Notes for Saturday – August 16, 2014

I’m officially calling an end to my 4-year running experiment on gardening this week. I’m not calling it quits on gardening, but I have now discovered which of the methods tried is best for our location. In the last four years, I have tried nearly every form of gardening that was practical. The winner, by far, is the method outlined in “How to Grow More Vegtables than you ever thought possible on less land than you can imagine” by John Jeavons. This method, while physically intensive, produces an amazing crop from very small spaces. Anything planted in one of these …




Systematic Efforts by the U.S. Forest Service to Take Control of Private Water Rights, by W.W.

Jamal Utah I am writing today to inform the readers of this blog about systematic efforts by the U.S. Forest Service (“F.S.”) to take control of private water rights. Recently, this blog made mention of efforts to institute the “public trust doctrine” in California. In Colorado, we have been fighting ballot initiatives concerning the public trust doctrine for years. While the public trust doctrine issue is increasingly concerning, I am writing today about what I feel is a potentially even greater threat to private water rights. In the last few years the U.S. Forest Service has been quietly revising its …




Letter Re: Pre- and Post-SHTF Vehicle Operations and Preparation

Hugh, Thanks to C.C.K. for the great article on convoys. It’s great to hear from the voice of experience. One item I have not seen addressed in the various SurvivalBlog submittals on post-SHTF convoys is ideas on responding to vehicles who might want to join your convoy. I suspect that a well-equipped and organized convoy is going to be fairly easy to pick out for many people. Similar to signing up to join the old wagon trains across the west, because there is an experienced guide (you hope) and safety in numbers, in many scenarios there are likely going to …




Economics and Investing:

CITI: The Economy Has Entered Its Scary ‘Phase 3’ Where Bubbles Form Prior To A Crash. – CDV o o o NAFTA Is 20 Years Old – Here Are 20 Facts That Show How It Is Destroying The Economy. – B.B. o o o Items from Mr. Econocobas: How The Big Banks Got “Fixed”: $110 Billion In Settlements And Still Rising Job = Just Over Broke U.S. Mortgage Applications Fall In Latest Week: MBA




Odds ‘n Sods:

JWR’s Recommendation: For anyone who would like a glimpse of what a modern civil war looks like, then look no further than the lengthy VICE News series of Russian Roulette news reports from The Ukraine. If you have enough time, start with Dispatch #1, and watch over the course of these 70 reports how things fall apart, in slow motion: starting with shouting, protests, and flag burning and slowly progressing to tense standoffs and then full-blown civil war. Take this opportunity to closely observe the weapons, field gear, uniforms, commo procedures, and tactics. Some of the bumbling “volunteers” with no …