Letter Re: Thoughts Trailers and Towing Capacity for Times of Fuel Scarcity

Dear Jim, I’ve been having blinding flashes of the obvious lately that I wanted to share.   A friend of mine just got a few AS degrees in IT, not realizing just how FUBAR the business world is for his new profession. IT professionals are no longer employees. They’re contract workers, rarely working in a position more than a year, and often a lot less. They don’t get benefits or retirement packages. They get specific tasks, get done, get paid, and get shown the door. This is not conducive to stable living. The career has changed so much that they …


Letter Re: Cooking the Farmyard Fowl

James, I really learned a lot from the Cooking the Farmyard Fowl article by Irishfarmer.  My chicken flock is reaching an average of two years of age and they are laying fewer eggs.  It is time to learn how to put them into the stew pot. I had two questions raised from that article.  How do you make a killing cone, and how do you kill and process a chicken?  I found good information at the following links: How to Make a Killing Cone  It includes sizing information ranging from bantams to turkeys.  That page referred me to How to Kill …


Recipe of the Week:

OkieRanchWife’s Cowhand Soup This doesn’t freeze well but I doubt there will be any leftovers to freeze. In an emergency situation this great because the liquid comes from the cans. 2 pounds of ground beef or bison 1 medium red or sweet onion, chopped, (can use dried) 3 cloves of minced garlic, (can use dried or powdered) 4 stalks of green onion, chopped, (can use dried)                3 cans of Mexican style tomatoes (Rotel) 2 14 ounce cans of ranch style beans 2 14 ounce cans of red kidney beans 1 14 ounce cans of whole kernel corn 2 4 ounce …


Economics and Investing:

Schiff Report: Dow 14,000, GDP, Jobs, Fed, inflation, treasuries, & gold. Peter Schiff observes: “All of this is an illusion created by inflation.” Gold Leasing: The Case Of The Disappearing Gold. (Thanks to G.G. for the link.) Americans Rip Up Retirement Plans Items from The Economatrix: Gasoline At Highest Price Ever For This Time Of Year Fed Officials See Brighter Global Economic Outlook Why The Dow Will Hit New Highs Before Crashing 50%


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader B.H. wrote to mention: “I’ve found it helpful to use WalMart.com as a locator for ammunition (at November, 2012 prices!)  Search for the product (“223” for instance) at WalMart.com and click on the links for the products that interest you. If it’s not available in your local store then you can “find in area stores” using Wal-Mart’s live inventory updates.  This morning I surprised a local clerk who was convinced that she didn’t have any .223 ammo in stock for the past six weeks, but she didn’t realize she’d been resupplied overnight.  The web site also offers to e-mail …



Notes from JWR:

Safecastle has begun their Maximum Mountain House Sale, with every Mountain House freeze dried #10 can listing discounted the maximum-allowed 25%. Beyond that, Mountain House is allowing an additional 10% discount for select varieties including Diced Chicken, Diced Beef, Ground Beef, Cottage Cheese, Raw Egg Mix-Uncooked, and Scrambled Eggs with Ham and Peppers. That’s 35% off those items. — Today we present another two entries for Round 45 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course. (A $1,195 value.) …


Creating a Secure Post-SHTF Community, by Old Bobbert

This is the time for all of us to learn something abut “Building a community”. We have done our best to be prepared to survive and to continue to enjoy an acceptable good life, and provide for the present and for the future. Time surely appears to be getting very short. Now is the very best time we will ever have to ready ourselves to rebuild our community and provide the services and protection that we will need. We sincerely believe that our post-SHTF life must be more than simple survivalism, more that just having enough basic food to survive …


Some Advice for Newbie Preppers, by Jillie

Around two years ago, I was sitting at my friend’s house visiting and he tells me about the supposed end of the world on December 21st, 2012.  At first I thought he was feeding me a line of horse manure.  He went on to tell me that he was going to buy the car of his dreams that he wouldn’t be able to afford, rack up his credit cards, get a big loan and live it up.  He wasn’t going to have to pay it back anyway, the world was going to end and we were all going to die.  …


Letter Re: LEPCs Show That Help Won’t Be Coming

JWR, Just a few notes about RC’s article about ARES/RACES and becoming the EC.   I’ve been an emergency services volunteer since 1986 and a ham since 2003. Actually, Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) is under the control of the ARRL.   RACES is the ham radio group that is activated by a government emergency person, usually the state’s governor.   In many small areas they are combined, but ARES can operate in an emergency without specific government authority.   RACES only acts in time of war or officially declared emergencies.  Unless a war is declared or martial law declared, you can help others …


Economics and Investing:

2014: Too Late to Leave The United States? G.G. suggested this over at Zero Hedge: Friday Tragicomedy: Former Fed Advisor Urges Fed To Buy More, “A Lot More” … $30 Trillion More Items from The Economatrix: Goldman Sachs Braces For Bond Market Blowup Rush To Safety:  Americans Buy Nearly Half Billion Dollars Of Gold And Silver In January Countdown To The Collapse GDP Shows Surprise Drop For US In Fourth Quarter


Odds ‘n Sods:

Some interesting new products that might be apropos for G.O.O.D. kits: self-heating cocoa, coffee, and soups.    o o o Arizona Senate Panel Passes Bill Barring Enforcement of Federal Gun Measures. (Thanks to K.A.F. for the link.)    o o o Shane Connor of KI4U gets his five minutes of fame.    o o o Convicted rapist organizes gun control demonstration at Dayton gun show. Oh, and speaking of the statists’ counterproductive attempts at winning hearts and minds: NRA president says anti-gun advocates threatened to kill his son and daughter    o o o B.B. sent this: Trusting Your Own …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only [so], but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For …


Notes from JWR:

This is the birthday of novelist Ayn Rand (born Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum in 1905), died – March 6, 1982) She is of course remembered for her novel Atlas Shrugged, which is considered a Libertarian classic. While I sharply disagree with her views on religion (since she was an atheist), I admire both her skill as a writer and her ability to articulate some core precepts of human liberty. — Today we present the first entry for Round 45 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good …


Cooking the Farmyard Fowl for Modern Eaters, by Irishfarmer

In an austere situation, or even an economically challenged one, what do you do with those old hens, the ones eating more than laying, and especially, extra males, like all those roosters that hatched or came with the hatchery order?  We’re not talking here about raising broilers from the hatchery, feeding and sweating over them for the required number of weeks, doing the killing all in one or two days and then packing them into the freezer.  This article is for the person who is facing eating real barnyard birds.  It is also for the person whose family is used …