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42 Comments

  3. I have been intrigued by these greenhouses for years and hope to pull the trigger this fall. It has been hard to find an inexpensive builder willing to take it on. My inspiration has been http://citrusinthesnow.com (he’s in NE). Also, the University of MN has done a lot of work with greenhouses for the cold climates.

    1. Learning to grow all kinds of crops in the snow will become increasingly important as we move farther into the next “Minimum”. Would love to grow more citrus even today — and going forward. Will check out the link. Thanks so much!

      2. Telesilla of Argos-

        This is the design I think would work best off-grid. Red Gate Farm.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvk7Sszh6fg&t=1s

        ‘Citrus in the snow’ uses ground air circulation using fans which need 24/7 available electricity, depending on temperature requirements. I think his structures in Nebraska are fantastic!

        The one video that iressed me most, I am unable to find now. It showed an off-grid immense structure incorporating logs for the window side facing south to act as supports for the glazing. Inside they had fully grown dwarf fruit trees among their crops.

        In winter they simply rolled down weather-proof insulating mats for 4-5 months over the glazing. The grow area was two stories high with a two story open structure at the north side- a balcony over looked the grow area.

        I’m looking at geodesic domes. The one I liked is 32 feet across and costs $44,000 for just the kit, no other costs included. To much for moi!

        God Bless You

        1. Thank you, Wheatley Fisher!
          Will check out that link, and looking forward to it — much appreciated!

          The idea of the roll-down weather proof insulating mats is a good one. We’re going to explore that further. Our other insulating features include the twin-wall design of the exterior cladding, the geothermal exchange related to placement significantly in-ground, raised beds that wrap around a portion of the above-ground area of the structure, the thermal mass of the water stored in the self-wicking beds.

          Coming soon… 1) The addition of black barrels that communicate with a passive solar hot water heating system. In fact, we’re shopping barrels! 2) the addition of fish tanks which will add to our solar mass.

          Additional strategies in the investigation stage… 1) The addition of a wood-burning stove given our concerns about the coming cold. 2) Your suggestion re: the thermal roll down mats!

          We love the idea of the geodesic domes too, but you are right. They are crazy expensive! Every time we work our way back around to this idea, we’re stopped in our tracks by the price tag.

          Thanks so much! The suggestions are greatly appreciated!

        3. Wheatley Fisher!
          Great video link for the Walipini-style greenhouse. Loved it and support the sharing of as many ideas as possible. There is a lot of learning to do through the work of the folks at Red Gate.

          My husband and I have also watched the videos from Homesteadonomics which include an in-ground greenhouse built in a desert environment.

          https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJEhXwOJ_CGYe0-VcPeGzB6D03KRcoweV

          Note: All watchers… If you post comments or communicate otherwise with the producers of videos, encourage them to post on RUMBLE and on BRIGHTEON SOCIAL as well as GAB.

          Some of the most important information from that Walipini video related to the angle of the sun which will vary by latitude. We also thought the suggestion additional winter covering was sharp. …and the pricing this fellow got on the barrels was exceptional. We also liked his irrigation design, and the focus on filtration was also very important. Additionally, we very much liked the geothermal air circulation piping which was reminiscent (on a smaller scale) to the idea used in Earthship home designs.

          For anyone considering a design like this, we have a couple of thoughts to share that might helpful.

          First… Be conscious of your growing space. The footprint will determine how much food you can produce. Think about your objectives. This particular Walipini design is long and narrow. The designer might best be served by growing lots of one or two kinds of plants rather than trying to diversify among many different plants. For example… The arugula bed will be good for a salad or two followed by a long wait. If your greenhouse is being designed for survival, this will be an important consideration.

          Next… This particular greenhouse has a number of moving parts including removable flooring which may become a mushroom growing zone. The idea is clever, but remember that with moving parts come potential accidents. Our thinking is that greenhouse and garden design should keep the challenges of aging in mind alongside accident prevention. In a dire scenario, help may not be coming. Prevention is the only game in town.

          An Idea… If this is not the only greenhouse, but a supplementary greenhouse, it could be ideal for focused citrus or other tropical plant/produce production. Just be aware that tropical plants can become quite large. Some can be pruned for size management. If this were the objective, the design might have been a deeper trench (level with the walking area). This design would have allowed more space for tree trunk height.

          Thank you, thank you! We so appreciated the video, the learning, and the conversation that followed and will continue.

      3. Northern Prepper;
        Great job! You found the one I was rememebering!

        One more point for those looking for a supplemental heat source, it appears tis far better to dig deeper than to focus on heating.

        In Bozeman Montana, a very frigid place in the mountains, one fellow has a large 1500 square foot sunken wallipini wrapped around his house which need very little to no supplemental heating.

        But if you want wood heat, look at the COB stoves many folks are building in cold Montana. Some stretch out inside long benches made of COB along the back wall in their greenhouses, putting the wood combustion hole on one end and laying out the combustion chamber/heat tube through a large metal pipe for many feet to exhaust outside the other end of the greenhouse.

  4. re:
    TMEN link to ‘chinese style greenhouse’

    Oh, boy!
    That link was bad, so I used their ‘search’ feature for ‘chinese style greenhouse’… and that led to approximately ninety scadzillion stories about greenhouse use and design and and and…
    .
    .
    Did you know a ‘pyramid-shape’ greenhouse, complete with free-range magically-charged crystals and sustainably-harvested copper meditation-seating, channels the spirits of departed organic compost?
    TMEN… a source for everything I never knew I needed!

  5. Thank you for the repost, JWR. I forgot about the VPN in the post, but we also use NordVPN and are very happy with it. One of the nice things about this VPN service is that many routers can be programmed with the VPN instructions so that every device in on your network is protected… phones, laptops, desktops, etc. They have a limit of five or six devices that can individually work, but the router only counts as one device. For the router we use a Linksys WRT 1200ac that has been flashed with the DD-WRT firmware. For those of you who are cool instead of geeks, this just means upgrading the router’s software to a more robust and customizable system. There are many articles about how to do this, including DD-WRT’s own website. Use the qwant search engine to look it up.

    The other nice thing about this is that you can program your NordVPN-protected router (don’t be fooled by that term… it’s just a couple lines you copy and paste) with a “Kill Switch” which will instantly shut down the device or network if the VPN server ever goes offline. Their phone apps and the individual software for different computer systems also have this feature, so you never have to worry about being accidentally exposed when surfing… just remember to activate it.

    Let me explain why it’s important to use a VPN. I occasionally post articles at another site. When comments come back (like this one) the IP address of the poster comes in the to the administrator of the article and the site. If you are not using a VPN, then your ACTUAL IP address shows up. Put another way, you might as well be giving the admin your STREET ADDRESS every time you post. It’s that simple. Go to the link above that JWR posted for NORD and sign up for your VPN service RIGHT NOW. It’s cheap, and tactically stupid not to have it. This is causing me to consider writing an article about router-safety…

    I don’t see that the buytwowayradios link above is an affiliate advertiser, so I’ll also make this suggestion. We really, REALLY like the Motorola DTR700 radios. They are not cheap, but they use spread-spectrum (frequency-hopping) technology and can be very easily programmed so that only the best military tech can decipher what you are saying (and they’ll have to be within a mile or so to be able to do that in any event). We have these, and we also have the Baofeng UV5R, plus I have a couple of the tri-band BiTech radios that include the 222 mhz band, which is a little-used ham band plus the MURS and GMRS bands. The GMRS bands are really quite clogged lately, even out here in the middle of nowhere, with repeaters and such. So, back to the point, another source for radios is https://www.myradiomall.com/ which has these Motorola DTR700 radios (and many others) for about $100 cheaper than everyone else. They are great radios, and you might be able to extend the range with a little antenna work (look up the word yagi).

    Very glad JWR has switched to Wire for calling, messaging and video calling – I find that the call quality is at least as good, and often better, than that which I get on my cell phone. Did I mention that it doesn’t cost anything?

    1. Klaude, I hear you, and your VPN advice makes sense. However, computer stuff is not one of my gifts. Not only that, it stresses me just reading about these things because I agree it needs to be done, yet I am unable to do it. It is all Greek to me, no matter how simple the directions seem to you.

      With that said, when you write your article, please consider adding any known trustworthy persons or business contacts that I could hire to do these things for me, if that is possible. Thanks, Krissy

      1. @Krissy Do not worry. If you are able to post to this site (obviously you can) you will be able to buy and install NordVPN. I assume you’ve made online purchases before. Click on JWR’s link above, and it will take you to the page to buy the service. Once you have done this, it will tell you what to do next. If you use Windows 10, go the the Windows 10 installer. Same if you are using a Mac. Set your username, set a password (I like passphrases, but whatever you do make it hard for someone else to guess, and write it down somewhere safe). Use at least 11 characters, including a number, a capital letter and a punctuation mark. Just follow the instructions and you are done. Please don’t be afraid of it. Some of the things I mentioned are more tech-involved, but setting up NordVPN will be very easy, and you’ll feel quite successful once you have done it.

        If someone helped you set up your computer, they can also help you install this… it literally takes 5 minutes. If you are using a tablet or laptop, you could even take it to Geek Squad or another computer store and they could get you going. Hope this helps… also there are very east-to-understand tutorials on the site where you purchase the service (link above). They understand that most people don’t speak nerd.

        1. Klaude, Thanks for the encouraging words and instructions. You certainly paint the picture that I can do it myself. Obviously, you are familiar with my type, because I laughed out loud when you said, “Please don’t be afraid of it.” You would understand if you knew how many times my kids had said, “Mom, what did you do?”
          (me, laughing, just remembering!)

          Anyhow, I will get her done, one way or the other.

          Thank you for giving of your time to be helpful. Krissy

    2. Motorola DTR700 radios are $250.00 each! If anyone can afford these, they could be worth it in some situations. Yet if I use a One Time Pad on a standard radio, I would be just as secure as a radio using any combination of low power, off the beaten path frequencies, digital, encryption, and frequencies hopping and directional antennas that can all work separately or together to make the communication more obscure, but not strictly speaking, secure. I am hoping to be able to one day afford a OTP generator with a printer from Ready Made Resources. For $249.oo, it would be worth it if you planning thwarting a nation-State capable SIGINT effort.

    1. @notax Your post reminded me of something I forgot… TOR. Everyone (I’m talk to you, JWR) who posts a blog/site with the importance that this site enjoys needs to have the site mirrored to a .onion address. Now, it’s easy to mirror to the same server that the main site is hosted on, but not as easy on a home computer, although the latter is a better plan. I am very concerned that the next step in censorship will be the takeover of ICANN, which controls domain names.

      The FBI and other agencies can seize domain names (they do this already), and ICANN has the ability to disable them. It’s not a matter of IF, only WHEN. So, for everyone who publishes, please, PLEASE mirror your info, or at least the most important parts of it (resources, best articles, etc) and publish your .onion address at the top of your page and encourage everyone to install the TOR Browser, then bookmark the .onion addresses (or keep them on a separate list indicating which sites they go to).

      It took me about a half-hour to set up a Virtual Machine inside my Linux computer, then another 10 minutes to install TOR as a hidden service complete with a unique URL. There are several articles available online how to do this… it’s easiest in Linux, and you can set up a FREE virtual machine in Windows (if you must) or on a MAC, (if you really must) and run the FREE Linux Mint OS to install the TOR Server.

      One thing… it is extremely difficult to serve WordPress within TOR. I have yet to figure out how to do this, and I am fairly fluent in NERD. So, I use just a regular html site.

      Caution: Do NOT either access TOR sites, nor set up a TOR server UNTIL you have your VPN in place.

  7. A recommendation for news services…

    Be sure to check out Steve Bannon’s program at America’s Voice. Today’s program (February 10th) was especially revealing.

    https://americasvoice.news/

    You might also go to Darren Beattie’s Revolver News.

    https://www.revolver.news/

    Revolver News has posted an article that Beattie says may be their most important.

    https://www.revolver.news/2021/02/maga-blood-libel-why-are-they-hiding-the-medical-report/

    At one point Bannon talks about the level of depravity we are facing and from which we cannot cower.

    John Solomon’s team at Just the News is also doing excellent work.

    https://justthenews.com/

      1. Agreed! Just…totally and completely creepy. Imagine being in that situation, thinking you’d come through the day’s crazy events okay, and then hearing reports of your death start to come out from the Powers That Be? Or hearing that about your family member? Where would you even go to hide, in D.C.? (Of course even if he had successfully gone into hiding, they might have still reported him dead.) He got clintoned, didn’t he?

      2. BWL. You are right. The Sicknick story is getting stranger and stranger by the minute. It reminds me of some other examples of stories that just don’t “add up” to anything short of sinister.

  8. Thanks for the links and suggestions. JWR, are you an affiliate for White Harvest Seeds or Thrive life? I have ordered from thrive in the past but would order through you if you are. Have used Seed Savers Exhange in the past, great assortment of seeds. Will be ordering from White Harvest this week.

    1. There aren’t any seed companies that are our affiliate advertisers. But I should mention that the good folks at Seed For Security have generously helped sponsor our writing contest for more than a decade. They deserve your patronage.

      1. I can vouch for using Seed For Security. They are phenomenal to deal with over the phone, through their website, very expeditious service, well worth checking out.

    1. As I understand it, DuckDuckGo is an overlay on Google. DDG is still better than just using Google, and gets better search results. I just don’t know if Google is able to do any of the nefarious things it does if you just use Google. So far, I’m still using DDG.

      Brave browser is a little questionable, is is based on the Google Chrome browser. On one of my computers Brave wants to update, but it wants to update with Chrome. It’s basically just a web surfer so I don’t do much in the way of updates. Even though it is a relatively new computer, Windows 10 won’t do an update, not enough memory on the SSD drive. Plan is to update to Linux Mint in short order.

      1. The Duck Duck Go site claims that they use their own search algorithms, but they admit that they DO use Google’s relational database query engine for searches for videos.

      2. @Charles K. We’ve been using Linux Mint for about 7 years now and it just keeps getting better. It’s a very robust OS with a lot of very useful programs already installed. There are some great sites to check out after you have installed and run the updates, which suggest what to do first to optimize it, so check those out. Also, remember to turn no the firewall (in the main menu – just type firewall in the search) as it is not on by default. We don’t mess with antivirus software… never needed it.

        Also be sure to activate Timeshift for daily and weekly backups… every now and then they push a kernel update that may not like your hardware (this is VERY rare, but just happened to us). I suggest upgrading to the 5.8 kernel as soon as you can… it seems to be very stable. FWIW, I’ve NEVER had a catastrophic crash that necessitated reinstalling the OS… this happened to me on average every 6 months with Windows and typically took all night to complete.

        You’ll also enjoy how much money you save on software over Windows… hundreds per year for us.

  10. Books A Million Commission

    For anyone with advanced LOMR like me, I finally came up with a way remember to always go through SB to make sure they get the commission when I order from Books A Million.

    I added SurvivalBlog as one of the names on my shipping address, but it has my address, not SB’s. It looks like there’s someone at my address called SB. Then when I’m checking out, I see that as an address option, reminding me to go through SB so they get the Commission. With LOMR, ya gotta have workarounds. 🙂

    Now that I no longer get that wonderful vision of Jeff Bozos sitting at his desk writing SB a check every year, I make sure I check to see what BAM has to offer first.

  11. I’ve been considering The Light Phone to replace my iPhone.

    https://www.thelightphone.com/

    In the meantime, I’ve followed their suggestions:

    • Make your phone B&W
    • Delete social media
    • Yes, Instagram too
    • Delete the email app
    • Delete your web browser*
    • Disable your camera*
    • Enable “Do Not Disturb”
    • Turn OFF your phone
    • Smash it to pieces…jk

    *for Iphone: screentime > content & privacy > allowed apps

  12. All the seed packages say to store in a cool, dry place. So, if I live in a hot, wet climate, with no climate controlled house, where would I keep my seeds? In the fridge?

    2. I have ALWAYS kept my seeds in a drawer in the garage Refrigerator. I have seeds that are…NO Kidding…7-10 yrs old, and get almost all to germinate. I even keep my “Survival Can O Seeds” in there also. The problem I have with this and my LOMR, is to remember to use the older ones BEFORE opening that new pack of seed. But I digress…I love trying new varieties and sometimes those older seeds just wanna go for the old school age records. 🙂

  13. Comment on radios.

    Came in for a warm up as I’ve been installing a new door on my rust bucket during this near sub zero temperature weather. I am familiar with the radios JWR chose to feature. Apparently he found them interesting, and a good choice for some preppers. And I agree, as these are apart of the list of radios in my next article that he has been fixing up. I’ve discovered a number things that could make the article much better, and hope he takes license and improves it. I am now ineligible to win any of the top three prizes for the next year… So now it is about getting the information that the community needs out there. I also I see that I should have made a distinctions between the various radio suggested, but the article was already exceptionally long. It was an attempt to cram 2 pounds into a 1 pound bag.

    This radio is made by ICOM, a big name in radios, is widely recognized for their high quality. I have an Icom Ham radio from the 1980’s that still works. These radios are design for large and small business, and are therefore designed to be particularly durable and simple to operate. The seller of this radio will program it for you. You may install GMRS frequencies, and your list of business band radio frequencies that take you away from potentially crowded GMRS channels. In an WROL, it would be a good idea to use frequencies that are not accessible to most others, allowing us to attain some level of obscurity, and reduce our audience size. Always assume that some one is listening, yet the fewer the potential listeners, the better. Although it is illegal to transmit on business band frequencies without a license, I would certainly wish to have access to them in the event of a WROL situation. It could keep noisy neighbors out of your business. The GMRS is a no test license fee, and was recently reduced from $70.00 to $35.00. This same license can also be used by extended family, and is active for 10 years.

    Check myGRMS.com to see if there is a GMRS repeater in your area, and ask the seller BuyTwoWayRadios.com to program the radio for all GMRS repeaters, if the radio is repeater capable. If this is not possible, I would suggest the Midland MTX400, however we may loose the option of using obscure business band frequencies that can be programmed into the Icom IC-F6021-51B. The MTX400 comes programmed with all of the GMRS frequencies and repeaters, and it may or may not programmed by BuyTwoWayRadio.com to include UHF business band frequencies. If there is a repeater in your area, I would also choose the more expensive Wouxun KG-805G ($79.00) handheld radio that also comes reprogrammed with all the GMRS repeaters:
    https://www.buytwowayradios.com/wouxun-kg-805g.html

    Using a 5 watt hand held such as the Wouxan to access a repeater would give your radio an extended range that would be an equivalent to a 70cm Amateur radio band. The range could be 20 to 50 miles on the opposite side of repeater, beyond the line of sight. A repeater acts just as cell tower acts, if fact, cell towers got the idea from the use of radio repeaters. Of course if we must choose between a repeater capable radio and a radio that provides with off the beaten path, or obscure business band frequencies, I might prefer that over a repeater capacity. The choice would be yours, or we could ask BuyTwoWayRadios.com if they program a radio for us that give us the best of both worlds.

    Radios
    Send a list of radios you are looking for in an e-mail to buytwowayradio.com.

    Icom IC-F6021-51B UHF Base Station Radio

    Mobile for a vehicle:
    Icom IC-F6021-51 Mobile Two Way Radio

    (If you are off grid already and have 12VDC, just use this mobile as a base station radio and save lots of money.)

    Olympia P324 Two Way Radio

    Heavy coaxial cable for UHF base station. (Determine length and order by the foot. To be exact, use a piece of paracord as a dummy for the cable run.)

    High gain and easy to mount on a roof Slim Jim antenna

  14. Radio.

    Came in for a warm up as I’ve been installing a new door on my rust bucket during this near sub zero temperature weather. I am familiar with the radios JWR chose to feature. Apparently he found them interesting, and a good choice for some preppers. And I agree, as these are apart of the list of radios in my next article that he has been fixing up. I’ve discovered a number things that could make the article much better, and hope he takes license and improves it. I am now ineligible to win any of the top three prizes for the next year… So now it is about getting the information that the community needs out there. I also I see that I should have made a distinctions between the various radio suggested, but the article was already exceptionally long. It was an attempt to cram 2 pounds into a 1 pound bag.

    This radio is made by ICOM, a big name in radios, is widely recognized for their high quality. I have an Icom Ham radio from the 1980’s that still works. These radios are design for large and small business, and are therefore designed to be particularly durable and simple to operate. The seller of this radio will program it for you. You may install GMRS frequencies, and your list of business band radio frequencies that take you away from potentially crowded GMRS channels. In an WROL, it would be a good idea to use frequencies that are not accessible to most others, allowing us to attain some level of obscurity, and reduce our audience size. Always assume that some one is listening, yet the fewer the potential listeners, the better. Although it is illegal to transmit on business band frequencies without a license, I would certainly wish to have access to them in the event of a WROL situation. It could keep noisy neighbors out of your business. The GMRS is a no test license fee, and was recently reduced from $70.00 to $35.00. This same license can also be used by extended family, and is active for 10 years.

    Check myGRMS.com to see if there is a GMRS repeater in your area, and ask the seller BuyTwoWayRadios.com to program the radio for all GMRS repeaters, if the radio is repeater capable. If this is not possible, I would suggest the Midland MTX400, however we may loose the option of using obscure business band frequencies that can be programmed into the Icom IC-F6021-51B. The MTX400 comes programmed with all of the GMRS frequencies and repeaters, and it may or may not programmed by BuyTwoWayRadio.com to include UHF business band frequencies. If there is a repeater in your area, I would also choose the more expensive Wouxun KG-805G ($79.00) handheld radio that also comes reprogrammed with all the GMRS repeaters:
    https://www.buytwowayradios.com/wouxun-kg-805g.html

    Using a 5 watt hand held such as the Wouxan to access a repeater would give your radio an extended range that would be an equivalent to a 70cm Amateur radio band. The range could be 20 to 50 miles on the opposite side of repeater, beyond the line of sight. A repeater acts just as cell tower acts, if fact, cell towers got the idea from the use of radio repeaters. Of course if we must choose between a repeater capable radio and a radio that provides with off the beaten path, or obscure business band frequencies, I might prefer that over a repeater capacity. The choice would be yours, or we could ask BuyTwoWayRadios.com if they program a radio for us that give us the best of both worlds.

    Send a list of radios you are looking for in an e-mail to buytwowayradio.com.

    Icom IC-F6021-51B UHF Base Station Radio

    Mobile for a vehicle:
    Icom IC-F6021-51 Mobile Two Way Radio

    (If you are off grid already and have 12VDC, just use this mobile as a base station radio and save lots of money.)

    Olympia P324 Two Way Radio

    Heavy coaxial cable for UHF base station. (Determine length and order by the foot. To be exact, use a piece of paracord as a dummy for the cable run.)

    High gain and easy to mount on a roof Slim Jim antenna

  15. “Linux in lieu of Windows…My 80+ year old grandmother uses it.”

    My mom had a cheap Windows computer that she loved to use to check her email, play solitaire and do basic web browsing. Then one day her computer just wouldn’t work. I tried reinstalling Windows, and I did everything I could think of to get it work but no luck.

    My mom was suffering from dementia, so she wasn’t able to learn anything new. So I installed Kubuntu for her OS, Thunderbird for her email, Firefox for her browser and a Linux version of solitaire. Then I made sure to put the icons on her desktop so she could find them.

    Worked like a charm. She couldn’t tell the difference.

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