F.G. sent us this: Number of U.S. expatriates increases 16% in 2011.
Diana sent us this: States seek currencies made of silver and gold
Kevin C. suggested this over at Lew Rockwell’s site: Internet Resources for the International Man
Items from The Economatrix:
S&P Warns Cuts Loom For G20 Nations
CBO: Taxes Will Shoot Up By More Than 30% This Year
Galt’s Gulch Green Light! I just heard that Atlas Shrugged, Part 2 is set to start filming in April, with a fast-tracked (pardon the pun) release date in October, 2012. Presumably to get it in theaters before Election Day in the United States. For some reason they are re-casting the film. I should mention that I found the first film (Part 1) was fairly loyal to the original novel, and worth watching. (Thanks to Jim M. for the link. )
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Steve V. was the first of several to mention this piece over at Mac Slavo’s blog: SHTF Planning: 20 Lessons from the Streets of Cairo. (Warning: Contains some crude language.)
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German pensioner eats 64-year-old US lard. (Thanks to James C. for the link.)
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Tim J. sent this: Why hunting and gathering makes us smarter and thinner
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J McC. mentioned that he really likes this blog: A Girl and Her Gun
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Yishai sent this: Quick Release Paracord Bracelet for Emergency Deployment
“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also [do] ye.
And above all these things [put on] charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” – Colossians 3:12-15 (KJV)
Today we present another two entries for Round 39 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:
First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) 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, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.
Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).
Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.
Round 39 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.
Preparation, by definition, is this:
“1. the act of getting something ready. 2. a state of getting ready.”
So what is it you are getting ready for? Are you taking action and making a plan? Are you stocking-up?
“Sure!” you say with enthusiasm “I am a prepper!” You boast, as you align yourself with the great people of the past that were also prepared for catastrophes and unseen calamities of their day.
Today is my opportunity to give you some insight on a topic that might easily be overlooked. I want to touch on the subject of “preparedness”, specifically a mental preparedness. Maybe you’re thinking “Who cares about that?”
Just tell me the steps to making a wickiup (lodge) in my back yard!
Hold on! Let me give you another definition. Change: to cause to have a completely different form…to put another in place of.
Think on that for a moment. Your life will have a complete new form; your life style will have another style ‘put in its place’. Are you prepared for that? Is your family prepared for that?
If you are single and going it alone this wake –up call may still be for you but it is most definitely for the man that is family minded and wants to prepare for the survival of his kin.
Let me introduce myself, I am the wife of a survivalist-prepper.
I do not have any statistics to go off of, but I feel strongly that it is the man that has his families’ best interest at heart who takes on the task of getting ready for the end. Wives, please give me a moment of your time.
I’m thinking as I sit here by my woodstove, bundled in a blanket wearing my jacket (hat and all!)
Lately I can’t seem to get more than a few feet from this behemoth of heat before I feel the chill of winter begin to creep into my bones.
I am thinking about the wives of these pioneering men that we love. Those men, the fierce hunters, the brave and the strong, the man you married and trust to take care of you when the world collapses.
Wives, I ask are you preparing as well?
Are you just stocking up for a food shortage or are you planning on “going off the grid”?
Some of the greatest wisdom is to take the gift of learning from others mistakes. Though my words may seem ominous at times, I assure you I have only your success in mind. The mental attitude you take into your new life will factor into what you purpose to do.
If you’re a mother you will affect your children as well. Know it or not you are the hub of the home.
Never in my life was I one to sit around and wait till things got so far out of hand before I made a move. We have been told on many occasions that we are extreme people. Maybe that is because instead of talking about a thing, we will just go and do that thing. It has taken us everywhere in the U.S. and made us the hearty people we are today. Though we are very independent in our ways, it is by the grace and mercy of the Lord that we abide.
We chose to go all the way in our preparations for TEOTWAWKI, and we moved to an off-grid location. Years prior to the move, we bought acreage and paid the loan off early. I did not want any land payments to contend with during the building process.
Yet, before this enormous leap of faith many things came up. We even moved to Alaska and derailed our plans for off grid life by a couple of years, always keeping the notion tucked away in our mind.
As tough as Alaska was, moving to the foothills of the Adirondacks was even more brutal. We have had many mishaps and made tons of mistakes along the way. I glory in telling you that we have great successes and unmatched accomplishments from our endeavor as well.
Can you learn from a wife and mother that is currently living out the “worst case scenario”?
Mistakes:
My first mistake was letting my husband do everything.
Though I was there when the land was purchased, all I cared about was the quaint little town and how cute it looked. He was looking at hunting opportunities and the distance from town. I was still thinking about Wal-Mart, which by the way is nearly an hour from our location. He was already planning on gardens and feeding ourselves. I was not. Wasn’t the food in the sealed buckets enough of a plan?
I thought that I knew enough. I really believed that all the years of reading and research would prepare me for what we were going to do. Studying about photo voltaic systems and learning about which batteries held the best charge. I studied what others did and drew plans for my own. I have to laugh because it doesn’t matter what system you buy, if the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing you simply have no power. Oh sure you can get a generator for all your needs. But wait, what if that breaks? And your back up breaks as well? If your husband is handy enough he will try making several other forms of power, as mine did. All systems challenged by nature and all failed at one point or another. The answer is this, learn to live without power. Set yourself up to live with none, and then add a little bit back into it. I had to come to the realization that I was not out here to sustain a life I already had, but to venture into a new way of life. I was having trouble making the adjustments.
When you are forced to boil water for bathing and are out in the cold September nights heating over a campfire to wash your children you will then be faced with the harsh reality that you live off-grid and life doesn’t get any tougher than this.
Don’t lie to yourself. If you tell yourself that you like camping, and this is just like a camping trip you are lying to yourself and you will be miserable. Consider this, what if your temporary situation becomes permanent? By that I specifically mean the bathroom. Yes, you better believe it, the toilet is a number one priority! We have three children, one is a teenage girl. When the camper van toilet was no longer an option we had to go to a type of can privy thing. As if that wasn’t bad enough the area flooded and we had to wade through and jump on rocks to use the potty in the rain. Of course a new facility was built up on a deck and we felt spoiled for a while. Then the cold weather came. Can you mentally prepare yourself for no flushing toilet? Consider your alternatives now before you get into the situation.
Without water you will die. Mistakes were made here too. I brought two-liter bottles, lots of them. I would refill them at the laundry mat. All summer while we built our home with our own hands, I washed dishes in an outdoor kitchen. This took a toll on me. I always felt like everything was dirty. Then one day our super fantastic filters broke. I could no longer filter the water we drank. Think about the amount you have to boil for five people and animals too. We bought large holding tanks, but the rain was delayed. A four-wheeler and 35 gallon trash can were used to get water from the creek two miles away.
I will never forget the pastor’s face when he came out to our cabin and saw the water collection system that was in place. It seemed that we never had enough time to get all the things done that needed doing. Our gutters were not up on the porch that was not built, so we had tarps that came down off the cabin to collect rain water into the tanks. Our tank was nearly empty. During his visit, it started to pour! He helped us push and pull the tarps to guide the water into the tank. We collected nearly 150 gallons every 20 minutes. It counted as our shower that day too!
Can you imagine our desperation of not having running water? I was not prepared for that mental challenge. In our community we are known as the modern day Ingalls. Today we have thousands of gallons of water on hand. Filtered and running freely. We know exactly how much we use each day.
Weather conditions; because we moved to a new area we were not completely knowledgeable about the summer or the winter weather. Living in Alaska had prepared us for harsh below freezing temperatures if we drove in it or went outside, that is to say we knew about getting studs on our tires and dressing for -27? on a daily basis, and plugging in our vehicles so they would start in the morning, those types of things.
Where I made the mistake was that I did not take into consideration how I would actually heat the inside of the home. I took for granted that my warmth would be a readily available and come from a reliable source.
Our untested woodstove which was acquired in summer became a terrible distress in the winter. I never knew that a stove could be equivalent to a newborn baby. It has needed feeding every two – three hours for months now. That adds up to a lot of sleepless nights.
Also, the insulation in our home never was completed. That is another thing I was not prepared for. I am not a carpenter. I am a stay at home mom that home schools the children. I can’t really build anything, well not something you can live in! I was not prepared for the months of care my husband would need if or when he got hurt.
Another Mistake: normalcy bias. This is the mindset of “It can’t happen to me.”
This goes back to the first thing I mentioned about letting our husbands do everything. What will you do when the unthinkable happens? If you are a team, then you need to do all the preparations as a team. Continue to be team minded. I did not know enough about what to do if my team member was out of commission. In my defense I would like to say that I am not a wimp either, we have had to super glue cut legs, from knife injuries and pull porcupine quills out of dogs, put animals down and more.
You learn to do what is necessary, or worse things happen. However I did not even know where the hospital was located or which way to go when my husband had an accident with the circular saw. On a nice sunny day in November and he was outside working on the bathroom floor. Next thing I know he calmly says “I have to go to the hospital now.” I am thinking “What?”
“I am hurt real bad” he tells me. “I cut off my fingers” YIKES!
“Do you have all the pieces?”
Now I am the prime care giver in every situation. He is gone for days. Who will turn on the solar? How will we actually get the things done that need doing? There are no light switches or plug receptacles. If you want power you need to know how to turn on the solar controller and the inverters, switch batteries over or start the generator etc.
You adapt and you learn. I found out just what kind of metal I am made of.
All was not lost; I didn’t quit and move into town. I snapped out of my comfort zone and I stepped up to the plate. Use whatever cliché you want, but my time came to step into my new identity forever and completely.
I can say that I am a prepper, and I can mean it. I have taken the steps of pulling the plug on a lifestyle that I was very comfortable in. My mental attitude now is that I can do this.
The greatest adversity you will ever overcome comes from what lies within you.
Yes, I can haul rocks and stack or chop the wood. I can gather water and have found new ways to get everyone and everything clean. I can cook with propane, campfires or on top of the wood stove.
I have made the best out of some of the worst things. I know that every time I climb my stairs I have victory over the trees that nearly crushed our cabin. We turned them into steps and wood flooring!
We live free of debt, because we paid cash for everything, we live free of the weight of society to have it all, because we know that we have what is really of value. We have each other and our time is our own.
We have become self- sufficient. It came at a price, but it was worth the investment.
My simple steps to being mentally prepared:
My last question to you before I close is this, how will you even know you were prepared for TEOTWAWKI until it happens and you are in the midst of your new way of life? That day is the day you discover if you stocked enough food and ammo, should you have gotten a cow instead of the goat, bought gold instead of silver…etc. What I am saying is that you can never know if you built your house up high enough to avoid a flood, unless there is a flood. The difficulty then is that it is too late to do anything different.
I have the same mindset in my “prepping” tactics. Do what I can, and let the Lord do what I can’t.
May I present this train of thought; the end is already here.
Has there not been enough evidence that the world around us is different? What else needs to happen for us to wake up and take action?
Life around us is changing, a little each day.
If your being stirred to preparedness, then set your mind to that, go about it wholeheartedly without second guessing. Everyone thought Noah was crazy too, but the rains came and they’re coming again. May The Lord Be With You.
We are all survivors. I can prove it. If you are reading this, then you are alive and surviving. We all survive every day. Our home is our shelter. We use cars for transportation. We barter our skills in a workplace in exchange for money. That money is then used for supplies. And so on and so on. Our lives are comfortable. So what happens when that comfort is disrupted? Chaos, insecurity, fear, anxiety, despair, alcoholism, etc…not a pretty picture.
To prevail in an unfortunate situation, I believe the most important skill one must possess is the ability to adapt. This is accomplished by knowledge, experience, and preparation. The focus of this article is on being prepared. Three things in my life have made me a prepared individual:
So, what does it take to be prepared and survive the unexpected? I feel one must be mobile or capable of instant mobility to survive. This leaves the options open. You should also layer your supplies as to minimize unexpected losses which increases your adaptability. “Wear plenty of layers.” I’m sure you’ve heard that as a child. Your mother said this so you would stay warm. This was so you could adjust your insulation according to temperature and activity level, to adapt to the temperature. I am going to discuss how to apply the layering principle to your personal survival.
There are three layered levels in our lives:
1. The contents of our home or other permanent shelter. This could also be a stocked survival retreat.
In the military, we had line gear. Line 1 was what we had in our pockets. Line 2 was our fighting or web gear. Line 3 was our sustainment gear or rucksack. So let’s start with the basics:
|
Needs
|
Skills
|
Seven Cs
|
| Food | Fire | Carrying container – canteen, water bottle, hydration bladder |
| Water | Hunting / Gathering | Cooking container – canteen cup, cook pot, coffee can |
| Shelter | Evasion | Cutter – knife, axe, machete, glass shard |
| Security | Signaling | Combustion – Bic lighter, flint & steel, matches, road flare |
| Health | Navigation | Cordage – Paracord, string, twine, tape, dental floss |
| Communications | Fieldcraft | Cover – poncho, tarp, emergency blanket |
| Compass |
Food: Even though humans can go 3 weeks without food and stay alive, mental and physical capacity will diminish within a couple of days. You should have food with you that requires no preparation on your person such as Power Bars, Gorp, MREs, Spam, jerky, canned stew, etc. Your transport or backpack can have more sustainable food. Don’t forget something to cook in. Anything that cannot be cooked in a pot can be cooked on a stick over a fire.
Water: This is more important than food especially in arid environments. Also don’t eat if you do not have water. It takes water to digest food. Have a way to purify water. A portable water filter, iodine, or chlorine tablets will work but boiling is best. Carry bottled water in your vehicle.
Shelter: Depending on the conditions, shelter may be more important than food and water. You can’t eat if you are frozen to death. Learn how to make field expedient shelters, debris huts, etc. Carry a bivy and sleeping bag in your Bug Out Bag. Clothing is also shelter.
Security: What good is it to have a large stash of supplies just to have someone take it from you? Security comes in many forms…staying hidden from others, blending in, weapons, or just keeping your mouth shut. Fire will keep animals at bay. Don’t carry a gun unless you know how and are willing to use it.
Health: This includes hygiene, sanitation, and first aid. For example, don’t use the knife that you just field dressed a squirrel with to cut up your cooked meat. Either wash it thoroughly or use a separate knife. You do have soap don’t you? I’m amazed at how many people don’t include soap in their Bug Out Bags. Don’t drink untreated water. Treat cuts and scrapes. Use toilet paper if you have it. Brush your teeth.
Communication: People are social beings. If alone, have a portable radio to listen to surrounding news. I have an AM/FM/SW radio that is just a little larger than a deck of cards. It is analog so it has a long battery life. A shortwave radio allows me more options. Sometimes news from other countries may be the only form of information due to an EMP or communications blackout. By the way, I put a label on all of my electronics indicating their battery life and every device uses the same size battery. A police scanner is very useful. 2-way radios can be very valuable to groups or used as a barter item.
Fire: Have multiple ways to start a fire. Fire starting and building is your most important skill. It will purify your water, cook your food, heat your shelter, keep predators at bay, and signal for help. Bic lighters are king. Carry a flint and steel set on your person at all times. Magnesium works well in wet conditions. Backpacking stoves work great for quick meals and draw less attention than fires. Keep one in your car.
Hunting / Gathering: Snares and traps can be left unattended allowing you to do other tasks. Learn a few edible wild plants. Fishing gear is small and very useful – just some string and a few hooks is all you need.
Evasion / Signaling: Grizzly bear on your trail? Just stumble across a meth lab on a hike? Government out to get you? Ok, this is a little extreme but if there is a major disaster staying away from others might be the desirable thing to do. Those that are unprepared may want to take what you have. People also spread disease. The flip side to this is signaling. If you are just lost you need to be found. A whistle, signal mirror, or smoke from a fire are your best options.
Navigation: You just bugged out. Where are you going? Learn to use a map and compass. Don’t rely too much on GPS. They can break, batteries die, and the satellites can be re-tasked for military operations. Have paper maps covering where you are all the way to where you are going. What if the roads are clogged with traffic escaping from a hazmat spill? Do you have bike trail maps? Do you have a bike? You need multiple routes of escape and methods of transportation.
The Seven Cs: These items are the most basic necessities needed to survive. They will directly contribute to keeping your ass alive more than anything else. The first four are the most important – Canteen, cup, knife, fire starter.
Staging equipment is critical. It must be secure yet accessible. If your permanent shelter is compromised or unavailable then you become mobile. Your mobile layer is your second layer. It may be a Get Home Bag or a complete BOB inside your Bug Out Vehicle. Your vehicle may be your new home. A bicycle or scooter is a good backup to have in your bug out vehicle (BOV). So how do we stage and carry all this gear?
My Layered Bug Out System:
I am going to describe and comment on my system and you can decide if it works for you. Take my ideas and use whatever you feel is beneficial to your situation.
I keep extra food and supplies at home as we all should. My food stockpile is a mixture of long term grains sealed in mylar, canned goods, MREs, [freeze-dried] backpacker meals, and the like. This allows for variety in terms of taste and nutrition. I rotate my supplies and I do not store much more than can fit into my vehicle due to the possibility of needing to bug out. Any structure can be penetrated. If people want what you have, they will get it and you can’t keep watch 24 hours a day by yourself.
My 4×4 BOV is not my daily driver but is always maintained with a full tank of gasoline. Most any vehicle nowadays will go at least 300 miles on a tank of fuel. I have enough stabilized fuel stored to get me to any one of my Bug Out Location choices. A cargo carrier attaches to my rear receiver and a bicycle carrier attaches to my front receiver. The luggage rack rounds out its cargo capability. I have opted to not use a trailer because of lack of maneuverability and off road ability. I can live out of my vehicle in a stationary location with complete isolation for six months to a year.
In the event of an EMP, fuel shortage, martial law, etc. full sized motorized transportation may not be an option. My BOV may break down or roads may not be passable. My next layer is a bicycle. One could even use a game cart, dolly, wagon, etc. You can only carry a limited amount of gear on your back. A bicycle is 3 times more efficient than walking and can carry much more weight. Mine is set up with panniers and my gear is always packed. I also carry a tractor tire inner tube, pump, rope, and climbing gear which allows me to transport myself and gear over almost any terrain. The inner tube is for traversing water. I can transport 200 lbs. + by walking beside and pushing the bicycle.
This leaves the final layer – what is on my person. My personal carry gear is also broken down into layers. My pockets have a Bug Out Altoids Tin B.O.A.T.) A chest rig carries my Seven Cs with a sidearm and can be completely hidden by a sweatshirt. On top of this would be web gear and rifle in appropriate circumstances. The final layer is a rucksack. Another option I have experimented with is a fanny pack strictly for survival.
The above is available for an extreme situation where bugging out may be required. My normal everyday life doesn’t require these drastic measures. If there is a major power outage during a snow storm, I’ll just stay home, listen to my portable radio, and cook on my butane stove. Drastic measures aren’t always needed.
One more item to talk about is a Get Home Bag (GHB). All of my gear is staged at home waiting if it is needed but I have to get there to use it. My GHB is combined with my EDC. Since I am in the service industry, I am required to travel at times in a company service vehicle. This limits what I can always have at my disposal. Along with my tools and test equipment I carry a very small day pack. This holds my Seven Cs, some food, extra ammo, and a few work items. It is always near me or in the vehicle I am traveling in. I have a cocealed carry permit and carry every day. I carry a flint striker on my key ring as fire is more important to me than a knife on my person. I already carry enough stuff on my belt.
This completes the philosophy and application of my layering system. Take from it what you will. If you learn something from it, that’s great. If it saves your life someday, that’s even better.
A Note on EMP:
Being in the communications business, I have witnessed what lightning can do to a communications tower site. This is the closest thing I have seen to an EMP. I also have access to high power radio equipment and have done experimentation with Faraday cages. My conclusions show that non-continuous shielding (such as screen) will not stop all frequencies. The only cheap and easy thing I have seen that will shield all radio frequency energy is properly wrapped multiple layers of aluminum foil. I have had popcorn tins fail along with microwave ovens. I also will not ground a Faraday cage due to what I have seen lightning do. I wrap all of my electronic devices that go in my bug out bag.
[Some deleted, for brevity]
Lastly, don’t let the preparedness bug monopolize your life. Have a preparation plan, carry it out, then relax and enjoy what you’ve accomplished. If the world goes to pieces, you’re ready. If not, then sit back and enjoy a cold one.
Jim:
In response to the question on wood stove canning. The short answer is ‘yes’. However, to can on a wood stove means being able to regulate the heat for extended periods. (Irregular temperatures, especially with the pressure canner, will cause your jars to siphon the juices.) This means a good assortment of dependable wood, a stove that will hold a steady heat and if you’re lucky enough, a separate summer kitchen. (The wood stove in summer will turn the kitchen into an unbearable sauna. That said, I have canned over wood heat for many years with excellent results. And, if I may add, in summer I’d rather can in any other way than on my wood stove. Incidentally, an open fire surrounded by a few concrete blocks and a grate makes a serviceable canning heat. Here, wood can be used for open bath canning with excellent results. Once the learning curve on canning is achieved, then all sorts of innovations may be attempted. Regards, – CCW
Hi James!
Thanks for all the information and inspiration that you provide!
In answer to the question about if it is possible to pressure can over wood heat: yes! it certainly can be done. But it takes much more experience and observation to manage an even temperature on the wood cookstove and the resulting pressure within the pressure canner. Back in my Hippie days in the 1970s, I used to pressure can and cook everything over an old wood cookstove and it certainly does work. I’d even venture a guess that pressure canning could be done over an open fire with frequent fire management.
Managing the correct pressure is much , much more difficult with a wood fire versus the convenience of a gas or electric heat source. With gas or electric, once you find the ‘sweet spot’ on the control of the stove burner that maintains the correct pressure, you can stay busy with other tasks near the stove and only glance at the pressure gauge every 5 or 10 minutes. Then, if the pressure is changing, adjusting the stove control knob slightly up or down as needed will correct the problem with little effort.
With pressure canning over a wood stove, it’s not near that simple. On a wood cookstove, the entire metal surface of the stove has a variation in temperature. To increase the temperature and thereby increase the pressure within the canner, you slide the pressure canner closer to the hottest spot on the cookstove surface (back area above the firebox). If the pressure is too high, then slide the pressure canner away from the hottest spot. A few inches makes a difference in surface temperature on a cookstove. But it takes many frequent observations and adjustments to maintain a steady pressure on your canner. No “checking it every ten minutes”. And all this time, the temperature within the firebox is changing as well.
The temperature changes within the firebox depends on the design and size of the firebox within the wood cookstove, type of wood you are burning, the size and dryness of the wood, the buildup of ashes within the firebox, the passage of time as your fire burns down, how you set your air vent controls and on an on. If you have never used a wood cookstove, operating one efficiently will seem overwhelming–especially when smoke leaks from every surface of the stove filling your kitchen as you try to build a fire and get the smoke hot enough to rise out the chimney!! Please gain some experience with the wood cookstove before you ever try to pressure can on it.
With experience, all these problems will disappear and you will grow enjoy cooking over a wood stove. Bread baked in a cookstove has a much more wonderful flavor that no electric or gas stove can match. My two aunts continued to do their baking in their wood cookstoves all their lives even after adding electric stoves to their kitchens decades earlier!
So, before you ever consider staking your life or at least your food canning future on pressure canning over wood heat–as with everything–gain experience with the wood cookstove first. Live the lifestyle. Then, if or when you have to rely on a wood cookstove as the center of your kitchen, it won’t be such a huge culture shock.
One last thing, a physical and emotional attachment develops with a family’s life centering around the wood cookstove unlike any other fixture within your house today. You can’t imagine the sense of comfort and well being that develops.
Picture that it’s winter and bitter cold. You’ve just finished chores outside and feel chilled to the bone. Now imagine, coming into your house, taking off your heavy winter clothing and feeling the warmth of the wood cookstove radiating from the kitchen. Now imagine pulling up a chair close to this warmth, pouring a steaming cup of rosehip and wild peppermint tea from the kettle that’s always on the stove, filling a bowl with hot stew (homegrown ingredients) that’s been simmering for hours on the stove, cutting a slice of fresh baked bread from the warming oven. The whole house smells wonderful from this goodness on the cookstove—I forgot to mention that you took off your winter boots at the door, your toes feel like ice.
Now imagine, opening the door of the oven to let even more heat fill the room, sitting on the kitchen chair, resting your cold feet on the door of the oven and feeling the warmth of the oven start to penetrate your cold toes, the tea and the hot stew start to warm you from the inside out. A feeling that all is well in the world settles over you, until your wife yells, “Get your stinky feet off the oven door!”
Enjoy, and may God bless your efforts – Mountain Firekeeper
Sir:
Just a quick thought on canning that might help everyone. My wife and I use the All American Pressure Canner Model 921 21 quart with the metal to metal seal, it is aluminum and we like it. What we use for our heat source is an old turkey fryer base that is hooked up to a 20 lb propane tank. I have bought several turkey fryers at garage sale fairly cheaply and these work great. My wife canned some green beans last fall and I weighed the propane tank before and after we pressure canned the beans and we used about 8-to-10 ounces of propane. So part of our plan has been to have several extra tanks of propane for canning purposes.
Another thought related to 20 lb propane tanks is that if you exchange them at Wal-Mart you only get 15 lbs of propane but if you bring the tanks to your local gas company then they can fill them to 20 lbs and less expensive if the tanks are in good shape. How you acquire your extra propane tanks is up to you but I have found Wal-Mart to be very accommodating when exchanging old rusty tanks for new ones the only drawback is the [smaller capacity, affording] 5 less pounds of propane. Good luck, God Bless – Summer J.
JWR Adds: Because of the greater fire hazard, I recommend that you do any canning over a propane turkey roasting base outdoors. While you won’t have the classic hot grease fire risk often seen with roasting or deep frying poultry, any time you have a large temporary propane burner set up, there is greater fire risk than with a permanent indoor installation. Also, be absolutely certain that the burner is set up on a dead level surface, and that it is very stable and wide enough to accommodate your canning vessel. Having this apparatus tip over while canning would be perilous!
Mr. Rawles,
This a reply to the reply to “A Combat Gear Primer” by WildcatActual. While it is true that a direct hit from a high-powered rifle such as a Russian Dragunov firing a 7.62x54R will not/should not penetrate military grade body armor I would like to add to the comment of “These are but two examples of the fallacy that blunt force trauma from a bullet hit will incapacitate an individual wearing body armor”:
I have a personal experience in this. I was in Mosul, Iraq in 2006. Our unit was tasked to clear and old cement factory in the city. This cement factory was a sniper’s dream, and the insurgents made good use of it for that very purpose. Several guys had been hit in and around this area from sniper fire. Our unit had received a “tip” that the same sniper who had, just days before, killed another US soldier was back at the factory. Our unit rolled in there ready to take this guy down once and for all. We thought we had a pretty good idea where he was shooting from. We set up a perimeter inside and dismounted the Strykers. The weapons team advanced on one of those tower looking rock crusher things and our 6, the Medic and myself took up a covering position at the back rear of the vicinity.
The weapons squad was no more than a few seconds into there bounding when I was thrown face-forward into the dirt. It felt like someone had had come up behind me and kicked me as hard as possible in the back. I could barely breath, I had no idea I had just been shot in the back. The next thing I knew someone was dragging me to the other side of the vehicle. My whole body hurt, but yes, I was able to regain my composure and get back up to my knees after a minute or so, but just barely. Was I “out of the fight”? No. Was I as as combat effective as I was a few minutes ago? No way! To make long story short, we still did not catch the sniper and I had one cracked rib and a nasty bruise in the shape of a SAPI plate on my back. One more round to the same area and I would have been done.
Finally, I know the exact video the reader is referencing about the soldier who is shot and gets right back up, and I have some further information on this as well. The soldier in the video was shot with a Tabuk-S Assault Rifle, which is basically an AK-47 with a long, heavy RPK type barrel. This is not really a Sniper Rifle per se but an SDM weapon that fires a 7.62×39 AK-47 round which does not have the punch of a full-power 7.62x54r round. So is it possible that a person wearing modern body armor can be taken down with a single hit? Lets just say I am glad I was dragged to cover because at that point I didn’t even know my name let alone able to get there on my own. – Van D.
A good video: Four Things A Man Must Have. By the way, I’m really looking forward to seeing Cody’s upcoming homesteading compilation video.
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Kevin S. sent us this, from an English newspaper: Forget global warming – it’s Cycle 25 we need to worry about (and if NASA scientists are right the Thames will be freezing over again.
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A new television show pilot planned: J.J. Abrams sells sci-fi apocalypse pilot to NBC. Is it post-EMP, or post-solar flare? Regardless, it is TEOTWAWKI. (Thanks to Jake K. for the link.)
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Sue C. sent this news: Villagers scramble for fuel in Europe’s big chill. Meanwhile, in other Global Warming news: Snow falls in Rome for the first time in 26 years as -36 celsius temperatures across eastern Europe send death toll to 150.
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“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” – Isaiah 1:16-17 (KJV)
Federal Reserve Action Will Decide Next Major Move For Gold Prices
G.G. flagged this: More Than 750 Banks at Risk of Failure Over Next Two Years, Says Invictus
Also from G.G.: Jim Grant says gold, not paper currency, is the future
Items from The Economatrix:
Jobless Claims Fall, Jobs Market Slowly Healing. [JWR’s Comment: But is this a genuine recovery, or just trickle-down from umpteen billions in bailouts and monetization liquidity? And meanwhile we read: Record 1.2 Million People Fall Out Of Labor Force In One Month, Labor Force Participation Rate Tumbles To Fresh 30 Year Low.]
Today we present another entry for Round 39 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:
First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) 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, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.
Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).
Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, C.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and D.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.
Round 39 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.
As an avid competitor in IPSC and local pistol competitions, a number of years ago I decided to reload ammunition on my own. I felt this would pay for itself over the long haul as well as allow me to work up loads that would have the correct power factor, accuracy, and excellent feeding for competitions, not to mention self-defense. In addition, after the passing of the Brady Bill, I took on another task of casting my own bullets with the possible specter of either the government removal of ammunition from store shelves or some other legislative means of taking away guns via restrictions with powder, USEPA restrictions with lead and so on. I wanted to be relatively self-sufficient and have an asset that might be marketable in light of a possible economic, social, or political meltdown.
T his discussion will specifically address bullet casting 185 grain semi-wadcutter bullets and 200 grain semi-wadcutter bullets for the .45 ACP or “melting lead for the meltdown.”
It helps to have a good source of lead and other metals for the “melt.” The “melt” is what you have in your melting pot to pour bullets. This comes from your source and supply of metal. My brother initially supplied two 5 gallon buckets of discarded used wheel weights from the garage he worked at. In addition, I have purchased on eBay “linotype” which makes a very good melt for cast bullets. Wheel weights generally have an appropriate mix of lead, tin, and other metals that give a reasonable hardness with cast as bullets. The ratio noted in the Lyman manual indicates the following alloy and the hardness factor for their own recipe called Lyman #2 alloy: 90% lead, 5% tin, and 5% antimony giving you a hardness factor of 15 (Brinell Hardness Number or BHN). The linotype mentioned (which comes from the printer’s shop and generally available via eBay) has a hardness factor of 22 due to having more antimony and a bit less lead. The wheel weights had to be sorted and melted into ingots and put aside until there was enough to start the casting process. I also had to weed out any weights that smacked of zinc as this will be a negative factor in casting.
My bullet casting started with primal tools and has worked to a little bit more efficient tools. I started with a cast iron pot, ladle, kitchen stove (really makes the wife happy) and a Lyman #2670460 200 grain semi-wad cutter mold with a four bullet capacity. The handles are RCBS which work with the Lyman mold. My second mold is from Magma Engineering which can be checked out at their web site, a 185 grain semi-wad cutter bullet with a two bullet cavity. Again, I went with RCBS handles.
Other tools of the trade include: a hickory handle to break what is known as the sprue, a stainless steel spoon for stirring into the melt either Brownells Flux or a pea size chunk of paraffin wax, a heavy duty kitchen glove or mitt, a heavy duty box to plop newly cast bullets into, and a small pan to place excess sprue into.
Later, after learning some of the basics and wanting to speed up the casting process I graduated to a Lee Pro 20 Series melter. There are numerous other melting pots on the market that you might check out at Midway USA or other outlets. I also picked up Lyman melt thermometer to keep track of the temperature of the melt. But, wait, there’s more! So, to get started with your melting, you need the following:
1. A 2 cavity or 4 cavity bullet mold (mine are the Lyman #2670460 4 cavity 200 gr. Semi-wad cutter and the Magma Engineering 2 cavity 185 grain semi wad cutter).
2. A pair of RCBS mold handles.
3. Lee Pro 20 Series Melter
4. Safety Equipment: Face shield, apron, long sleeve shirt, gloves, and leather boots
5. Miscellaneous: hickory handle, stainless steel spoon, flux/paraffin wax, kitchen glove, and container for bullets.
Those bullets have to be sized and lubed before they can be reloaded. This is what I wanted to be able to do. So, the additional tools you’ll need for the sizing and lubing from your manufacturer of choice, I picked a:
1. Lyman 450 Bullet Sizer/Lubricator
2. A Midway Lube Heater (which is mounted under the Sizer/Lubricator)
3. Lube (Alox or Blue Angel — the latter needs the lube heater)
4. Lyman top punch sizing die. The sizing die and top punch size the bullet (in my case to .452 diameter) to the right diameter for the .45 ACP.
I might add it would be helpful to have a manual handy for the whole process such as the Lyman Reloading Handbook. A handbook for bullet casting should also come with the bullet sizer/lubricator. There may be something on YouTube as well; however, I have not checked it out. In addition, I believe there are videos available to assist you. I have never used or purchased a video but I think it would be helpful.
So, in a well-ventilated workspace, let’s fire up the Lee Pro 20 melter. I take the ingots that I have made from the wheel weights and/or the linotype and place them in the melter. There is a gauge on the melter for the approximate temperature and as you become better experienced you will likely be able to drop the melt thermometer. You want at least 650 degrees and you want a small fan or a vent hood to dispel any lead fumes. As the ingots slowly melt, add a teaspoon of flux or the pea size piece of paraffin wax to draw the dross to the top of the melt. Skim off the dross with your stainless steel spoon (and duct tape the handle end to prevent burns) and discard in something non-flammable. While the ingots are in the pot melting, you will want to heat your bullet mold. I just set mine on the edge of the melter and rotate it to try to heat it with some uniformity. When the melt has reached temperature, place your mold under the valve or spigot where the melter will allow the melt to flow out and lift the handle to allow the flow of the melt. As you fill each cavity let an additional amount pour to have a good break when the sprue plate is popped open. At the top of the bullet cavity is the sprue plate which has to be hit to shear off the excess melt providing a nice flat base on the bullet. Once the sprue plate is knocked back with your hickory handle, break the mold open, gently tap if needed, and drop the bullets into a non-flammable container.
Use your spoon to scoop up one of the bullets to see if it is well formed. Generally, it takes me maybe 4-to-5 pourings to get nicely formed bullets. This is due largely to the molds having to get up to temperature. When the bullets are coming out well formed then continue the process of pouring, breaking the sprue plate open, dropping the newly molded bullets, and so on. If you notice your bullets coming out looking “frosty” then you will need to back off on your temperature or let your mold cool off a few minutes. When a bullet “frosts” it becomes brittle and that isn’t good while moving down your gun barrel at 850 fps. Keep constant check for that. 50 pourings with a four cavity mold will give you 200 bullets. You can get this in maybe an hour or more depending on your skills and experience. As you consume the melt, you will have to put in more ingots. This will take a few minutes to melt and come to temperature. I like to size and lube during these breaks while my ingots are initially starting to melt. I try to finish up my bullet casting when the depth of the melt in the melter is about an inch deep (measured by my spoon) and after I have gone thru enough melt to cast 400-500 bullets. Time to unplug the melter and let the remainder cool down.
With free wheel weights a good bit of money has been saved. The equipment will pay for itself. The time is well used and for me a bit therapeutic. I like seeing things come out right that I actually had a part in. A box of 500 bullets is now close to $50. When I was competing regularly I was going thru 300 bullets per week which isn’t a lot. I still was knocking at the door of A class in IPSC with the 300 rounds per week in practice. So, for me, buying 300 rounds a week at Wal-Mart was not going to work. Casting and reloading my own ammo has worked out well.
Now, we’re not quite finished yet since the cooled bullets have to be sized and lubed. Generally speaking, you would want to “slug” your barrel to confirm the size you need to get your bullets to. I didn’t do that and never have had a problem. I just made sure I had the .452″ top punch/sizer. I am assuming you have your sizer/lubricator and heater mounted at this time so I am dispensing with further instructions. If you use Lyman Alox or other lubes that don’t need heating then don’t plug the lube heater in. If you go with “Blue Angel” hard lube then you will need to crank up the heater, place your lube in the lubricator and run a bullet thru. You will likely have to adjust the sizer/lubricator to ensure the bullet is being completely sized and that the bullet lube fills the lube groove on the bullet fully. You can crank out the sized and lubed bullets and place them into whatever container you’d like. I have used Betty Crocker icing containers, small boxes suitable for holding 300-500 bullets, and a large plastic canister that held psyllium husks from NOW foods. These bullets are ready for reloading, storage, packaging to sell or barter.
In conclusion, this has been a basic how to to melt for the meltdown. You will have to experiment as you go along. Talk with others who cast bullets as well and you will get tips and pointers that will be helpful. I can’t leave without leaving a couple thoughts as to a spiritual side of bullet casting. One is that when the lead ingots melt, there is a tremendous heat and I actually ponder a place called ‘hell.’ I cannot imagine being there and as a child asked Jesus Christ to forgive me of my sin and trusted Him as my Savior. Thankfully, I will never have to face an eternity as hot or hotter than the melted lead in my melter. Second, as a believer, Proverbs talks about the “fining pot and the furnace.” It can apply to the lives of Christians who are going thru the “heat” of trials in this life. After you skim off the dross from the melt, the melt is mirror-like when you look down into it. You can actually see your reflection. It makes me think that when the “heat” is on in my life, the Lord wants to skim off the dross and see a reflection of Himself as He looks on. And, He wants the world to see His reflection as well. God bless you and keep you safe. May he give us all the wisdom we need in the event of a “meltdown.”
If a disaster occurs next month, be it economic meltdown, war, or highly infectious pandemic, how prepared are you?
The end of the world as we know it has already occurred. One hundred years ago, the west was still being won. The automobile was still a novelty and a competitor for the horse. Orville and Wilbur Wright had created the three axis-control, giving controllable wings to man, making our big planet a little bit smaller. Fifty years ago, manned space flight was still dreamt about by young boys. The Vietnam War and the Cuban Missile Crisis were looming large in the national consciousness and nuclear war with Russia was a very scary probability. The end of the world as we know it has been with us in some shape or form since Adam got his butt kicked out of the garden.
Today we conceptualize a TEOTWAWKI event as a global catastrophe that threatens to wipe out man himself. The scary thing is that it is not only possible, but given our current knowledge of natural disasters and cosmic calamities, it is highly probable. So the question is: what can we do to prepare for these potential events? Since you are reading this, I assume you have thought out various scenarios and are doing what you can for your own survival.
Imagine climbing a pyramid, you have to start at the bottom in order to reach the top. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs puts survival at the bottom of a pyramid, the next level is safety, followed by love, then esteem, and capped it off with self-actualization. Before one can move to the next level of this pyramid, one has to successfully navigate through the level he is currently on. The goal is to reach one’s full potential as a person. This goal often takes a lifetime to realize. For some it remains merely a dream. For many, it gets relegated to the subconscious and withers into a bothersome itch.
We live in a world that provides us with the resources and tools to climb this pyramid if we choose to; to become the best that we can be. We also live in a world where we are only one misadventure from falling back to the bottom of the pyramid; to the desperation and violence of survival.
One of the unspoken reasons why you you read this blog, why you are reading this essay, is to ensure your survival in order that you may continue on with your journey to the top of the pyramid. Something in you knows that disaster may befall you at any moment. But if you pay attention, that something that tells you that catastrophe may strike, also tells you that there is the other side of survival.
Learning the art of fire craft, firearms training and farming are all part of your conscious desire to have the preparations you may need for a catastrophic event. Learning how to survive and having the resources, skills, and ability to actually survive are part of your subconscious desire to climb the pyramid to becoming all you can be with the time you have left; and pass this on to posterity.
Every survival course worth its salt teaches about the ‘will to live’. That without this ambiguous ingredient, your survival quotient drops significantly. The will to live requires that you nurture the hope that you will survive and facilitate your ability to eventually thrive. In other words, never give up hope and do whatever is needed to get out of a survival situation. This site is full of the tactics, techniques and procedures on how to survive – use it!
You recognize the validity of this concept; that is why you are here. You may be a young man in an urban setting with three weeks of stored food, a pocket knife and a Bic lighter. You may be a multi-millionaire that is watching a crew finish up work on his subterranean survival bunker; with off-grid power, food for a small country, and enough munitions and men to take it over. Wherever you fall in this compendium of ensuring your initial survival, one thing remains true: the need for an exit plan. In other words, what are you going to do after survival has been achieved?
An event that is large enough to usher in TEOTWAWKI is a not necessarily a deal breaker. If an asteroid the size of Australia slams into planet earth – ‘game over man’; but anything shy of complete annihilation offers us all a small ray of hope that we will survive as a species, persevere as a people, and hopefully, hold on to our humanity.
This blog as well as its advertisers have survival down to an art; that is why you are here. Learn from the vast repositories of knowledge and advice that lies at your fingertips. Prepare for the worst, but plan for what comes after. Once your preps have been achieved, have a strategy on what to do next. If the world goes to hell, have a plan on how you and yours will go through hell; and what to do once you come out on the other side.
At the prepping level, you may be thinking of how to retain and store all this knowledge. You could kill a few trees and print all the information out, start a survival library. You could also utilize current technology and keep all this information in a convenient medium that will improve your survival efficiency.
This actually works: take an old laptop and load it up with as much of the vital information as you can on how to kick start humanity after the Apocalypse. Throw in some other electronic items that you may need, such as batteries, walkie-talkies, DVDs, et cetera. Wrap the laptop with alternating layers of plastic bags and aluminum foil, stick it in an old microwave that has its cord cut, and voila! You now have a primitive Faraday cage that will protect your information from the elements as well as an EMP.
I personally have an old laptop, some DVDs, an old smart phone, and a foldable solar panel with power adapter stuffed inside a large microwave. Yeah, some of this gear is pricey; so set a goal and incrementally acquire whatever you think you will need to see yourself through TEOTWAWKI. If the SHTF, and you can no longer access this site to look up what you may need, the information you have prepared in your Faraday cage will be available until the internet gets back online (and given some of the scenarios known to us to be potential threats, this could take years).
I have a solar charger and power converter in my go bag. It doesn’t take much more room than a thick notebook, and is only 6.5 pounds of combined weight. If the SHTF while I’m away from home, I have a permanent energy source for my laptop and cell-phone. If communication is out and the grid is down, my laptop is still functional and I have apps loaded on my phone to ensure I can survive the interim. (Barring a nuclear airburst which causes EMP, then it is dead weight). But once I get back home, I can open up my Faraday cage and be up and running with information, even if I cannot get online.
At the post-survival level, you will want to think about garnering other survivors to rebuild; think community and relationships. If the situation is bad enough, you will have to think about creating a new civilization. Create a new civilization? That is a tall order! That will take enormous resources, manpower and ambition. But this is where you have to go. You are already thinking about TEOTWAWKI, just take your thoughts out to the logical end conclusion and you either have a situation like that portrayed in the novel The Road
Reverting back to the Neolithic era is not necessary. Again, that is why you are prepping. Here is a useful exercise to think about in your spare time: What and who would you like to have with you if you were to be zapped back in time 500 years with no return ticket? Whatever you come up with may be something you would like to have or know how to develop when TEOTWAWKI occurs. (Hence the laptop with a solar power source).
Being able to survive and to survive well is not an end unto itself. Go beyond survival and envision what is going to be required of you materially, mentally, physically and spiritually if you are to thrive. For some, the art of prepping has been taken to an extreme that has had an unbalancing effect. For those who are unbalanced, the fix is simple: Begin the journey up the pyramid. (Who do you want to be? Start becoming that individual.)
Your preps are not going to disappear; in fact I assume and hope that they will continue on. Realize that if you are not the person you can be, a TEOTWAWKI event will not magically transform you into this person. The truth of it is that your life quotient will take a pretty severe hit if your survival quotient has not prepared you beyond material and skill.
My wife is a psychologist and has taught me numerous skills on how to not only cope, but to thrive in life. TEOTWAWKI events happen all the time. A healthy mind, body and spirit are key factors in enabling a person to survive everyday life. When grief, trauma or personal disaster hit, knowing how to best handle these intruders is as important when they strike, as knowing how foil countersurveillance in an urban environment or navigate by the stars in a rural survival situation.
I am a survival instructor. I teach our military’s elite on how to survive the worst this planet or its inhabitants can throw at them. They train for the worst case scenario, but they also live in the now. They have the skills and wherewithal to survive a TEOTWAWKI situation. And once they have these tools in their tool bag, the journey up the pyramid continues; they know that when the stuff hits the fan, they will be ready for it. Trust me when I tell you that a strong body, mind and spirit are essential not only for survival and harnessing the will to live, but also in everyday life. These three elements: body, mind and spirit are the keys to unlocking the doors that usher you to the next level of the pyramid, and set you up for not only survivability, but thrivability.
Dear JWR,
Regarding the article Canning Food in a Grid-Down World, by Christine C., I have a question for your readers. I have only pressure canned over bottled gas or electric heat. Is it possible to pressure can over wood heat? I have cooked over wood outdoors. My dad used to cook Christmas ham on a Buck stove in the family room. I have never had a wood cook stove. Or, am I going to have to stock pile bottled gas for my camp stove?
I want to thank Christine for the information about the gasket-less canner brand. I need to replace my old Mirro that is about 35 years old with a broken handle and has been through a house fire! Gaskets do last for years if not burnt. But, parts are getting hard to find. – Mathematician Magician