Author: Gerald Franz

Personal Reflection: A recurring obsession for Gerald was the study of better ways to grow food. When he discovered Dr. Elaine Ingham’s material on soil microbes, he became more excited than usual.

One fall afternoon he came to my house unannounced–which he did often–and insisted I listen to a tape of one of Dr. Ingham’s lectures.

The following fictional letter from Karl to his friend George demonstrates Gerald’s enthusiasm for what he was learning. Continue reading ““I Love You, Elaine,” He Said, Then Bowed His Head and Kissed Her—Cassettes!”

Personal Reflection: Over time Gerald built several geodesic domes. Sometime in the early to mid 1990’s he bought supplies and helped me build one, which served as a greenhouse in my yard for several years.

He put considerable thought and effort into making modifications to domes to make them easier to build. He wrote an item for my preparedness site (not reproduced here) on a couple of designs, one of which included replacing 4″ diameter PVC pipe hubs with lids from five gallon buckets.

Upon his insistance, I turned that piece into a video with slides and put it on YouTube.

What follows is a fictional letter from Karl to his friend George (without pictures) on a dome design that doesn’t use hubs at all. I’m not sure how practical it is, but Gerald was proud of the hubless dome he built. Continue reading “Look Ma, No Hubs!”

Personal Reflection: Gerald did plenty of experimentation with gardening, especially with unusual edibles. He liked flowers, too. He did much to bolster my gardening efforts.

In this fictional letter from George to Karl, the survivalist, he shares information about growing potatoes for survival. Continue reading “Another Try at Growing Potatoes”

Personal Reflection: This is a continuation of Gerald’s thoughts on building an improvised weapon. It features a fictionalized letter from Karl to George as well as George’s reply.

Gerald insisted both be included in spite of the length of this piece because he felt time was short, and he wanted to get the message out. That was typical of his sense of urgency about many things. Continue reading “Spring Time in the Rockies – Please Release Me, Let Me Go”

Personal Reflection: One of Gerald’s obsessions was improvised weapons which might come in handy in the event regular firearms and ammunition became unavailable. Another reason for them is stealth. Continue reading “Spring Time in the Rockies – Junk Yard Weaponry”