Some Notes on Remaining Humble, by Marine in Missouri

One of the many great lessons I have read over and over in this blog is that practice makes perfect. This can apply to any skill set one wishes to consider. I would like to stress the word “read” in the last sentence; reading does not equate to learning, and often in our human hubris we decide that if we think about it, we know it. I think one of the most potent sins the father of lies enjoys tempting us with is the sin of pride. Without going on a diatribe of theological concepts on pride (and I’ve heard many great sermons on it), I would like to use some personal examples to maybe give a glimpse of how pride can creep into any portion of life, including the pursuit of preparation for calamity.

I typically think of myself as being pretty capable of surviving a situation if I am presented with one. I grew up on a 400-acre dairy farm and realize how to work hard. I have a concept of what it takes to grow things and how much work really goes into making the food we eat. I have been in the Marines for the past 16 years, and I have two combat deployments where I was the Watch Chief and Watch Officer in the combat operations center (although I have not personally been in combat). I am a CBRN defense specialist, so I realize what it would take to deal with a catastrophe of that nature; I had better have a grasp, since I instruct the stuff for a living in the Marines! I have also been a Combat Marksmanship Instructor for a decade, teaching and coaching hundreds of Marines on basic Marksmanship, with a few opportunities to instruct more advanced marksmanship classes. With this background, I should have the ability to take care of any situation, whether it’s growing food, protecting my family from any threat, or generally speaking surviving and thriving in any environment my family and I are faced with.

In reality, however, I often times find my book knowledge combined with the experience I have giving me a false sense of ability. This is where all of that talk about the sin of pride comes into play. In our culture as a whole (and yes, in some aspects in the military in specific), we tend to look at past accomplishments as a check in the box. Perhaps thoughts may cross your mind, like it does mine from time to time, that are similar to “I have done this before; I know what I’m doing; it will be no problem.” I would like to suggest to you this is dangerous; it is something we all need to fight against, especially those of us who think in our mind we have a reason to believe we are more prepared than we truly are. I would like to provide some examples I have run up against in my life and that I am actively working on improving. While looking at these examples, I would like to focus your attention on the difficult task I have had to fight against my sinful pride and to accept some humility with each of these examples.

So let me go through the short biography I gave you and pick out a few examples where my prideful self decided I was ready and reality (or maybe God Himself) decided to show me I still had a lot to learn. First, I will talk about raising livestock and growing food. Like I said, I grew up on a farm. I have worked with crops, cattle, and gardening throughout most of my childhood years. When I got stationed in Missouri, my wife and I decided to buy some property, raise some animals, and grow a garden; simple stuff, right? So far I have lost two guineas– one because it got hit by a car (they’re not the brightest birds) and one from an unknown predator just last week. The plan was to use the guineas to roam the yard, eat the ticks that are very prevalent out in the Ozarks, and maybe lay some eggs. The only part of that plan that worked out was the egg part, and that only occurs when I keep the birds in the chicken coop. The plan is not working out terrible, if one considers 33% to be a good average. We have only been at it one year, but the point is I thought it would be simple, and it isn’t. You have to learn (and I still am) what is reasonable and effective and what is not.

Another of our ongoing experiments is to have cattle. At this point, we do not have the extra cash around to invest in a couple of cattle of our own, so I made a great deal with my neighbor to let him graze cattle in return for an amazing price on beef. How hard can that be? I grew up with 200 head of cattle; having ten or fifteen graze my pasture should be no sweat. My neighbor and I walked the fence, identified some trouble areas, and mended them; then he put the cattle on my land. Within a few days, I found myself facing a 3-year-old longhorn bull in my yard. Thank God these are gentle beasts, but I did not realize that the first time or two I had to get the animal back into the pasture. I was honestly a bit afraid to have to drive the bull back in myself, but I did it, because I had to. Only later did I learn that these bulls are a bit different than those I grew up with. A person can drive them safely without too much fear of them trying to chase after you, so long as you maintain dominance over them. That was the first lesson with these particular cattle (and I also understand that any other breed may be different), but it was a difficult one to learn when your good friend and neighbor chuckles at you for admitting some fear of driving the animal into the pasture. Oh, the second lesson relates to that supposed check of the fence; there were two gates that were visually secure but could flex enough for the animal to get out of.

If the animals were not lesson enough for me, the garden sure was. I went and bought a great rear-tine tiller, tilled up a good-sized garden, and planted the seeds from an heirloom seed vault I got from my wife a Christmas or two ago. Take a quick guess at how much of that seed grew. If your answer is little to none, you’re right! I planted WAY too early and probably had not stored the seeds at a good temperature. My parents came out to visit. Mom decided to get some regular store-bought seeds, and they grew right up! Talk about some humble pie. My great idea was that I would have a seed vault of heirloom seeds I could not only use to grow my own garden but I could replace by capturing the seeds in order to have a perpetual stock. Not to mention, with long work days of sometimes as much as 18 hours when I have a course to teach, the little weeding I did showed clearly in the resulting harvest. On top of that, we were not prepared to can or store the harvest we did get. I guess I did not know as much about keeping animals or growing plants as I thought in the beginning.

I am going to shift gear to one of my real pleasures– marksmanship. I love shooting. When I had the opportunity to become a range coach in the Marines, I jumped at it. I’m an expert rifleman, so why not help out other Marines? Shortly after that I had the opportunity to become a Primary Marksmanship Instructor (later renamed to Combat Marksmanship Instructor). Needless to say, I like to think I know how to shoot, and to be fair, I’m not too bad with an issued pistol or rifle; plus, I can typically pick up any civilian firearm and hit the target. So over the past years I have decided to partake in the Appleseed Shoot. I have gone to shoots in both North Carolina and here in Missouri. Every time I went to shoot, I started off with two things going against me– my pride at “knowing” how good of a shot I was and taking equipment I had not properly prepared. The first time I shot, I took my 10-22 brand new out of the box, and I also brought one of my M-1 Garands that I had only fired a few times. I had magazine issues with the 10-22. I only had one factory 10-round magazine and one after-market, 25-round mag. The 25 rounder was, surprise, not exactly perfect, and I ended up not being able to chamber a round. The frustration mounted as I sat with a multi-tool filing the lip of the magazine until it fit correctly into the magazine well and allowed the bolt to go home. On day two, with all of that frustration with my 10-22 and no ‘rifleman’ patch, I brought out the Garand. The weapon would not group well, and I had a terrible time loading two rounds in for one of the courses of fire. I later found out that I need to replace the barrel (after going to a gunsmith who pointed me to a corrosion problem in the barrel). As for the loading of two rounds, I was provided a GREAT tip on how to do so, but again, as the marksmanship instructor that pride had to go away before I could learn my rifle. On attempt number two, again in North Carolina, I had purchased new magazines for my 10-22 and bought a new FAL from DS Arms. Now I can’t fail, right? I did nearly get my rifleman with the 10-22, but this is where I learned that I could purchase new sights for the rifle that would let me acquire better sight picture. The bottom line was that I wasn’t able to keep tight enough groups with the factory sights; maybe it was my failure or the rifle’s. Who knows, maybe it was both, but I did not know my equipment yet. The FAL worked GREAT at short ranges of up to 200 yards. (We had a full 500-yard range the second afternoon.) However, at 300 yards and 400 yards, the thing would not hit where it should have. I later learned that there are a couple of different size front sites for the FAL, and with the 16-in barrel, I needed the tallest front site available to sight in. Again, this was a failure to not know my equipment. This past month I went to another Appleseed here in Missouri. I put new sites on the 10-22 and went in knowing that I may have made a mistake with them. The rear site aperture was extraordinarily large, similar to the large aperture on the M-16. I did a little redneck engineering and inserted a segment of tubing, colored it black with a sharpie, and I had a bit better sight to work with. However, now the frustration came with good groups that were three inches low and three inches to the left at 25 yards, with the sights completely pegged. Oh the frustration mounted, while my pride took a hit! I have just ordered a new sight, and I am going to make a backstop on my land to practice with safely. The lesson here is that just because you are capable of shooting well with established equipment, if you do not take the time to know your equipment, those skills will not be able to be applied effectively, and when your pride tells you in the back of your mind that there is “no problem, I’ll qualify easily today”, you set yourself up for a thick skull that is not looking for advice.

I did not write this column to be self depreciating or to suggest I am about to give up. Quite the contrary! I thank God for these learning points. I need to have my pride damaged from time to time, I need to learn to be humble and go into any situation prayerfully and open to learning! I will not give up on learning these skills and others. I know that one year of owning property on my own, without my parents’ experience in farming, is not going to give me all the knowledge I need to raise animals or grow crops. I now can say I understand that, because I was not able to do as well as I expected and I have learned valuable lessons for next year’s garden and for the next time we put cattle on the pasture. I also know that just because I conceptually understand marksmanship and I can instruct it and fire expert in the Marine Corps, I will ALWAYS have more to learn. I have not had to qualify for the past few years because of my rank and time in service, so my skills have eroded. I am building a firing point at home, so I can go out every weekend, practice in a deliberate fashion—not just shooting at cans or plinking with the guys. I needed this wakeup, and I would suggest that a lot of people do as well. There is a reason things were hard before the conveniences of technology came about. You really had to do things a lot to get things done right! That took a faith in God, and a dependence on God. We tend to have faith in technology and in our own merit, and that is never a good place to be; that is the evil one tempting us to believe that we are good enough. It is these Christian lessons—human sin, the need for a Savior, and absolute trust in God— that are real. We can see these lessons in our daily lives. Why wouldn’t they be real? A dependence on ourselves without practice, patience, and prayer will set us up for an unrealistic pride that we can do anything. We cannot do things well, unless we practice and put our faith in God.

Three Letters Re: Mosin Nagent Review

Jim,

I agree with most of the author’s conclusions regarding the 91/30. It is rugged, dependable, and more than accurate enough for hunting or social purposes. Most will benefit from a thorough cleaning and judicious use of lapping compound on the bearing and camming surfaces of the bolt assembly. (Be careful to completely remove all of the compound and clean and lubricate appropriately following the lapping procedure.) Inspect the barrel crown and recrown if damage is found. The trigger design is simple and straightforward and can be cleaned up in most examples. Pay particular attention that the trigger components do not contact the stock. I am unsure which surplus ammo was tested. Every “spam can” surplus type I have tried yielded tremendous amounts of flash, even in the long-barreled 91/30s. In my M44 carbine, flash was positively huge– 3 feet long and 18 inches in diameter, as estimated by 3 different shooters. I installed a 5-prong flash suppressor from a BAR, and the flash is now virtually nonexistant. I see no reason why a Garand T37 hider would not be equally as effective. Adaptation and installation should be relatively simple. The 91/30 is disdained by many, but it is the “Turkish Mauser” of today, and Turks were retailing for under $50 just a few short years ago. Get a 91/30; you probably won’t be sorry, and you won’t lose your money if you are. – CS

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Scot,

I have owned and shot both the rifle and the carbine. Give me the rifle any day; it is much easier to shoot and control, and you can also do a bit to improve the trigger. It’s a great low-cost rifle. I enjoyed your article! – AM

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Hugh,

A couple of points about mosins. First, mojo makes a replacement rear sight that is a peep. Its inexpensive, well made, rugged, and really helps accuracy. Second, I have a buddy with the m44 carbine version. He put a scout mount and a red dot on it. It is a really handy little carbine. It’s not pretty, but it can shoot. Third, in addition to being able to supply the unarmed, they are great to cache. For a few hundred dollars you can put up a bolt gun and few hundred rounds of ammo. They are also readily available in classified ads across the country, so they can be found and bought off books to cache. I am not a fan of leaving guns in cars, so if I am traveling somewhere I have to, I bring a mosin. If it gets stolen, I’m out $80! Thanks- LEO Medic

Odds ‘n Sods:

Sandy Hook Advisory Commission calls for tighter regulation of homeschooling of “children with significant emotional, social or behavioral problems” – G.P.

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What the Global Status Quo Optimizes: Protecting Elites and the Clerisy Class That Serves Them. – JFJ

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This article takes an alarmist stance on the spread of Ebola. Many of the links are based upon shaky and incorrect evidence. However, the article underscores how fragile the current economy is and identifies many issues that could be a problem in any pandemic situation. Read it with a grain of salt and know that the danger is not the patients brought back to our shores to be treated, or really even the use of the military to help control the disease in Liberia. The true danger comes from those unreported and unknown persons who bring it across the border, skipping customs entirely.

How Ebola Will Irreversibly Transform America. – MVR

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Obama Praises Muslim Cleric Who Backed Fatwa on Killing of U.S. Soldiers. – P.M.

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Brian Howard of Naperville charged with starting fire at FAA facility in Aurora. – T.P.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58 (KJV)

Notes for Saturday – September 27, 2014

Today, we present another entry for Round 54 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,100+ worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be 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,
  3. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chromlined barrel and a hardcase 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 then 1 minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  4. Gun Mag Warehouseis providing 30 DMPS AR-15 .223/5.56 30 Round Gray Mil Spec w/ Magpul Follower Magazines (a value of $448.95) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt. An equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions.
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear,
  7. A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value),
  8. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  9. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  10. A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com, (currently valued at around $180 postpaid),
  11. Both VPN tunnel and DigitalSafe annual subscriptions from Privacy Abroad (a combined value of $195),
  12. 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,
  13. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate.

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. Acorn Supplies is donating a Deluxe Food Storage Survival Kit with a retail value of $350,
  4. The Ark Instituteis donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, 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,
  5. $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P),
  6. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  7. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value),
  9. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  10. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  11. RepackBoxis providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. 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,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  6. Ambra Le Roy Medical Products in North Carolina is donating a bundle of their traditional wound care and first aid supplies, with a value of $208, and
  7. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit, and
  8. SurvivalBased.com is donating a $500 gift certificate to their store.
  9. Montie Gearis donating a Y-Shot Slingshot and a Locking Rifle Rack. (a $379 value).

Round 54 ends on September 30st, 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.

Beekeeping for Long-term Self Sufficiency, by T.D.

Several years ago I was introduced to a book called Passport to Survival written by Esther Dickey. This book elaborates on how you can provide for all the essential nutritional needs for you and your family with just four basic ingredients– wheat, powdered milk, honey, and salt. As I thought about these four items, I realized that I had it within my power to provide for one of these four items without much change in my lifestyle and without an excess of effort. I live in the city, so growing more than just a few handfuls of wheat in my garden isn’t practical. Powdered milk was out as well. I do know of a few natural sources of salt that I could feasibly collect from; however, based on the cost of salt, I figure it is much easier and more economical, in terms of time and effort, to just purchase plenty of salt and store it properly for my possible emergency needs. This left honey, which meant learning to keep bees.

The idea of beekeeping appealed to me so much that I went out and purchased several books on how to keep bees. After getting comfortable with the idea of beekeeping and getting support from my wife, I decided to go all in. Within a month I had purchased the basic equipment and ordered a starter package of bees. In the first year, with one hive in an area that would not be considered optimal for keeping bees, I was able to harvest 73 pounds of honey. My total time investment the first year was under 30 hours. My total financial investment was $473.

The exciting thing was that I never had to invest another penny into the venture, as long as I was careful about caring for my bees and prudent about caring for my equipment. According to the LDS Food Storage Calculator, a one-year food supply of sugar would include about 60 pounds of sugar. Without going into a long comparison between honey versus granulated sugar, any cook will tell you that when baking and cooking, you need less honey than granulated sugar to provide the same amount of “sweetness” in any particular recipe. Although 60 pounds of sugar is the suggested amount, if the majority of your sugar was in the form of honey, it is possible that you need a bit less than the suggested 60 pounds.

Be this as it may, after my first year of beekeeping, I quickly calculated that to create a steady source of sugar for my family would require more than one hive. The additional investment for each hive, for me, runs about $150. The original investment included the beekeeping clothing and tools as well as the parts for one hive. The second year, I only needed to buy the parts for another hive, since I already had all the other gear. So, I invested in another hive. Then, the second year I harvested 53 pounds from the first hive and 47 pounds from the second hive. My investment the second year was $150 and about 25 hours of work.

Being observant, I am quite certain you saw the minor discrepancy between the two years. The first year I had one hive and worked 30 hours. The second year I had two and only worked 25 hours. What gives? Well, the first year I had no idea what I was doing and spent many unnecessary hours fiddling with my hive and checking on my bees; this seems to be a normal reaction to an exciting new hobby. The second year, with one year of experience under my belt, I was much more efficient in my beekeeping efforts. I also realized there are two approaches to beekeeping. One demands that you spend many hours checking and assisting the little furry things. The other approach assumes that nature knows what it is doing. Since bees have been doing well on their own for several millennia, the beekeepers only real chore is to give them regular health checks and harvest the liquid gold. The second year, I chose the less invasive and less demanding approach for my beekeeping efforts.

If you are a math type, let’s calculate the value of my produce. Assuming that purchasing wildflower honey costs you about $5 a pound, this means that with a small investment of $623 over a two-year period I was able to produce 173 pounds or about $865 worth of honey. This doesn’t even take into account that my honey is far superior to whatever you may purchase in a store, because it has not been pasteurized and it contains the local pollen; this pollen imparts some proven anti-allergen health benefits to those who consume the honey produced in the area where they live. There are several other benefits from keeping bees.

Aside from the honey harvest, you also harvest a small amount of beeswax as a natural byproduct of the honey harvest. If you choose to, you can also set your hives up to harvest pollen and propolis. These four items are the main harvest gathered from a beehive.

Benefits of Honey

Let me elaborate for a moment on the harvest and the benefits of each part of the harvest. First up is honey. As a sweetener, it doesn’t have much competition. Honey is an all-natural sweetener, and when stored correctly can keep indefinitely. As a matter of fact, edible honey has been found in the tombs of the Egyptian Pharaohs.

Over time, all honey will crystallize. This doesn’t affect the taste or the quality of the honey. Simply put the honey jar in a hot bath of water, and shortly your honey will be back to its liquid state. Honey has the advantage over sugar, because it also imparts several health benefits.

The ancient Sumerians referred to honey as a beneficial drug and ointment. The great Aristotle wrote that honey was “good as a salve for sore eyes and wounds”. In the King James Bible, King Solomon is quoted in Proverbs 24:13, “My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste”. The ancients knew that honey was good for us, and modern medicine is coming to the same realization.

Honey contains flavonoids, which are antioxidants. Antioxidants can help reduce the risk of some cancers as well as heart disease. Honey is also anti-bacterial. This is because the bees add the same enzyme to honey that is used to make hydrogen peroxide. Because of these anti-bacterial properties, honey has been shown to help some ulcers as well as bacterial gastroenteritis.

Honey works wonders on coughs and throat irritations. A couple of studies have shown a single dose of honey to be just as effective as a dose of dextromethorphan in relieving nighttime coughs. So the next time you are coughing yourself out of a good night of sleep, take a tablespoon of honey and sleep well.

Honey is also used in healing wounds and burns. Because it is hygroscopic, meaning it absorbs moisture from its surroundings, honey actually pulls moisture out of wounds and burns. The combination of the drying effect of honey with the anti-bacterial nature of honey makes for a great wound and burn treatment. In some studies, it has been shown to be just as effective as silver sulfadiazine.

Honey is also a probiotic.

Warning: On the flip side, natural unpasteurized honey can possibly contain the spores that can cause infant botulism, so if you decide to keep bees and harvest honey, do not under any circumstances feed the honey to infants under the age of one.

Beeswax

Wax can also be harvested from your beehives. The energy expended by the bees to produce a pound of beeswax is equivalent to about eight pounds of honey. So unless you are keeping bees specifically to harvest beeswax, it most likely will be a small byproduct for you. When you are harvesting your honey, you naturally end up with about one to two pounds of beeswax for each 100 pounds of honey you harvest. This takes the form of cappings. When the bees have their honey to just the perfect level of “ripeness”, they seal the honey in the honeycomb with a small wax cap. To harvest the honey, you slice off these caps and spin the honeycomb. This gets you the honey and the cappings of wax.

What can you do with the beeswax? Well, it makes a great base for producing healing salves, lip balms, as well as candles. With four hives, you will probably walk away with nearly six pounds of wax every year. That’s plenty for producing hundreds of lip balms, several dozen hand salves, or even 20 or so poured beeswax candles.

Expansion

After having such wonderful success keeping bees my first two years, I decided that I wanted to grow my apiary to a size that would provide enough honey for all my sweetener needs.

So what did I do? You guessed it; I went out and purchased the hive boxes so I could keep two more hives. This incurred an additional investment of $300. Every year since then, I have had between two and four bee colonies producing honey for me. One of the benefits of having multiple hives is that if one hive dies or disappears, you can easily split one of your hives into two. This means with a bit of effort and planning, you don’t even need to purchase starter packages of bees for your new hives anymore. Often, a hive will swarm, which is nature’s way of reproducing at a colony level. This is another easy way to replace a lost or dead colony. Catch a bee swarm and place it in the empty hive boxes.

Each year my hives produce between 100 and 300 pounds of honey for me and my family. Some is used during the year for our cooking and baking needs; the excess is stored away against a future need. With my experience keeping bees, I am confident that if the need arose, I could quickly build and fill several more hives within a short period of time, even with no access to any other resources other than what I have in my home and yard.

The honey and wax produced from this expanded apiary could easily be used as a barter item in a post crash economy.

Resources

If you are interested in keeping bees, let me suggest a few books that will get you up and running in no time at all.

  1. Keeping Bees by John Vivian
  2. Beekeeping for Dummies by Howland Blackiston
  3. The Beekeeper’s Guide by Trevor Darby

Any one of these books will give you all the basics you need to fully understand and begin beekeeping. From there, your learning will grow exponentially from the actual experience.

The benefits of beekeeping in summary are a ready, reliable, and renewable source of sugar and wax, a reasonable expense up front that is easily recouped in the first year or two, and minimal time demands that can be adjusted to your schedule.

Letter Re: Monitored Frequencies

Hugh,

Mr. TV asked if government agencies monitored some frequencies 24/7. I am an Army Aviator and can tell you that 121.5 VHF is monitored by every aircraft in the U.S. (not just military). The VHF radios in aircraft are designed to automatically receive 121.5, and it will broadcast into the ears of the pilot regardless of currently tuned frequency. Example: I have a tower freq tuned (119.325) and if someone broadcasts over 121.5, I will hear it, but in order to respond, I would have to tune my own radio to 121.5. The same is true for aircraft with UHF radios installed (243.0). Most civilian aircraft don’t have a UHF, but all military aircraft do, and it works in the same way as the VHF.

Additionally, all Air Traffic Control (ATC) services (centers, approach/departure controls, towers, and flight service stations) are constantly monitoring 121.5, just like the aircraft are. Most ATCs also have UHF capability, so they hear 243.0 also. A flight service station (FSS) can be reached from almost anywhere in the country because of remote communications outlets (RCO’s), but in the event of SHTF with a power down event those will be gone when the battery runs out, because they are nothing more than a repeater. A FSS can usually be reached on 122.2, but these freqs can vary depending on location. Look at a VFR sectional (aviation map) for the specific freq in your area. VFR sectionals can be viewed at airnav.com or skyvector.com. There are others, but those are the two I use. Hopefully it helps. – DH

Odds ‘n Sods:

One cost of war: U.S. blowing up its own Humvees. – RBS

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How Gun Control Made England The ‘Most Violent Country In Europe’. – JBG

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The Number One Threat to the US Above Terrorism. – T.P.

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Illegal children brought into the country apparently brought this virus in: Virus probed in paralysis cases in 9 Colorado kids – P.M.

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Woman beheaded at Oklahoma workplace. – T.P.

The first reports about this violent act avoided the issue that it was related to Islam, even though it was readily apparent. I suspect this is not the first within the borders of the U.S., rather that it’s just the first to be reported with no way to suppress the truth of the link.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” – Deuteronomy 31:6 (KJV)

Notes for Friday – September 26, 2014

The 26th of September is the birthday of the late Jack LaLanne, who was born in 1914 and who died January 23, 2011.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 54 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,100+ worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be 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,
  3. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chromlined barrel and a hardcase 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 then 1 minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  4. Gun Mag Warehouseis providing 30 DMPS AR-15 .223/5.56 30 Round Gray Mil Spec w/ Magpul Follower Magazines (a value of $448.95) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt. An equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions.
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear,
  7. A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value),
  8. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  9. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  10. A roll of $10 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver quarters, courtesy of GoldAndSilverOnline.com, (currently valued at around $180 postpaid),
  11. Both VPN tunnel and DigitalSafe annual subscriptions from Privacy Abroad (a combined value of $195),
  12. 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,
  13. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate.

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. Acorn Supplies is donating a Deluxe Food Storage Survival Kit with a retail value of $350,
  4. The Ark Instituteis donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, 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,
  5. $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P),
  6. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  7. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value),
  9. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  10. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  11. RepackBoxis providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. 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,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  6. Ambra Le Roy Medical Products in North Carolina is donating a bundle of their traditional wound care and first aid supplies, with a value of $208, and
  7. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit, and
  8. SurvivalBased.com is donating a $500 gift certificate to their store.
  9. Montie Gearis donating a Y-Shot Slingshot and a Locking Rifle Rack. (a $379 value).

Round 54 ends on September 30st, 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.

Ten Ways that Purchasing an Older Home is Helping Us to Prepare, by C.F.

When we first purchased our home less than three years ago, it was a charming four bedroom, two bathroom, Dutch colonial bungalow, built in 1920. It was a complete flip, featuring laminate flooring, faux granite countertops, and some, shall we say, interesting additions and subtractions. What I mean by this is that we had a few new walls where there used to not be any and a few original walls that were taken down or partially removed. The home advertised new carpeting, flooring, windows, and siding. Most importantly for us, though, it came with new plumbing, electricity, and mechanicals. The property included a garage and a shed. It was built on a nice, over-sized lot, located in a town of approximately 1,000 people that is over an hour away from any major cities. As a bonus, it has a fairly good-sized Amish community in the outlying areas. This gives us access to a wide variety of hand tools, instructions on getting things done without electricity, and bulk products. While we would have preferred more land further out in the country, we felt that we made the best decision, based on our budget. Since purchasing the home, we have made several discoveries that we believe are greatly assisting us in our preparations.

  1. Outhouse. We discovered the original, brick-lined outhouse pit and the sidewalk leading from the house to it. We confess that we initially thought that we were digging up the original well. We dug it all the way to the bottom of the brick lining– approximately eight feet deep, six feet long, and four feet wide. Once cleaned out, we refilled it with sand to create a sandbox for our kids to play in. On our to-do list is to build a little “playhouse with a bench” cover for the “sandbox”. If we had to, we could remove the sand with a long hard day of shoveling, cut out the holes in the bench, and reassemble a fully-functioning outhouse with no visual change to our yard and landscaping.
  2. Bartering Supplies. As a bonus of digging up the outhouse, we also found over 200 glass bottles of myriad shapes and sizes. Based on our research, most of these bottles date from the early 1900’s to the 1940’s. We have over half of the bottles cleaned and categorized. While we do not have any corks or tops for them, we have plenty of plastic and small rubber bands. We believe that they might come in handy for dispensing a variety of goods in a bartering economy, such as: alcohol, medicine, liquid soap, cooking oil, and so forth. All of the bottles appear to be made of a stronger, thicker glass that is fairly durable. After all, it survived being thrown into an outhouse pit, sitting for approximately 75 years, and being dug out with a garden shovel.
  3. Water Access. As I mentioned, we thought we were digging up the original well when we discovered our outhouse. Since then, we have found the well. It is a sandpoint well with a three foot by three foot square brick-lined area that is about seven feet deep. Unfortunately, we are running into some government red tape in getting it approved to be used “to water the garden”. We have measured and determined the type of pump that we would require to access the water without electricity, but unless we can get the sandpoint unplugged, we will have to continue to work with our local bureaucracy to get it legalized. Of course, should society disintegrate, a bullet and the hand pump will get us water pretty quick.
  4. Inconspicuous Storage. While technically not a part of the house, one of the advantages to purchasing our property was the two-story garage. Smaller than the typical garage, it has in interior ladder leading to the very short second floor. This has given us a lot of storage space for things that are not impacted by extreme temperature fluctuations, such as toilet paper, paper towels, clothing, diapers, and metal spare parts. So, unless someone recognizes the ladder for a ladder, opposed to a tool rack, the space falls into the out of sight, out of mind category.
  5. Fruit Cellar. The house included a storage area in the basement that was built separately with NATCO hollow tile bricks and included a door. The interior space measures about 8 feet long and 6 feet wide. It originally had a few scrap wood shelves, but not much else. After speaking with a relative of the original builder, we learned that this particular room was the fruit cellar. Using a bunch of wood that we pulled from our interior demolition projects, we rebuilt shelving for all four walls of the room, customized to fit various sized home canning jars, storage containers on wheels, and antique, wooden food crates. Each shelf was built with recycled wood but strong enough to hold our weight while jumping on the shelves. We wanted to ensure that each shelf would be able to hold 50 to 75 glass jars full of food. Our total cost for this project, not counting the food, was the price of three boxes of wood screws. So far we have over 2,000 items in the pantry, with room for more. When we work to refinish the basement, we plan on discretely disguising this space and showing stored food in a much smaller quantity on shelves.
  6. Cold Cellar. While speaking with the extended family of the home’s builder, we also learned that the first owner never owned a refrigerator, and neither did the second, because “he didn’t trust all those new appliances”. Following their instructions on how to get to the cold cellar, we removed the carpeting in the basement and noticed a portion of the basement’s cement floor was not a consistent color. A few bangs with a heavy sledge hammer and we busted through a thin layer of concrete. We had to remove three Rubbermaid totes of rock, gravel, and cement chunks, but we eventually dug it out. It measures approximately three feet wide, two feet long, and three feet deep with a sand bottom. We need to finish some minor repairs to the edge of the cold cellar to make it smooth again. We also found some drawings for building a dumb waiter using a pulley system to raise and lower certain foods into the cellar. In the meantime, we are tracking the temperatures to ensure what the average temperature is during the four main seasons. Thus far, it has been comparable to a typical refrigerator.
  7. Rainwater Cistern. Our home was originally built with a rainwater cistern in the basement, beneath what is now the first floor bathroom and kitchen. Three of the walls are in as good a condition as when the house was built. The fourth is missing. We have measured the spacing of the fourth wall so we know how many cinder blocks and masonry materials we need to acquire in order to replace the missing wall. The original pipes that connected to the gutters are still accessible, simply packed with a tin can and newspaper. We also have a gutter legally installed but strategically placed, so that it could very easily be re-routed and connected when necessary. Rainwater cisterns are illegal where we live, so we obviously cannot rebuild the missing wall until things get really bad. For us, this is our second option that we would implement only if we could not get the original well to work.
  8. Chimney. Our house was built with a wood-burning furnace for heat. That has since been replaced with a new, fuel-efficient, gas forced-air furnace. We believe that it also used a wood-burning stove in the kitchen, since we discovered the original stovepipe still in the chimney during our demolition and remodeling phase. The bad news is that the hot water heater vents through this same chimney, and someone ran some electrical conduit through it too. We are currently researching how to make the chimney safe and legal to use again. In the meantime, we used a china plate to cover the original stove pipe. Worst case scenario, we can easily break the china plate and connect a wood stove to the chimney. Who cares about conduit and water heaters if the power is out indefinitely. At least we will be warm and able to cook hot meals. Using our connections in the Amish community, we have spread the word that we are looking for a wood cook stove with at least two burners that is also big enough to heat a home with our square footage.
  9. Natural Temperature Control. We noticed that our house felt stuffy and overly warm year-round. It was almost as if we were suffocating. We noticed that we had some exposed brick around the front porch. After climbing around a bit, we came across the name of NATCO. After more research, we discovered that our entire house was built with NATCO hollow tile brick, most likely shipped in by train from Chicago. The most common finishing treatment of this brick was a stucco overlay. A peek behind some of the vinyl led us to discover that our house was wrapped, top to bottom, with styrofoam and vinyl siding. It took a while, but we eventually uncovered the entire house, restoring it to its original stucco finish. We were also able to improve the overall air flow throughout the house by carefully reviewing the floor plan and removing walls that were added to the house over the years. This opened up the house considerably, enabling air to flow from room to room, taking advantage of any good breezes. Now, the house stays relatively warm and comfortable in the winter, and it is also cool throughout the summer, even without an air conditioner. The materials used originally work much better, since the house was built before any of the modern conveniences related to air conditioning were invented. Plus, the brick walls retain the heat from our furnace very well. We assume the same would be true for a wood stove.
  10. Wood Floors. Many people do not take into consideration how hard or easy it would be to maintain a fairly clean environment within a home without electricity. When we purchased our home, it came complete with new carpeting and laminate flooring. One of the first things we did was start ripping out all of the carpet, exposing the original two and half inch maple floors. Next to go was the laminate flooring with the same results– more wood flooring. While the flooring was not in the best condition cosmetically, and the most likely reason for why it was hidden, we found that with a little elbow grease, a heat gun, dawn dish soap, hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and olive oil, we could make the floors clean enough to be livable until we can properly refinish them. While I currently prefer to use a vacuum to keep them clean, I also use just a broom from time to time. Should the electricity ever go out, sweeping and cleaning the floors is a breeze with a simple vinegar and water solution.

We recognize that determining what type of home you will buy includes a wide variety of factors to consider. We also understand the appeal of a newer versus an older home. At the same time, we have found so many hidden benefits to our home. To determine if you home is a likely candidate to have hidden opportunities, like ours did, we recommend that you research three things before making your purchase. Look at:

  • the year the house was originally built, prior to any major modifications;
  • the year that municipalities, such as water and sewer, became mandatory; and,
  • if possible, the access to and ability to communicate with any of the original owner’s relatives, if they are still alive.

As I said, our house was built in 1920. Water and sewer connections became mandatory for our block around 1935. This meant that there was a 15 year window in which alternative plumbing options had to be available. This house was functioning during a prime time for outhouses, wells, and rainwater cisterns. Finally, we were introduced to the nephew and former resident of the original master mason who built and owned the house. He was able to provide us with literal step-by-step instructions to things like the well, cold cellar, and more.

Letter Re: Protecting Your Home, BOL, and Supplies from Pests

Hugh,

Regarding Protecting Your Home, BOL, and Supplies from Pests, A cheap mousetrap can be made from a 5-gallon bucket, some sweet feed (molasses and grain), and a board. Take your 5-gallon bucket, add some sweet feed, and use the board as a ramp for the mice. The mice will climb up the board and jump into the bucket. Once in, they can’t get out. There can only be one mouse in the bucket, otherwise they kill and eat each other. The wonderful smell of the molasses will draw the mice in quickly. I’ve seen eight mice in the bucket within an hour of setting, and most were bones within 24 hours. Mice like chewing holes in the corners of grain bags. Set unbaited traps around the hole so the mouse has to cross the trap to get to the hole. Peanut butter works extremely well, but make sure that you force it into the curl of the trigger, so the mouse has to work on it to get the bait. And as he’s busy, he doesn’t flinch when the trap activates, and you get the whole head caught by the bail. To the Victor go the spoilers! – Capt Nemo

o o o

One other possible non-toxic pest control item to stock is diatomaceous earth. It can be consumed by humans safely. In fact, some people swear by it as internal pest control for humans and livestock. However, it can be used externally to kill bed bugs, ant, fleas, etc. Just make sure you get food grade DE, not pool grade. – Renee