Year: 2016

Notes for Wednesday – January 13, 2016

In February, we will have an updated review of the Harvest Right Freeze Dryer. In the mean time, A friend of SurvivalBlog needs to sell his freeze dryer and is asking $2600 for it. It is used but well taken care of, and the vacuum pump has been completely refurbished. If you are interested in it, email us and we will forward the information on to him. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 62 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series …


What’s For Dinner?- Part 4, by J.R.

Meats While meat should probably be viewed as a nicety rather than an essential, we have made it an essential in this house. My husband is a type-1 diabetic, and as such his insulin will last a whole lot longer if he goes to a no-carbohydrate diet. We could purchase commercially-canned meats, but we really prefer not to for both economic and safety reasons. We buy pigs and sides of beef from a local family and generally use our meat straight from the freezer. However, we always keep a sufficient number of empty mason jars and new lids on hand …


Letter Re: Powdered Milk

HJL, To add to the article “What’s for Dinner,” one way to make powdered milk more palatable is to add one can of evaporated milk per gallon of reconstituted powdered milk. Powdered milk has had most of the milk fats removed from it and adding them back in via evaporated milk makes it much better tasting. When we lived in Turkey, the milk plant on the Balgat airbase in Ankara used the powdered with evaporated method to provide milk for the BX. (Tuberculosis is endemic in the cattle herds in Turkey, and you will get TB if you drink their …


Economics and Investing:

RBS cries ‘sell everything’ as deflationary crisis nears – G.G. o o o Record Numbers Of Retired Americans Are Working Part-Time Jobs – G.G. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News All of the World’s Money and Markets in One Visualization (Visual Capitalist) An excellent (and terrifying) representation beginning with Bitcoin and ending with derivatives. Oil Could Fall to $20 but NOT for the Reason You Think (Market Watch) Excerpt: “While oil markets are undoubtedly oversupplied, after a certain point, deteriorating fundamentals have little to do with the price action. ‘Oversupply may have pushed oil prices under $60, …


Readers’ Recommendations of the Week:

SurvivalBlog reader T.A. sent in this recommendation: On a recent trip to a used book store in a tiny little Tennessee town, we found a wonderful treasure. Here it is for SB readers interested in a helpful resource: Root Cellaring: The Simple No-Processing Way to Store Fruits and Vegetables by Mike and Nancy Bubel. Our copy was printed in 1979 and purchased for $5, but there appears to be an updated version from 1991. From the 1979 edition, a quote from Ella Heide whose cellar was built in 1901: “The root cellar was the most crucial link in the subsistence …


Odds ‘n Sods:

House Homeland Chair Warns of Terror Attacks at Disney, Oscars, the Mall of America… – Sent in by T.A. o o o Disturbing news for those planning on having children: Scientists push for new wave of eugenics with genome testing for all newborns While there may be good reasons for knowing this information, I can think of a stream of ways that it will be abused if it exists. – Sent in by D.S. o o o An interesting idea for a survival kit was sent in by reader M.T. PACE lid. Be prepared for whatever life throws your way. …



Notes for Tuesday – January 12, 2016

On January 12, 1888, the “Schoolchildren’s Blizzard” killed 235 people, many of whom were children on their way home from school, across the Northwest Plains region of the United States. The storm came with no warning and some accounts say that the temperature fell nearly 100 degrees in just 24 hours. There were many instances of teachers keeping or rescuing children who would have been caught in the storm while walking home. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 62 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First …


What’s For Dinner?- Part 3, by J.R.

Powdered Milk/Dairy Ah, powdered milk. It’s probably the ugly stepchild of the food storage world, the last item people want to put in their food storage because it’s the last thing they want to drink. We’re going to change that. First off, let’s discuss the various needs, the bare bones essentials. Children, up to about age ten or twelve years, and pregnant and nursing women need 75 pounds of powdered milk per year to satisfy the nutritional demands of their growing bodies. Teens and adults can make do with 20 pounds of dry milk per year. This reduced amount is …


Letter Re: Algorithms

Sirs, I was particularly interested in your 1/9/16 link to an article regarding The risks — and benefits — of letting algorithms judge us. Algorithms are convenient tools and are more ubiquitous in society than you might think. Those maddening automated telephone answering scripts that lead you through a labyrinth of options that do not address what you are calling about are an excellent example. Many businesses and healthcare venues (or providers) regularly use algorithms to help them maintain a minimum standard of service. That is fine, if you are satisfied with a minimum standard of service. I tried, at …


News From The American Redoubt:

Here is some food for thought, when considering retreat locales: Five Maps Showing the Extreme Variance in U.S. Population Distribution. Note that The American Redoubt has some of the least populous counties. o o o U.S. Government to Cull Hundreds of Yellowstone Bison This Winter – Sent in by T.J. o o o RBS sent in this article containing some odd photographs of a rare defect: Idaho Fish and Game mystified by rare, deformed mountain lion o o o The Californication of Washington continues. Here is yet ANOTHER reason for the Citizens of eastern Washington to seek partition! – JWR …


Economics and Investing:

“Unprecedented Demand” – US Mint Sells Nearly As Much Gold On First Day Of 2016 As All Of January 2015 – G.G. o o o Shipping Said to Have Ceased… Is the Worldwide Economy Grinding to a Halt? – B.B. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News More Trouble Ahead for US Oil Industry (Houston Chronicle) Excerpt: “The tentacles of the energy sector run deeper in the US economy than most understand…” Why Sugar, Once a Big Business in Hawaii, is Disappearing (Christian Science Monitor) Excerpt: “The company hopes to shield itself from the vulnerability of a single …


Odds ‘n Sods:

The latest from Wranglerstar (one of our favorite vloggers: Best Everyday Carry Gear 2016) o o o Reader C.S. sent in this link to a review of some inexpensive/cheap “mop wick” diesel stoves. Part of the article is a video that shows how to re-wick them and their operation. Prepping 101: Cooking With Diesel – Mop Wick Kerosene Stoves Explained o o o From Mike Williamson, SurvivalBlog’s Editor At Large: Point source failure – One major highway and only one bridge connecting the nation. Ontario’s Nipigon River bridge fails, severing Trans-Canada Highway o o o After Ebola, two other tropical …