Saving information from the internet that we will need after a collapse or catastrophe seems like a huge and unending job. There is a wealth of information that will be invaluable to those who will be true survivors after we lose our internet abilities or power in the future. I have always felt that when I found good and sound directions, plans, lists, how to's in general or specific for special projects that I should print them out and put them into loose leaf notebooks. I also have lots of recipes and how to's for food production, harvesting, preservation and cooking in loose leaf notebooks, Since I have never made cheese I felt I should have directions for it, but most importantly how to make certain cheeses from dry milk or instant non-fat dry milk. Books in today's world are numerous and accessible locally and from Amazon and many other sources. The internet is full of books online or e-books. I believe after losing several books I had purchased and downloaded to my computer and then having my computer crash and losing the hard drive that e-books may be fine for fiction but when you want information that you can keep to help you after an apocalypse your best bet is to have the books in hard copy version. That means you will need to order a book or print the book out and put it in a loose leaf binder.
Knowledge will be one of the most important skills when things are really bad. Libraries are great resources but when cities go broke they will be closing the Libraries and many cities already have. Few people have books that tell them how to plant a garden or how to take care of it. What grows in your area? What can you do to keep the soil healthy? Do you have all the knowledge you need to build a solar food dehydrator? Do you know how to safely can/bottle your harvest or the meats you grow or can trap or hunt? Do you even know how to butcher that deer that you may get? What organs should you keep to eat? What organs would you keep for the domestic animals/pets to eat? Do you know how to build a rocket stove? Or a haybox retained heat cooker? Can you build a solar oven? Do you know how to place an outhouse on your property to keep your well safe for drinking? Do you know how to build an aluminum can heater for the house you live in? Most of us have seen some of these things on the net or on youtube but will we remember how to do all these things when it comes time to do or die?
My reference library is not as organized as I would like but I know what information I have and can look through my binders and find the article fairly quickly. If I could encourage you to do anything constructive it would be to build your survival library in book or binder formats. Do not keep your information on CD's and on your hard drive and expect to be able to access it when you want it. We don't know when we will lose power due to not having money or having the powers that be shutting down coal fired power plants we will be without the computers that we are so dependent on. So let's make sure that our most valuable information is not only on the internet or a hard drive, and NO the backup services that you can buy will not be of any help.
I have listed many sites, articles and blogs on my site here that could be a start for you to go to and print the info for your own binders. By the way I buy all my binders at thrift stores for approximately 50 cents a piece. The toner for my printer is the most expensive part of the process. Paper does go on sale as well as the toner. You can get your toner cartridges from services that take your old ones and sell you rebuilt and filled with new toner for discount prices.
My feeling about this subject is that knowledge will be the most important tool you will be able to get now and it will be second only to water and food. I believe that you will be able to trade things you can make for things you need. For instance if you can build rocket stoves or solar ovens or solar dehydrators think of what trading advantage you will have with others needing these things or needing to know how to build them themselves. I hope to be able to trade for seafood since we live within 3 miles of the James River and close to the Chesapeake Bay as well. I think that by helping our neighbors to survive by having a rocket stove available for them to use will be a free item that could help and create good will. Trapping squirrel, rabbit, and other small wild animals will be many peoples only meat. Fish will be about the easiest protein to get in our area. We have no deer nearby but since we can walk to areas to get fish and crab we will be able to trade for fish or fish ourselves. Everyone needs to think of the available resources where they are located and then get the information you may need to attain the edible foods for yourself. I plan to plant an edible landscape that most people won't know is food. Every area has their own foods that can be planted. If you don't spray your plants with pesticides and herbicides you can eat Pansies, roses, nasturtiums, cabbages, lettuces, etc. Check out a few books from the library and then copy the pages you need for your plants and area to cultivate. If you live near the woods or in the country you can plant nettles, wild blackberry vines, and wild roses to harvest when they are in season. Read, read, read, and then copy or buy books that will help you to accomplish what you need to do when the time comes.
Just remember knowledge is as much of a survival tool as a hoe, shovel or a weapon. But without knowledge some things will be out of your reach to accomplish. So build your library and think of it as an investment in your survival future.
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