect. I will still put everything in plastic bags inside, but I always use rubbermaid instead of whatever is on sale.(no i don`t get kick-back from them lol)

I posted a thread on caches earlier, you can find it here: http://internationalpreppersnetwork.net/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1771

there is a youtube video with what I think is a pretty good idea for an unconventional cache container. check it out joy, it may be what you are looking for.

One thing I could use... is a location where I could drive to and park and teach my lit'lun and possibly even the ex and her bo about survival outdoors. I need a place where you can get away with cutting down some blow down or hacking up deadfall. If you guys know of such places... please, by all means... fire the location/map. I would be eternally grateful. I have only been here a few yrs and have yet to find these places. Out in BC you just drive a few miles up a logging road and have fun without any issues (even if illegal officially) but out here its flat land and prairie on 3 sides of us and heavily patrolled on the other.

Scotty,

When you have the time, drive the Forestry Trunk Road. It ranges from near Grande Prairie in the North to Coleman in the South.

Sections are closed in Winter, but there is a lot of land along the route that has potential. Not sure about patrol activities. Most old logging blocks should have what you need. I am not familiar with the fire wood permit. Best check that out with the folks at SRD. Best to drop in to an office in a small town not the big, ole city.

Cheers,

Mountainman.

Yeah Buggie, i think it's a good idea. I am planning on using "earthbags" for the walls of my underground root celler and putting 6 mill poly and 1 inch styrofoam sheets on the outer part of the sacs before pushing dirt in. The septic tanks are good, but I want something that's good as a root celler and just a hideout for back up, but big enough that i won't go nuts. (some might say it's too late-believe them lol) Once I try the earthbag walls on that i will decide if they will be good for my next project.

Thanks MountainMan. My hurdle is my vehicle. Its old and rusty and so far has lasted a year. its one of those things... it could drive another 20 yrs or another 20 minutes. So... I dont drive it anywhere but here in Calgary. The idea of driving further is a risk. Because of that... I keep looking for really local areas.

Came across these two vid's (part 2 is there) on stuff you can pick up at Walmart for cheap that can be of use. Some common sense stuff but great info for the beginner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=tXwiOpXxVNs&NR=1

Thanks folks for the replies... so far, so good. All beginners (myself included) will definitely be rewarded from this.

I want to ask about water and bleach. Is that safe? Obviously it is but tell me more. The bleach gives the water life? What ratio would you recomend?

use 8-10 drops of Chlorine bleach (not scented) per gallon of water. Scant 1/4 tsp. per 5 gallons of water. let it stand 30 minutes. If you don't smell a slight bleach smell, repeat the dosage. Also water will go stale so pour it back and forth between two vessels to airate it again.
Did you know you can also use iodine?

on Water purification...

Liquid bleach works well, I have used it in the backcountry for years, it is better than iodine, safer to drink and tastes better. Health Canada recommends to use iodine for a maximum of two weeks total per year.

1. From the good ole govt of Canada...

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/pubs/water-eau/outdoor-plein_air-eng.php

2. There are several new options not on the govt site, such as the ultra-violet light SteriPEN (available at mec.ca) and the MSR MIOX, which uses a battery charge to electrolyse saltwater and make the free chlorine ions for disinfection (much like bleach) and is based on many municipal water treatment plants.

3. Liquid bleach denatures over time, so if you store it you will find it's potency diminish as it ages. An alternative is to store plain pool shock (calcuim hypochlorite) crystals, available at Canadian Tire. Using the crystals and water, you can make a 4-5% calcium hypochlorite solution (similar to regular bleach) which can be used interchangeably. Instructions can be found online. Make the pool shock does not contain algacides or other chemicals! It should say on the bottle 65% Calcium Hypochloride or somethin similar. A 1kg plastic bottle costs about $7 and will disinfect literally over 10,000 gallons of water. Cheap insurance, not to mention disinfecting cooking surfaces, wounds, whatever. By 2 bottles so you can save your neighbors the trouble of going through dysentery.

Pool shock can also denature over time, but much, much more slowly than liquid bleach.

4. Filters at MEC are great for BOB's, but a Big Berkey (or homemade version using berkey filters and plastic food barrels) is essential for household use. You can make a berkey clone for under $50 if you use a Rainfresh filter element from Canadian Tire.

I'm just a beginner myself but my plan is to work toward self sufficiency... Growing and storing my own food getting some chickens and hopefully getting off our dependency on power companies with solar panels and wood burning stove/oven.

I have been prepping for over two years on a very small budget and have managed to accumulate a surprising amount over that time. However, some of the most useful things I have aquired have been free!! I learn how to do something and practice it, a new skill etc by doing online searches, learn from others, or from some great "old school" books (perhaps go to your local library) I keep a hand written journal of basic food recipes to make without conventional power and what you have on hand - baking bread and cooking other foods with a wood fire, or solar cooking using mirrors or a car sun shade for example, and all kinds of things including how to make many medicinal plant & herbal remedies easily and their uses. Most days I set myself a task of selecting one item I use alot - and how I would substitute it for something I can make myself - today is soap by using the Soapwort plant. Boil up the roots and leaves and 30 min later you have a liquid soap that you can use for just about everything. Knowledge is power 🙂

So, me and a few others have been running this community for Prepping/survival over at Google + and guess what? We were named best community on Google!! Thats awesome. We are trying very hard to help, educate and be a positive light around a somewhat negatively depicted subject matter. Its working. There are some guys on there that, much like here are super knowledgeable and helpful. Today, a new member posted a link to his blog post regarding the 5 stages of readiness. I gotta admit... pretty well thought out. Naturally its from his viewpoint and his lifestyle but you could take quite a bit from it if you are a beginner like myself.

Check it out here
http://best5zach.blogspot.ca/2012/11/the-5-stages-of-preparedness-part-1.html

If you want to get involved with the Google + community, join Google and then search me out. I go by Slack Scotty. There should be only one. 🙂 I will get you connected in short order.

Cheers