Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” – Gen 32:27-28 (KJV)

Notes for Friday – November 27, 2015

November 27th is the birthday of both SurvivalBlog’s Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio, and sci-fi novelist L. Sprague de Camp (1907 – 2000).

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Black Friday Sales:

  • JRH Enterprises is offering New Third Gen Pinnacle Autogated PVS14 Night vision devices all ITT/Exelis tubes and complete with all accessories and a real 10 year warranty from the manufacturer. In addition to the sale price, JRH is giving the higher specification P+ tube units for the Black Friday sale price of $2799.
  • Smart Living Shopper is having the best prices they’ve ever offered on the Survival Still.
  • Apex Gun Parts has some great deals on everything from AK47 mags to Ballistic Vests.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 61 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, chromlined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have 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 pmags 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 from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304, 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 FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 120 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $340 value),
  5. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  6. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  7. Twenty-five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  9. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  10. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 LifeStraws (a $200 value)

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knifemaker 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. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  8. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  9. 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).

Round 61 ends on November 30th, 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.

Start Growing Your Own Food Now, by Piper in Virginia

It’s now been six years since I heard JWR on one of the big talk radio shows plugging one of his books, How to Survive the End of the World As We Know It. I had never been exposed to this type of rationale before. The more he spoke, the more it made sense to me. Since I’ve been known to get too much forward progress before my mind engages, I took a look at the website you are now reading and asked my consigliore (aka: beloved wife) if I was missing something. She undertook a few days of research and after much talking between us, we then asked another relative to look at the same SurvivalBlog site. That relative agreed with us that “prepping” made a lot of sense to the three of us. As suburbanites, we were limited to stocking up on the three B’s– beans, bullets, and bandages. We also started to look at property out in the country. We purchased a five-acre piece of property and immediately started planting fruit trees, since the time for our local fruit trees to mature is about three to five years. We started building in 2012 and finally moved full time the next year.

I mention the fruit trees because it takes time for them to mature and produce fruit. If you are thinking you will just run out to the local big box store and toss the tree in the ground and next summer you have big perfect fruit, uh, I don’t think so. Even now, four years later, the deer and the bugs have conspired to eat our fruit, and while we have joined in battle we did lose some fruit. I haven’t even mentioned fruit tree diseases.

We have some friends a little south of us who had started a full-time commercial farm utilizing high tunnels. This type of plastic covered structure has been mentioned before on this site. Our friends have constructed three high tunnels; their three tunnels are 30’ X 100’ in size. Using this type of structure, properly designed and constructed, will allow you to grow produce almost year round. With something of that size, you may want to use a professionally designed steel framed structure to be able to withstand the snow load and wind load. However, if you want to do something a bit smaller and are looking to save some money, do a search on Eliot Coleman at Four Season Farm, and you will see several ways to save money on your high tunnel construction. He also has been mentioned before here. His website, books, and Youtube videos are priceless. I used the structure that utilized metal conduit with a rebar insert. You probably won’t be able to grow tomatoes and cucumbers in January, but you will be able to grow many kinds of leafy greens, carrots, turnips, and beets during the winter months. My wife makes a collard and greens salad during winter that people fight over. Yeah, turn your nose if you will. We did too, but now we can’t get enough of it. Having said that, the weather will conspire to ruin your best laid plans. The first winter we were here we didn’t realize a snow forecast for six inches would turn into a crushing 20 inches. When we woke up the next morning, that first high tunnel was squashed. AARRGGHH! So I went out and pushed and pulled and got it to where the wife could work it, if she could work an area three feet high. I now have a 16’ snow rake, and I might have to go out every few hours if there is a heavy snow. Then the voles found out there was a warm area in the winter where they could get lots of leafy vegetables from below. The little guys ate my crops, and I didn’t even get a kiss goodnight. AARRGGHH!

I built a second high tunnel nearby, and this time I put a 3” layer of gravel below our topsoil mix, which was 12-16” deep. I thought I could save more money by using plastic sheeting from the big box store. Yeah, it was looking good. The wife grew some serious leafy greens during the winter. Alas, the plastic wore out in less than a year due to the sun and wind, and I had to replace it a few weeks ago. AARRGGHH! This time I used the good plastic sheeting designed just for high tunnels and cut to the dimensions I requested. I found it on Amazon.

So next I had to rebuild the first squashed high tunnel utilizing a gravel base, with the good plastic on a stronger grid, and using the proper drip tape for irrigation. Search Berry Hill Irrigation for more about drip tape. When these are constructed right and the sun is out, the temperature can get up as high as 90 degrees during the day, even during the winter. You will also need ventilation in case the temperature gets too high. We’ll start the seeds for our summer crop on January 1st and transplant them in late February. This way we will able to harvest some crops by June 1st. Some of our summer crops will produce until Thanksgiving. Start with heirloom seeds and make your own starter soil mix. Place your mix into a hand-held soil blocker. Place the blocks into a plastic tray that holds 50 blocks at a time. Place a seed into each block and keep it moist under sunlight. Hopefully, all of the seeds will germinate, but sometimes they don’t. The blocks that do germinate will then get transplanted into the high tunnel. Many of our gardening supplies come from Johnnie’s Seeds, but if you are on the computer, you already know how to shop for deals. You will also need to start making your own compost in large quantity. Do you have access to manure? Are the animals making the manure eating from a field that is treated with herbicide that kills the weeds? If the treated vegetation goes through the animal to your compost, that may endanger your new plantings.

The wife is now taking a Master Gardener class. She wants to become even more knowledgeable at growing food. We have been to several different farming conferences during the past few years, because we wanted to learn sustainable farming and use very little corporately-made fertilizers and pesticides. This means we must constantly learn from experienced people. I’m a city boy, but I’m studying hard to be a redneck. So we moved from a 60% failure rate the first year to a 40% failure rate this last year. So, when the wife asked her teachers about growing failures, they said they regularly had a 10% to 40% failure rate every year. This goes wrong, that goes wrong, you get a late frost, the worms or beetles or whatever goes crazy, and that’s just the way it is. Welcome to farming. I suppose we could use a Monsanto product that may or may not help with the success rate, but we have chosen not to go that route. Now she has learned that we also have to consider different micro-climates within our five acres. What? What’s a micro-climate? I finally figured out the drip tape thing, and now I have to worry about micro-climates? I’ll get back to you on that.

I am also experimenting with hydroponics and aquaponics, using solar power to run the pumps. Both experiments grow produce without using soil. I have fewer bugs to deal with, but I can’t grow just anything. Again, there are many examples on Youtube. We are also trying IBCs (300-gallon bulk containers) by making sure they are clean, cutting them in half, and using them in areas where it would not be useful or prudent to plant in the ground. By filling the IBCs with soil up to 24” deep, we basically had a dozen 40” X 48” raised pots with drainage. We had success in the IBCs with sweet potatoes and cabbage but not with the white potatoes. We found the IBCs in the local Craigslist ads but needed to be sure they had not been filled with something nasty, like anti-freeze or plutonium.

Our property is fortunate to have abundant wild blackberries, and we have canned or bottled (wink-wink) many different blackberry products. We also recently turned the end of season vegetables into chow-chow. Next year, we’ll look at adding chickens, goats, or sheep to the mix, along with more high tunnels. We completely understand that we will not be able to thrive with just vegetables. We also have the aforementioned ton of beans to go along with the bullets and bandages. We are using electric dehydrators to dry and preserve many foods. One project for this winter is to build a solar dehydrator.

For those of you who read this blog daily, you know there are a hundred details to work on every day, and if you still have your daily job, like I do, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day. By the way, if you need more time in your day, I think you would be wise to cancel your cable/satellite subscription. Half of each program is taken up by ads. You’ll save $100 a month; think what you can purchase with that. YMMV. You’ll also have more time to plan/dig/plant, especially during daylight savings time. We haven’t had cable for six years and haven’t missed it yet. Yeah, I know you miss your sports. I’ve been there, done that. I get on the computer at the end of the day and watch the highlights. If you aren’t already growing produce, you will not survive just by throwing the seeds in the ground. I’m sure there are many farming conferences that will be conducting classes during the winter months. Please start now, if the SHTF and you have not started; otherwise, your failures will doom your family to a cold and hungry death. If you are a part of a group that will locate out of town, start your plans to start your own produce by next spring. If you aren’t part of a group, find a group, and be prepared to work your butt off to learn how to feed yourself. There is usually room in a group for someone with the right mindset and talents. I know it can be daunting to find someone with which to share your tin-foil hat ideas. I found a great mentor in the area about general location set-up and firearms. I found another to help us with growing. I now have another to help with Ham radio. You can’t do it all yourself. There are many of this community that would love to show you how things work. They might not show you everything, but they will help you with some things. You won’t find them sitting at home. You will need to get involved with other groups of people. Try the church you are hopefully already going to. Try a local Master Gardener’s class. Try the local shooting range.

I remember that when we started out in 2009, the end looked so far away, but we bought the first pound of beans and the first box of .22 ammo and just kept at it. Now we know we will never be done; we will never have everything we need. We’re merely better prepared than we were six years ago. If you are just starting out on your prepping journey now, you are a little behind. However, if you will start right now and start networking with others right now, you will feel way better about the future. Now, unplug the TV and get to work.

Letter Re: Eating after TEOTWAWKI

HJL,

I get excited to read each daily posting. I think how I could make it better and more applicable to my “plan”. I read another very thought provoking article, Eating after TEOTWAWKI, where the author talks about growing a garden and some environmental issues he has run into. What to grow and how much of each is certainly a question all of us have. JWR and many others in this blog have addressed sweat equity and the idea that one knows more not by reading but through experience. In my ten years of gardening, I’ve also experienced my fair share of environmental disasters during this time. For those of you just getting started prepping or have done it their whole lives, I wish to add two thoughts. First, think about a time in the near future where all you eat comes from a garden, storage food, MRE’s, or hunting. This sudden change in diet will, for most of us, cause all kinds of Gastrointestinal (GI) issues. One thing that’s easy to grow are leafy greens: spinach, lettuces, kale, arugula, dandelions, collard greens, and mustard greens. By consuming more salads or roughage, many GI issues can be mitigated. If we all ate a few more salads currently, most of us will find that those “extra pounds” will “fall right off”. Make sure your gardening plans include eating more greens. They grow well in all months, except the heat of summer. The second thought is how/where to grow. Many people enjoy growing a traditional garden outside, with the use of a tiller and some hand tools. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with that, and some bountiful harvests can be had. Most of the food is ready for harvest around the same time, and people put up what they’ve harvested. Very few people succeed on a year-to-year basis. I measure “success” by their ability to put away enough food for a year, save seeds, and avoid all that nature has to throw at them– drought, wet conditions, storms, wind, heat, early fall, late springs, pests, and animals. After I’d had enough of nature a few summers ago, I began my studies of commercial farming, specifically using greenhouses, and how those commercial farmers have crops year around. By using a green house, one has more control over nature. Pest control, humidity control, cooler summers, warmer winters, pest control, and rodent control can all be factors that allow a farmer the ability to consistently produce fresh food all year long. When the balloon goes up, you should have all of this in place, seeds stocked up, and production underway. A good place to start learning is on YouTube; search “geothermal greenhouse” to learn many different ways to grow. Go visit and learn from commercial farmers in your area. I hope that my thoughts allow you to harvest more food, give you new ideas, and that you use any extra for charity! Proverbs 3:5 – A.M. In N.C.

Economics and Investing:

Reader P.M. notes: Premera Blue Cross may have laid off over 300 people, and yet won’t talk about it. They are also rumored to be losing money on the individual line of business. The fallout from the poor design of Obamacare continues.

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Items from Professor Preponomics:

A Shocking Number of Americans Don’t Have a Toilet (The Week)

When Financial Bubbles Burst: Real Estate Values are Plunging in Canadian Heavy Oil Patch (Contra Corner)

Interest Rates to Stay Low Longer, Household Debt Remains a Concern – Says the Bank of England (The Telegraph)

Glencore’s Oil Deal in Libya Branded Worthless by Rival Government (The Guardian)

Brazil’s Economic Meltdown: Stagflation Ahead, Goldman Unreservedly Disappointed (Zero Hedge)

5 Steps to Help You Get Started Paying Off Debt (About.com)

7 Ways to Avoid Identity Theft Over the Holiday Season (Washington Post)

The Best Things in Life are Free (Clark Howard)

Simple Christmas Links (Becoming Minimalist)

7 Money Saving, Stress-Less Holiday Shopping Tips (Real Simple)

Banking’s Uber Moment (Business Insider)

Big Banks Accused of Interest Rate-Swap Fixing in U.S. Class Action Suit (Reuters) Hint: Be sure to take note of “who” brought the suit.

Once Ratified the TPP Could Encompass 40% of World GDP (Canadian Progressive)

Odds ‘n Sods:

World’s first 3D printed self-loading revolver revealed: Washbear can fire eight .22 bullets and be made on ANY home 3D printer – Sent in by JBG

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While willfully ignoring current immigration law, the White House has sent a stern warning to states about the refugee battle: You don’t have power to stop refugees. Sent in by T.P.

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R.C. sent in this link: As the immoral drone war continues in the Middle East, Drone Pilots have Bank Accounts and Credit Cards Frozen by Feds for Exposing US Murder.

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According to Bill Whittle, we should have had the shiny modern future dreamed up in the space age… so why don’t we? Because of liberals!
Reclaiming the Lost Future: Unlimited Clean Energy
Reclaiming the Lost Future: Ethical Happy People

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D.S. sent in this video from Bearing Arms: Are You An Armed Citizen Or Just A Gun Owner?

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.” – Thomas Sowell

Notes for Thursday – November 26, 2015

From the SurvivalBlog Family to yours, we wish you a happy Thanksgiving. Despite the crises in this world and the mounting pressures, we give thanks to our LORD that you are are still here, you are still prepping, and that He will never forsake us.

November 26th is the birthday of both gun inventor Eugene Reising (born 1884, died February 21, 1967) and the late Barton Biggs (born 1932, died July 14, 2012). Biggs was a money manager known for his pro-preparedness stance.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 61 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, chromlined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have 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 pmags 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 from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304, 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 FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 120 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $340 value),
  5. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  6. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  7. Twenty-five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  9. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  10. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 LifeStraws (a $200 value)

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knifemaker 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. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  8. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  9. 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).

Round 61 ends on November 30th, 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.

Eating after TEOTWAWKI, by Midwest Prepper

I just want to say upfront, this article is not all inclusive by any means. I am not a master gardener, and there is so much information out there that can be gathered and much of it is at your fingertips right now, so use the time we have left wisely. I realize that everybody’s definition of how much you are going to eat is different. I am just using examples here.

When you were in school and found out about a test coming up, did you start studying as soon as you could or did you just cram the night before? I would hope that you started studying as soon as you could, instead of waiting until the last moment. That is what this posting is all about: not studying for a test but about you feeding your family when the curtain goes down or the flag goes up, whichever analogy you choose to use. So, how do you plan on feeding yourself and your family? If you are a crammer, then you will be behind the proverbial eight ball when it comes to feeding your family after everything falls apart. If you’re the one that started long before it was necessary then kudos to you. When it comes to feeding your family after the fact, you don’t want to be trying to figure it out; you want to already be ahead of the game.

This article’s main concern is gardening long term. Do you know how much to grow? Do you know what grows best in your area and what doesn’t? I live in zone 5a, according to the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Go to the website and figure out which zone you are in, if you don’t know already. Do you know how to preserve what you grow? How do you plan on getting protein, if you have no animals?

Do you have seeds? I use heirloom seeds, but there are arguments both ways. This is my personal preference. How will you get a garden going if you can’t till up the ground? Do you know how to turn a yard into a garden?

If you don’t have a roto tiller or the gas for it, how will you turn that spot into a garden bed? You can do it by taking a shovel and digging the sod off. You can do this by watering the area well for several days to make it a little easier to work, but be careful not to water so much that it is soggy because the soil will compact and be difficult for plant root growth. Then you will need to dig the area you want plant and remove the top layer along with grass and weeds. You may have to replace the top soil or add amendments to the soil to insure good growth of your garden. This takes a lot of physical work. Will you be able to do it? Remember some things are easier said than done. You can also use newspaper, cardboard, or plastic to get your area ready to plant. Just place layers of newspaper (something most people just throw away and can be found in large amounts if you look around). Just use the black and white print copy though, or place the cardboard or the plastic over the area. Then you will need to cover the first two with biodegradable material to hold in place. The plastic you can place any material on to hold it in place. These options take several months to kill the grass and weeds by keeping sunlight out. When you remove the covering, you are ready to plant. In the case of the newspaper you will be able to leave it in place and plant through it as it decomposes. Now that you have a garden plot, you have to plant your seeds or your plants that you started. Do you know what you will plant? Do you know how much you need to grow to feed your family?

Do you know how to start your own plants from seed? Can you make your own seed pots? I have been making my own seed pots for several years now and will not go back to buying them. The only cost of making my own seed pots I have is the cost of buying my PotMaker. (You can search these by just typing in The PotMaker or use this link for wholesale prices). You can make your own seed pots using the newspaper that so many people just throw away. Over this last winter I cut enough material to last me for the rest of my life and still have some left over for my children to use once I am gone. So it doesn’t take a terrible amount of time to cut the material. You can do it while watching a movie. After you master this one, you can look around your house and figure out how you might make a little larger one to transplant into so that you can have an even bigger plant when it comes time to plant in the garden. I have done this and had full size tomato plants to plant in the garden when planting time came. I had my first tomato that year a full six weeks earlier than I have ever before. It takes a lot of work to do this.

Do you use soil or seed starting medium? I have found a local company near me that makes a great seed starter that hasn’t failed me yet and it goes a long way. I wouldn’t use soil because it will compact down during watering and your plant will die off. If you use just soil I suggest adding some kind of medium to it so that it isn’t susceptible to that compacting.

Plant what you and your family will eat. When the TEOTWAWKI, you won’t be able to waste all that energy growing something that nobody wants to eat. You need to know now what your family will eat. It will do no good to have 50 pounds of some vegetable that the family will not eat. Now that you know what your family will eat, how much do you need to grow to get through to the next season? Figure out how much each person will eat of each vegetable and fruit. Let’s use carrots as an example. How many will you need to grow to feed your family? The way I figure out what I need is to figure out how many I will eat each week, then multiply that by 52. This is only an example of the amount I plan on eating. Let’s say I plan on eating three carrots per week, and then I will need to grow and harvest 156 of them (3×52 weeks). Just because I need to harvest 156 carrots, that doesn’t mean I will only plant 156 seeds or 160 or even 170 seeds. I will plan on planting at least 300. I will do this because not every seed planted will grow. Let’s say I plant 300 seeds and get an 80% germination rate. That will give me 240 carrots. Of those, if I lose 10% for some reason, I will lose another 24, which brings me to 216 carrots. That gives me an extra 50 carrots to use early or use for barter. Now you have to sit down and figure out what your family will eat, and how much of each fruit or vegetable they will eat. That is how much you will need to grow. You may find it difficult to grow all that you think you will need, but if you have like-minded neighbors, maybe you can get together and each grow different crops and then swap for what each other needs.

Now with that said, my suggestion is for you to plant twice as much as you think you will need. The reason I say this is because of the season we had here this year. If I did not have a larder already and things went south this fall, I would be in deep trouble real soon. What happens when you only plant what you think you will need and the weather turns cooler sooner than usual, or you get an early or late frost? Maybe a storm wreaks havoc on your garden, you have a particular harsh pest problem, or maybe the crop doesn’t produce as you planned. Maybe you have a wetter season than normal. The reason I use these examples is because all of these happened to me this year.

We had a heavy late frost, so I was a week behind getting the garden started. My potatoes hardly produced at all, and the potato bugs were the worst I have seen in years. Right now I don’t use any chemicals in my garden, but I will use whatever I need to use to make sure my family is fed after TEOTWAWKI. The tomato worms were horrible this year also, but I was able to keep ahead of those so the tomato crop was doing fine, until we had a storm that was so severe that it knocked power out for almost a week in some areas. It knocked down over 1000 power lines in our area, so you can imagine the affect the winds had on the garden. Then about three weeks after this storm, we had three days of late fall weather, which many of my plants decided was the sign to go dormant a full four weeks early.

So why do I say grow twice as much as you think you will need? What will you eat through the winter, if you lost big portions of your crops one season and there is no store that you can shop to get what you need? If you grow twice as much as you need, put it up. Then, if any of these things or a combination of these things happen, you will have a backup to supplement what you can salvage from your garden. If you have a great growing season and you put up enough for your family, then you can use the extras to barter with to get things you might need or want.

If you don’t have animals, how will you get your protein? You say you will just go hunting or fishing. Well, that would be a great idea if you were the only one thinking like that, but there will be millions of people with the same mindset. Game may well be hunted into extinction if the trouble goes on for too long. People will be hungry real quick, considering that the average home only has three days of food on hand. I’m not too sure I want to be in the woods with so many people carrying guns, with many of them not even sure what to do or how to do it safely. You can grow beans to substitute for protein until you can get some meat. You should be storing meat in some fashion right now so that you are able to still have some meat protein. Dry beans, such as great northern, kidney, navy beans, et cetera are great for protein and will also give you plenty of fiber.

Okay, so you’ve grown your garden. Now what? Do you know how to save seed from your harvest for the next year? Do you know that it takes two years to get carrot seed? I know that, but I have yet to harvest a single seed. I am still practicing that while I have the time. Do you know how to store your produce? Do you know how to can or dehydrate? Do you know how to make a root cellar to keep it fresh longer into winter? There are many good books out there on all of these subjects. Check them out at the library, and then buy the ones that you like or think will help you the most.

These are just a few of the books I have in my library. There are many books out there. So, like I said before, check them out at your local library before you buy them. I have researched many books this way. I would not have been able to afford buying all of them just to find out I won’t use them. There are also many great articles in the archives on this blog. Don’t be afraid to search them out and read them.

Here are some seed companies that you can use to get stocked up. I have personally used all of these in the past and can say I am happy with their service. DISCLAIMER: I receive no compensation of any kind from any of these companies. I share these to help others find what they are looking for.

There are others. Just do a search on the Internet and find the ones you want to do business with. You can also go to your local garden center, local hardware, or one of the big box stores to get your seed.

Start stocking up on seeds, pest control items, fertilizers, tools, and knowledge now before it is too late. Practice these things now, while you can still eat if things don’t work out for you. You don’t want to be in a disaster situation and have to learn all these things while under pressure. I have been gardening for a while and I am still learning things each year of what works and what doesn’t. Gardening is not easy now, and it will not be any easier after TEOTWAWKI, but like anything else in this life, it will get easier the more you do it. Gardening can be fun and also relaxing. So get started now, while you can.

Letter Re: A Solid Solution On Securing Home Defense During A TEOTWAWKI Situation, by B.M.

HJL,

Home safety is an assumption that you need to fully analyze, being just 40 miles out from a city. I’m two hours away from NYC and about a 40 minute drive from the NY border, yet I see NY plates all of the time. (They often come here, day in day out, to escape their city lives for whatever reason.) Cars/mobility make it possible; a tank of gas will get you around 350 miles in a small car. Some of the people here have roots in NYC, meaning when things get bad the relatives will appear. Being only 40 miles out, they could walk to your location in two days if they are in great shape or in a week if they aren’t fit. Granted they have no reason to unless you’re located near a prime target location (i.e. super market, Walmart, or chain distribution center). Some smart people will know how the food is handled, where it comes from, and what they need to do to acquire it. Those people will seek those locations out. So, if you are down the street from Walmart, you are in a more dangerous area then you realize. Once the fools are done looking for big screen tvs and Jordans, they will be hungry and have to work at finding calories.

At some point the house you occupy might be taken over or burned, and you will have no choice but to leave it for your life and family’s life. Prepare for that now. Siege warfare has been around a long while. It isn’t a new concept.

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Hugh,

Reading the critique responses I was a little disappointed in them. B.M. offered an idea that has some merit. We as fellow preppers should not be too quick to pull the trigger with a dismissal of such. I do not want to become that “armchair quarterback” and poo-poo an a idea on face value. I remember that one idea leads most of the time to better ideas, case in point, those of us that grew up in the 50/60s time frame remember rear fender skirts on classic auto, which were a fad back then; the removal of which was by a lever mounted on the underside/inside of the skirt. Thieves would spend about 10 seconds to pop them off and run for the hills. I had an occasion when it happened to my car. My solution was to glue single-edge razor blades to the hidden lever on my replacement ones, and while coming out of a local movie place late one Saturday night I discovered a fair amount or blood on the pavement and also on the side of my car. Yes, I was a happy camper that the person(s) unknown had received a little “street justice” and also that the skirts were still in place.

For any given circumstance there are solutions– some good, some bad, some ugly. Our goal should be to take a problem and come up with a better mouse trap solution versus just trashing one solution on its face value. Let’s all try to offer our “expertise” with a positive solution to people who are trying to do it right. To all of us, if I was living in a primary residence 40 miles outside of any major population area, my focus should be (and in my case was) to get the hell out of Dodge. (I did that in 2012.) Relocation to a redoubt location in the western states for me is a better solution than trying to focus on maintaining a potentially unattainable location.

The old sniper’s Credo “locate, isolate, eliminate” should be food for reflection. B.M. you at dealing with a tremendous problem, and my prayers and sincere hope is that you find the best one that gives you the return for your efforts.- John in NV

Economics and Investing:

Video: SPROTT MONEY & SRSROCCO INTERVIEW: Where Does Silver Go From Here?

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Podcast: Negative interest rates to hit the US

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Items from Professor Preponomics:

We’re Now Just One Big Shock Away from a Global Downturn (Zero Hedge)

What Does It Cost to Produce a Barrel of Oil? (CNN Money)

Expedia Lays Off 40% of Orbitz Staff in Chicago (Seattle Times)

VA Spends Millions Promoting Obamacare (Washington Examiner)

Figures on Government Spending and Debt (AP via CNS News)

United Health’s Obamacare Reckoning (Wall Street Journal)

Insurer’s Warning Signals Troubles with Obamacare (USA Today)

The Secret Stock Market Accounting Trick (New York Post)

Iron Ore Bust Getting Worse, Bankruptcies Coming (Contra Corner)

The Collapse of Commodities in One Simple Chart (Visual Capitalist)

Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog reader B.B. sent in this article discussing the failure of the U.S. government to perform its most basic function: Armed militias and concealed carry: It is Lexington and Concord time.

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JWR was just a repeat guest on the God & Guns podcast. His hour-long interview begins at the 34:00 mark.

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Preparing your kids for total surveillance: Kid’s toys are recording and transmitting every conversation. Sent in by B.R.

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Not for the squeamish: Deadly kissing bugs reported in more than half of U.S., spreading Chagas disease – Because it isn’t bad enough to be bitten by the bug, they have to defecate in the wound. Sent in by D.S.

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‘Staggering’: 680,000 Muslims to U.S. under Obama

Notes for Wednesday – November 25, 2015

November 25th is the birthday of economist and comedian Ben Stein. His unscripted monologue on economics from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is one of the most memorable scenes in American cinema. By the way, Stein spends part of each year at his second home in Sandpoint, Idaho, so he is an honorary Redoubter. I’ve heard that he plans to retire here.

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The countdown is running! six more days until the release of “Land of Promise”! It will be available as both a Kindle e-book and a trade paperback, but the paperback ordering option won’t be visible at Amazon until December 1st.

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The Homestead Store is having a 10% off sale on all of their handcrafted drying racks with shipping included. The sale runs from today til December 1st. Just enter the code DRY10 at the checkout to get the discount.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 61 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, chromlined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have 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 pmags 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 from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304, 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 FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 120 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $340 value),
  5. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  6. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  7. Twenty-five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  9. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  10. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 LifeStraws (a $200 value)

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knifemaker 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. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  8. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  9. 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).

Round 61 ends on November 30th, 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.

It’s TEOTWAWKI and the Living’s Easy, by N.M.

I’m talking about the upside of long-term, remote, Rocky Mountain survival. The very fact that you are reading this essay means that you are concerned about the state of the world around you and that you have serious concerns about what you are seeing. Whether your concerns center on the threat of attack from outside forces, economic collapse, fears that elected officials in the American government are taking us irreparably away from the government envisioned by our founding fathers (my concern), or the Zombie Apocalypse (my wife’s favorite), you’ve decided that the time has come to prepare for the possibility that life as we know it really could end. Nobody is as prepared as they would like to be, and most of us do not have the financial resources to have our own personal retreat, fully stocked just waiting for normal life to implode. That means the rest of us will have to resort to getting away from the chaos around us and going where we feel we have the best chance to persevere. Growing up in Colorado and going on annual elk hunting trips, my safe place would be deep in the mountains. The Rocky Mountains offer a great many positive attributes when it comes to getting away from the end of the world. The geography makes it easy to isolate yourself. There is an abundance of food, if you know where to look and how to catch it. Water, moving downhill like it does, is often collected in predictable places. Coniferous trees offer ample opportunities for primitive shelter and concealment. In some ways, trying to make a life here would have some unique advantages.

Food

Harvesting an antelope, deer, elk, or moose would create enough meat to feed a family for anywhere from two weeks to three months, depending on the size of the animal. While deer and elk hunting as we know it can be considered difficult, and by no means are you assured of a successful hunt, the dynamics of hunting these creatures change dramatically if the hunting season changes to year-round. I observed something interesting when, after hunting all my life in late October in 3rd rifle season, our hunting camp decided to start going several weeks earlier in 1st season. The deer and elk had been shot at and hunted aggressively for several weeks by the time 3rd season came. They were much more wary of human presence and as a result it was more difficult to get close enough to them to shoot at them. In 1st season, they hadn’t yet been hunted and we would regularly see deer and elk in close proximity to human camps, especially near sunrise and sunset. In a situation where you are no longer required to apply for a license and hunt only during the week-long period specified on your license, the probability of a successful hunt increases dramatically. Another reason your odds of success would increase is because you would no longer be limited in what you could shoot at. For example, this year I obtained a cow elk license, and my father who hunts with me got a bull elk license. Even if we party hunted (which is illegal in the state of Colorado, even though it happens in 75% of all hunting camps), I would only be able to shoot an antlerless elk, or a bull elk that had more than 4 points on each antler (Colorado Department of Wildlife regulations). After a week of hard hunting, we broke camp and went home empty handed. If I wasn’t bound by those rules, however, I had opportunities to take shots at a group of three deer, a huge moose, and a cow elk that I hesitated to shoot at because I couldn’t tell through the timber if she was a bull or a cow. In a primitive living situation, I would have had plenty of meat to feed my family.

There are more opportunities for smaller game, if the idea of harvesting a giant antlered creature seems a little overwhelming. In my time hunting and camping in the Rocky Mountains, squirrels, chipmunks, and rabbits are all very common and can be efficiently hunted with or without guns. A little .22 rifle is ideal for these types of animals, but for people with families, arm your nine year old son with a slingshot and a pocket full of rocks, and turn food collection into playtime. Birds like wild turkeys, pidgeons, and grouse are also plentiful. A shotgun is obviously preferred for them but not required, especially if you were able to just draw and shoot if one crossed your path.

Unless you locate to an extremely high elevation where temperatures at night get too cold, there is a short growing season in the mountains were you will be able to grow a respectable number of vegetables. Peppers, green beans, tomatoes, lettuce, and other vegetables can be raised. Ground will tend to be rockier than ideal, but if the will is there it can be done. I won’t claim to be an expert on edible plants in this area, but the information is readily available on the Internet and can be found at sites like http://backpackingtherockies.com/edible-wild-plants/ or http://www.coloradoplants.org/.

Safety and Security

When cities are no longer safe and people are starving in the suburbs, we will be living modestly but comfortably deep in the Rocky Mountains. There won’t be any elaborate security systems. There won’t be any neighborhood watch. There won’t be any 911 emergency response. There won’t be anything like that to make sure your person and your property remain safe, but it will still be one of the safest places a person can be. The biggest reason is an easy one to comprehend. EVERYONE WILL BE ARMED! Your typical hunting camp has thousands of dollars’ worth of gear and guns and 4-wheel drive vehicles. Large canvas tents are simply zipped shut while people go out for the day to hunt. It isn’t possible to lock up all your valuable gear while you are away, and yet there is very little concern that your gear will be taken because it takes a suicidal mixture of bravery and sheer stupidity to try to rob people that are armed like a group of hunters.

In the fiction of James Wesley, Rawles, his characters are heavily armed with high capacity automatic and semi-automatic rifles (among other things). In a scenario where you are trying to wait out the collapse of society in a place like a farm or a ranch where a road on a map can take you to their doorstep, that kind of firepower is necessary. Large, highly armed bands of brigands and looters must be deterred by force. It is not as essential to be armed that heavily deep in the mountains. By going deep enough into the woods and away from the roads, you take yourself largely out of the line of fire from groups like that. While protecting your life and the lives of your loved ones after the world falls apart means that you are forced to start with the assumption that everyone is looking to take from you, you are more likely to encounter similarly-minded individuals who have decided to wait out the end of the world as far away from most other humans as you could get. I would still argue that you would want as much firepower as you could get your hands on, but if I had to I would still feel pretty safe with my elk rifle, my Glock 19 handgun, and my .22 rifle along with several thousand rounds for each.

Shelter and Warmth

Much of the Rocky Mountain range is covered in coniferous trees like pine trees and fir trees. In the last 10 years, the Mountain Pine Beetle population has grown to record high levels. The Mountain Pine Beetle burrows into various types of pine trees to lay its eggs and is responsible for the death of a staggering number of trees in states as far south as Arizona and as far north as British Columbia. It is an alarming sight to see all of these dying pine trees in what would otherwise be a beautiful pristine forest, but it can make survival in this area somewhat more manageable. Should you decided to build something more permanent than a canvas tent, there is an abundance of useable pine trees that have been ravaged by the Pine Beetle and have fallen in the woods. In fact, there is more than there has ever been. Large, lodge pole pine trees litter much of the forest floor and would make ideal building materials for a solid simple lean-to structure that could be made in a day and last as long as you needed it to.

For the same reason, you will also have no trouble finding fuel for your campfire. Clearing out fallen timber from around your camp will often provide you with enough firewood for several weeks and also help protect your camp from forest fires. Fifteen years ago, when we would first set up our camp for hunting season, we would have to leave camp and go to an area where we saw some dead pine trees and chainsaw them into a small enough size where they could be loaded into the trucks and taken back to camp. Now we wander around just outside our camp and take the trees that have fallen near camp in the last year, and we also take down a few trees that are near camp that are dead and pose a risk to fall and injure people in our hunting party or damage our property. Gathering enough firewood to keep our camp warm for the week used to take half a day, and now it only takes a few hours.

I believe that food, safety, and shelter are three of the issues that most of America would struggle with if TEOTWAWKI ever comes. Although I, like most of America, am not as prepared as I would like to be, I know where I can go to survive and care for my family and get away from the chaos that threatens to take civilization apart. I know that life anywhere would be difficult, and secluded mountain life is not different. It would take faith, a strong will, and lots of hard work to make it, but when the world does fall apart, those are going to be the shared attributes of all survivors.