Letter Re: Long-Term Food Storage

Hugh,

Everything I read says to store food that is prepared and packaged for long-term storage in a cool, dry location. I have not, however, been able to find guidelines for keeping this food in a hot, humid climate if the SHTF. For example, if I have eight months of food stored and the SHFT so I lose air conditioning and refrigeration, will this food still be good eight months down the road? – T.T.

HJL Comments: Prepared long term foods will decline in nutritional value, flavor and possibly texture over time. If the food is packaged in water tight seals, the humidity isn’t so much of a concern, but the higher temperature will accelerate the decline in the quality of the food. If the temperature gets high enough for long enough, you end up with empty calories that taste bad, but they are still calories.

You may want to consider a root cellar if the water table allows it. This is a time honored method of lowering the temperature for storage foods. You can even use buried plastic barrels to create the same effect, though it is not as convenient. Also search on SurvivalBlog for the terms “hot and humid”. You’ll end up with many links like this: Two Letters Re: Storage Without a Basement

September in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran of Gainesville Coins

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, by Steven Cochran of Gainseville Coins where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover the price action of gold and examine the “what” and “why” behind those numbers.

What Did Gold Do in September?

Gold was pulled out of a 2-month low by the non-farm payrolls report that was substantially under predictions. Prices were slowly worn down as the month went on, until the Federal Reserve FOMC meeting on the 22nd. When the Fed did not raise interest rates, gold jumped $20 an ounce. Prices were pushed down later in the month, as the stock market staged a big rally on expectations that Hillary Clinton would win the election. Gold took another hit when the revised GDP numbers for the second quarter came in above expectations.

When all was said and done, Gold ended up increasing a mere $9 an ounce for the month. Seeing as how September is supposed to be the worst month of the year for gold, we’re looking forward to increased demand later this year.

Factors Affecting Gold This Month

Fed Interest Rate Policy

The big news for gold was the Fed not raising interest rates on the 22nd. This caught many traders by surprise as the dollar crashed, and gold jumped $20 an ounce that afternoon. Since the November FOMC meeting is only six days before the election, there is zero chance that the Fed will raise rates then. At press time, bond markets were giving a 62% chance of a December rate hike.

Bank Of Japan

The Bank of Japan caught everyone on the wrong foot when they announced that they would soon begin winding down their quantitative easing (money printing) program in favor of working on long-term bond yields

Presidential Debate

Gold prices gained ahead of the first Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Political analysts believed that Trump had a good chance of winning the debate, which would increase his momentum headed into the election. A Trump presidency is seen by Wall St as a disruptive force, and markets went into a defensive stance ahead of the debate.

When it was over, general consensus on Wall St was that Hillary won the debate. This triggered a stock market rally and led to falling demand for safe havens, such as gold.

Deutsche Bank

A big influence on all markets heading into the end of the month was the “deathwatch” for German megabank Deutsche Bank. The largest bank in Germany, Deutsche Bank, has been hounded by financial regulators for years regarding questionable practices in the lead-up to the 2008 financial crisis. When news broke that the U.S. Department of Justice was seeking a $14 billion fine against DB for wrongdoing in selling mortgage-backed securities, bank stocks across Europe crashed. The news also sent U.S. bank stocks lower, as fears of a “new Lehman moment” swept through the markets. With a reported €42 billion in derivatives on its books, if Deutsche Bank collapsed, it would pull nearly every other big bank in the world down with it.

Rumors and reports regarding the huge fine sent DB stock down to all-time lows, below €11 a share, down from $30 a share a year ago. Stocks rose and fell day to day, dragging gold along in the volatility. Near the end of the month, Deutsche Bank shares recovered on news that it was negotiating a lower fine with the DoJ, reducing safe haven demand by investors.

On the Retail Front

American Silver Eagle sales were down in September, as primary buyers were taking in thousands of ounces from the secondary market. Some investors were cashing in on the silver rally, selling ASEs that they’d purchased in the past at lower prices. The U.S. Mint only sold 1,675,000 Silver Eagles in September. Gold coin sales were higher for the month, with 94,000 ounces of American Gold Eagle coins of all sizes sold, along with 17,500 ounces of .9999 fine gold Buffalo coins. The 2016 Theodore Roosevelt Memorial National Park is the theme of the latest American the Beautiful coins, and this just may be the best design that has come out of that program in years. The reverse shows Teddy on horseback, surveying his North Dakota ranch.

Since the Royal Canadian Mint only releases sales figures once per quarter, we’ll have those numbers next month.

Market Buzz

Have the central banks messed up the global economy? William White should know. He was the Chief Economist at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the central bank of the central banks. He says that ultra-easy money policy is doing more harm than good. While those who have been paying attention already know this, Yellen, Draghi, and Kuroda still need convincing. Will they listen to one of their own? (Don’t bet the house on it.)

Some state politicians are saying that the proposed Texas Bullion Depository is only the first step in building a physically-deliverable commodities exchange in the Lone Star State.

To those who call him a broken watch for his predictions of an upcoming economic crisis, Bill Gross says “This watch is ticking because of high global debt and out-of-date monetary/fiscal policies that hurt rather than heal real economies. “Capitalism, almost commonsensically, cannot function well at the zero bound or with a minus sign as a yield. $11 trillion of negative yielding bonds are not assets — they are liabilities. Factor that, Ms. Yellen, into your asset price objective.”

Reuters notes that official Chinese gold reserves rose by 160,000 troy ounces in August to 58.95 million ounces (1,833 metric tons), but at the same time their foreign currency reserves fell to the lowest point since 2011, as they intervene in the currency market to prop up the yuan.

Chinese gold market analyst Koos Jansen wonders what’s up with the billions of dollars of precious metals on the balance sheet of the big Chinese banks?

Russia is still in the bullion game, adding a huge 700,000 troy ounces (21.77 metric tons) of gold to its reserves. A bunch of this every month comes from the government buying domestic gold production that is subject to international sanctions.

Gold mining giant Robert McEwen is calling for gold to hit $1,700 to $1,900 an ounce by the end of the year, noting “the big argument against gold used to be it costs you money to store it. Right now, it’s costing you money to store your cash.”

Gold imports by India are down, but that’s because people are flocking to cash in their old jewelry at a profit.

Our friends at Casey Research say the music’s about to stop on Wall St, and it’s time to leave the dance floor.

Claudio Grass at Acting Man takes us on a tour on what is wrong with trade agreements made behind closed doors.

With all the attention on the CEO of Wells Fargo getting curb-stomped in Congress over the bank’s employees making hundreds of thousands of fake bank accounts using customer names, some people wonder if this is all an election season show by the politicians. To see where their loyalties lie, we took a look to see which banks are among the top 20 donors to the members of the Senate Banking Committee.

Looking Ahead

Stand ready to be bombarded by political ads everywhere as the Presidential election draws near. (It’s not like we haven’t had a ton already.) There’s no Fed policy meeting in October, but we will get the minutes of this month’s meeting so we can see how split the Fed is on raising interest rates now or later.

The European Central Bank will release the minutes of their September policy meeting on the 6th. The next policy meeting is on the 20th. Watch for Deutsche Bank to play a major role in what Draghi decides. (Will he ever figure out that he’s killing European banks with negative interest rates? Probably not.) The Bank of Japan holds its policy meeting on Halloween and November 1st, so we will cover that in November’s report.

OPEC isn’t meeting until November 30th. U.S. oil stockpiles have fallen the last four weeks, but can it keep it up? Watch for warfare (Libya) and terrorism (Nigeria) to play a major factor in crude prices.

“Banks Behaving Badly” will likely be a theme we continue to see next month between Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank. Watch for financial stocks to lead the markets up or down.

We end this month with a story from Canada. An employee at the Royal Canadian Mint apparently smuggled $136,000 of gold out of the facility by stuffing it up his butt. The caper only came to light when an alert teller noticed all the checks from gold buyers that the defendant was depositing and contacted authorities. The Mint was totally unaware of the thefts until contacted by police.

Economics and Investing:

WARNING: The Coming Collapse Of U.S Net Worth Will Wipe Out Millions Of Americans –

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From: Wells Fargo, Re: Closing The Accounts We Secretly Opened For You – DSV

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Items from Mr. Econocobas:

Backlash to World Economic Order Clouds Outlook at IMF Talks – Here is Globalism on the defensive. The world’s economy has been destroyed by globalist policies and now they want to blame the impending recession/depression on others who are rejecting globalism.

Video Interview : Is Canada’s Economy on the Verge of a Financial Crisis? – This is a very good interview on Bloomberg.

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Interesting Coincidence – U.S. Internet Disruption Maps During WikiLeaks Presser. – C.S.

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Video: Trey Gowdy Took Only Three Minutes To Silence The Media – B.B.

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On The Precipice Of World War III: Russia Prepares For War On Multiple Fronts – B.B.

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In the news, I notice that Russians are participating in large nuclear preparedness drills. While it seems based on Russian sources (and all that implies, based on Sun Tzu), I would certainly say that a pre-emptive strike is in their arsenal of options and should be considered when evaluating our own state of preparedness. 40 Million Russians To Take Part In “Nuclear Disaster” Drill, Days After US General Warns Of War With Moscow – EJR

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The Threat is Real and Imminent: “Two North Korean Satellites Orbiting Over U.S. May Be Armed With Miniaturized Super-EMP Weapon” – G.L.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Cowardice asks the question, “Is it safe?” Expediency asks the question, “Is it politic?” Vanity asks the question, “Is it popular?” But, conscience asks the question, “Is it right?” And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one that it is right.” – Martin Luther King

Notes for Tuesday – October 04, 2016

October 4, 1923 is the birthday of the late Charlton Heston, who was born John Charles Carter. He died April 5, 2008. He is often remembered for movies like Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, Soylent Green, The Planet of the Apes, and the survivalist classic The Omega Man.

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SurvivalBlog would like to welcome Max Velocity Tactical as a new sponsor in our writing contest. They will be donating a gift certificate good for any two or three day class of training. Stop by their website today and see what they offer.

We are also welcoming back SafeCastle as a contest sponsor. They will be donating a package of 15 Life Straws. If you are a regular purchaser of survival/prepping materials (and who among us isn’t?), you owe it to yourself to check their website out.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 66 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value),
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul PMAG 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating an AquaBrick water filtration kit with a retail value of $250, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  5. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  8. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  9. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value),
  8. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value), and
  9. Fifteen LifeStraws from SafeCastle (a $300 value).

Round 66 ends on September 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

How To Find Food in Your Own Backyard, by Z.M.

If it ever really comes down to it, you can easily find food in your backyard. I remember reading a survival book when I was younger that mentioned how absolutely ludicrous it is to die of starvation in the wild. The book mentioned the sheer number of times that starved lost hikers’ bodies are found lying in a patch of edible plant life.

After reading that, I agreed with the author and set out to educate myself on the edible plants I walk by every day. The end result is that I can now take a hike through the woods and readily identify plant after plant that I can eat along the way. If I’m ever on a dayhike and find my food is running low and I’m hungry, I know which plants I can munch on that’ll allow me to enjoy my hike much longer. It’s pretty fun.

I think plants are pretty neat. The tiny little red clover lives in its own little world, while the massive oak will fill you with a sense of awe.

With a little bit of training, those plants can fill your belly with food as well!

Here are seven very common and very easy to identify edible plants that you most likely have in your backyard already.

  1. Red Clover

    This is your typical three leaf clover, just with red-ish flowers. If you live in an area with rabbits, sooner or later you’ll see them munching on red clover flowers. The cool thing is that those red flowers are edible for you as well.

    The central stalk can be kind of tough, but if you have the time and desire to strip all of the little red florets off of the main stalk, then you’ll be in for a real treat. You can eat the little flowers raw or use the dried florets to make tea.

  2. Chicory

    I’m a big fan of this pretty little blue/purple flower. The leaves make an excellent addition to salads, and you’ve probably eaten them before without ever really realizing it. They’re a very popular addition to mixed green salad bags that you can buy at the grocery store.

    You can actually buy seeds for these little guys at your local hardware store as well, which I find funny since I consider it a weed. However, this weed is incredibly tasty and versatile. When harvesting, try to pick the younger leaves, as they’ll be less bitter.

    The taproot can be used as well. If you dry, roast, and grind them, you can use them as a coffee substitute, just like you’ll find in New Orleans.

  3. Crabapples

    You know these little guys as the notorious blobs that end up all over your sidewalk every fall. Well, give them a piece of your mind this year by fighting back with your stomach. That’s right, you can eat these little fruits as well. I’ll give you fair warning though, they’re extremely tart.

    Personally, I’ve never been a big fan of Granny Smith apples. However, if you do like Granny Smiths, there’s a good chance that you’ll like these as well. They have roughly the same taste and probably a bit more of the tartness. You can cook with them, just like you would a Granny Smith though, and they make pretty good applesauce.

  4. Dandelions

    Here’s another little green that I’m a pretty big fan of because of how great of an addition it makes to salads. The leaves get more bitter as they grow larger (read: extremely bitter), but if you can get them while they’re young they’re fantastic.

    I find eating dandelion leaves is very similar to drinking coffee. Nobody drinks straight up black coffee and likes it the first time. It’s an acquired taste. The same can be said of dandelion as well. Once you develop a taste for the bitterness, you won’t be able to get enough.

    Like chicory, you can use the roots of dandelions for a coffee substitute as well. Dry, roast, and grind the roots, and you’ll be on your way to a beverage that’s at the midway point between a coffee and a tea.

  5. Acorns

    The only way I’ve ever eaten these are as nuts, but you can use them to make flour like the Indians used to as well. The key to making acorns edible is to get rid of all of the tannins inside of them.

    Tannins make the acorn incredibly bitter. The key to removing tannins is water, and lots of it. By boiling acorns in several changes of water, until the acorns taste decent, you will safely dispose of the tannins. When you boil them, make sure to remove the outer shells first too. Otherwise, you end up with a mess. After you boil them, you end up with a pretty pleasant nut meat that can easily fill some bellies.

    If you use cold water to leach out the tannins, THEN you can use acorns as a source of flour to make breads and such. Tying up your acorns in a bag with holes in it, and placing them in a flowing stream will leach out the tannins over a period of time (potentially three days). Then, you’ll want to dry the acorns out, and peel off the thin little papery skin around each one before grinding them down to use as a source of flour.

  6. Wild Garlic

    These are very easy to identify little boogers that you’ll see popping up all over your yard from spring to fall. We always called them wild onions growing up, but wild garlic is the proper name. They send up long, green, tube-ish stalks that are hollow inside and tend to tower over the surrounding grasses.

    You can use the green part chopped up like chives. The teeny little onion at the base you can use, well, like an onion. I think they taste pretty good too. Some people say that the taste is too powerful though, so be wary of that before you substitute them in recipes in the same proportions as regular onions.

  7. Kousa Dogwood

    If you live in the South, you’ll find these things all over the place. Dogwoods are incredibly popular down here, and the Kousa variety is just as common. Kousa dogwoods are recognized by their pinkish-red globular fruits. They kind of look like bumpy soccer balls.

    What most people don’t know about this tree is that those little soccer balls are edible. Personally, I find them kind of mealy, but if you’re truly hungry you probably won’t mind. The fruits ripen in late summer, and turn from yellow to pink-red when they are fully ripe. The skin is pretty bitter, so they’re gonna taste better if you can avoid that part.

Conclusion

Should something crazy ever happen, such as a loss of power, flooding of your community, or storms that leave roads impassable, you may find yourself marooned at your house for a period of time. I don’t consider my current residence out in the boondocks by any means, yet we’re faced with at least one of those problems every year.

Should such an event come to your doorstep, the ability to forage food out of your own backyard will make your life much less miserable. Think about the peace of mind that comes from knowing that there are plants out in your lawn that you know your kids can safely eat should your food stores run out.

It’s a good feeling knowing that you can do that.

If you want to know more about foraging for your own food, there are a couple of resources out there that I rely on and have found to be a great source of information.

  1. Edible Wild Plants: Eastern/Central North America by Lee Allen Peterson

    This is the most comprehensive book on edible plants as far as I’m concerned. I carry this book with me everywhere. Not only does book do an excellent job of telling you what part of the plant to eat, but it also shows you poisonous look-alikes. The only negative is that most of the pictures are hand drawn.

  2. Backyard Foraging by Ellen Zachos

    Another great foraging book that goes in depth into the wild edibles growing in your own backyard. The pictures are fantastic, it tells you what parts to harvest, and tells you how to prepare the food to eat as well.

  3. Southeast Foraging by Chris Bennett

    I use this book mainly for verification issues. If I’m not 100% positive about what I’m about to eat, I pull out this book as a last resort just to make sure. It’s got a number of lesser-known wild edibles within it, and I like the extra perspective regarding how to eat different plants.

  4. Willowhavenoutdoor.com

    If you’ve ever watched Fat Guys in the Woods, then you know who Creek Stewart is. This is the website of his survival business that he runs out in Indiana. His blog has some great posts on lesser known edible plants.

Letter Re: Moving to Alaska

Good Afternoon Hugh,

This is a response to the Letter regarding Alaska as a Survival Location. I am sure you are getting piles of letters from people in Alaska who claim many things. We have owned our property in Alaska for eight years. Here are some pointers for being successful in Alaska, which people down in the States don’t seem to understand.

  • Location – Most people think that the only places to relocate to Alaska are in the “mainland” part. We live in Southeast Alaska, which is a rainforest. Water is plentiful here. Getting here is not difficult and the hub is Ketchikan. It’s like any other place in the country. Location, location, location. Don’t move someplace that is too far, too cold, too difficult… etc. Do research ahead of time. Just like you would before moving anywhere remote. Also, it makes no sense to pull up stakes and homestead if you have tons of bills and can’t make it without a job. There are jobs available, but if you are an unskilled worker, Alaska may not work for you. If you have a profession such as teaching, working in a medical field or some other skilled job, you will likely find a good paying job.
  • Food – As the author indicated, many people barge their food up. However, we have purchased food from the Mormon Cannery and Costco and although we do pay a price for barging up from Seattle, it is worth what we have here. We also garden year round, have deer, salmon, halibut, herring, crabs, freshwater fish, etc. Some locations have moose and caribou, but those typically are on the mainland so we satisfy our needs with what we have. Thinking you are moving to Alaska so you can live in a suburb makes no sense. Get out of debt, make a plan and make a decision. It’s the same as if you made a decision to give up high paying jobs in the city and moving to a remote location in the country. Buying food locally is expensive, but again, barging up food, growing it, hunting and fishing more than satisfy our needs.
  • Fuel – It’s slightly more than down in the states. But, on the flip side, it doesn’t have ethanol.
  • Housing – Buying near Anchorage or Fairbanks is expensive. But buying near Chicago, New York, Seattle, San Francisco, etc… is also expensive. I thought we were trying to get out of the city, not buy a place in the city. Outside of the city there are plenty of places that are reasonable, but again, moving there with loads of debt needing a high paying job will not be possible.
  • Employment – My husband and I work for our school district. We are very satisfied with our jobs. If you are a skilled professional, there are jobs available in Alaska. Thinking that there is free land, you can homestead and commute, or come up as an unskilled worker and find something that will pay for a nice place to live is simply not possible.
  • The Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) – I don’t know of any other location that will give people “free” money just for being a resident.

If you are committed to coming to Alaska the recommendations are the following:

  1. Make sure there are jobs for your profession. Don’t come expecting to find something when you live out in the boonies.
  2. Get out of debt.
  3. Look for property in places that make sense. Don’t think you can live in the middle of the state 300 miles from any populated area and be able to make it unless you are a serious outdoors person with a trust fund who doesn’t need to work. Even if you are, being alone in the middle of nowhere is not easy. Everything has to be flown in by bush plane or float plane. Do you want to live like that?
  4. Don’t think you can move to a native village unless you are being hired by a school. Most native villages are closed to outsiders. You also can’t purchase property there if you are not part of the tribe.
  5. Look for a small town and explore possibilities there. It may be possible, or it may not. Alaska is not for everyone, but there is nowhere like it. – A.C.