Letter Re: Land of Plenty–Establishing or Reclaiming an Orchard

Mr. Rawles,
 I very much enjoyed the recent article on orchards. Fruit and nut bearing trees are definitely low maintenance. I am now benefiting from my forebearers’ efforts to establish fruit and nut bearing trees and bushes. One thing that they always did if they could: They would always plant a few trees every year. It’s a habit. It doesn’t cost a lot at a time to plant one or two trees a year, and it’s a lot less work to maintain. If one dies, at whatever growing stage, you replant it. It’s always good to have a great variety of fruit and nut trees. We have lots of varieties of pecan trees, and a couple of walnut trees. Several varieties of peach trees, early, mid-season and late. Several kinds of pear and apple trees as well. And a few other kinds of fruit, both wild and cultivated. There is very seldom a perfect year, when all of them product a bumper crop, but which one produces changes from year to year. We always have fruit, but not always the same kind. Some years, there’s lot of blackberries but no dew berries. Some years, we have both, but no apples, some years, no pecans. Some years, the garden doesn’t do well, but the trees do.
 
There are apple, pear, and pecan trees on this place that are at least 50 years old. Several of the pecan trees would only grow when there was 13-13-13 buried underneath. I learned an easier way to make them productive: Create a compost bin around them and fill it with leaves, grass, etc. Manure is also useful, but be careful to let it cool down before you add it to the compost bin, as it will kill the tree otherwise. This is called a slow compost. You don’t have to turn it, though if you have chickens, they will turn it for you. Once you get the compost bin built, the only maintenance is to rake the grass or leaves and add them to the compost bin. I have compost bins made of roofing tin, old fencing, stacked up rocks, bricks, etc. I have gotten several pecan trees to produce this way, with no other fertilizer. The compost bin also keeps trees alive and producing in times of drought, such as this year. I don’t know anything about compost bins around a tree with a fan root, such as an oak. I haven’t tried it, but I am told that it will kill it, because it can’t breathe. I recommend it only for trees with tap roots that go straight down. All fruit and nut trees have a tap root, as do pine trees.
 
It’s fun to play around with different configurations of how to make mulch and compost work for you. I have what I call a peach bed, out in front of the house along the driveway. I have room for 4 peach trees in it. The last one will hopefully go in the ground this next year. Since it’s visible, I used decorative rocks stacked up to create a shallow compost bin. I keep it mulched with leaves, grass, manure and the top layer in pine straw, since it looks the best. In this peach bed, I keep multiplying onions and garlic growing year round. The onions seems to be especially useful to the peach tree since their growing season (here in the south) coincides very closely with the peach tree’s wintering growing season which is when it is especially vulnerable to the pests.
 
Onions, garlic, leeks, and chives are all very useful in companion planting with most plants. Similar summer growing companion planting helps are horseradish, hot peppers and various herbs. People say that it is impossible to do organic gardening here in the South with all the bugs and weeds we have down. It IS possible, I just want to set the record straight; it is difficult, but possible. 90% of the bugs in existence are beneficial bugs that help to control the bad bugs and promote plant growth. You just have to think of them as your friends and learn how to help them and welcome them, so they will help you.
 
One of the most beneficial insects to fruit growers is the honey bee. You can’t have productive fruit trees, brambles and bushes without honey bees. And speaking of liquid gold to barter, I know of no product even in times of plenty in higher demand than honey; I can’t imagine what the demand will be in times of want.
 
Because of my food allergies, I am unable to eat any store-bought pectin, so I take the green apples and cook them down, including peels and seeds but minus the blossom end. I take the green apple sauce (AKA pectin) when it comes through the sauce maker, and make my jelly. I’ve made hot jalepeno jelly, apple jelly, and strawberry jelly in this way. Awesome! – Miss Lou

Letter Re: An Army Veteran’s Thoughts on Camouflage

Sir,
In regards to the article: An Army Veteran’s Thoughts on Camouflage.  I have a few comments and recommendations:

There are many different types of materials that a ghillie suit can be made from and burlap being a very good and cheap and easily accessible one, a couple bundles of natural color jute and some color dyes (mixed with some burlap) can make one very nice ghillie suit.  There are many places that these materials can be purchased from.  Ghilliesuits.com (which I have ordered my Jute from) is just one.  Do a quick search for “ghillie suit kits or jute ghillie suite material” and have fun selecting from the masses of web sites.  Why not just search for ghillie suit kits?  Why pay someone hundreds of dollars to build you one that you may not like and/or it may not match your area.  Building your very own ghillie suit is a great accomplishment that you will have for years to come.  Same thing goes for buying natural color materials.  If you live in a desert area, well, natural color will be you main base color.
Jute vs. Synthetic materials?

  • Jute is a natural material.  It will lay in a more natural look in the woods, weeds or brush.  Jute when wet gets heavy because it is a natural fiber.  It will hold the water from rain, dew, pond or creek/river.  One good/bad thing about Jute is that it will retain scents of your environment.  Every time that you use you Jute suit you should hang it out to dry or place it in a sealed bag (so that it will not gather the scents of an indoor environment).
  • Synthetic is a man made fabric made of two parts.  It is a nylon, polyester or Acrylic base material.  It is lightweight and it will repel water (to an extent).  It is somewhat of an insect repellent because of its manufactured smell.  It is a flimsy material and doesn’t lay in a natural form that you would find in the outdoors.  Synthetic materials break down much faster that natural materials from sunlight, water and just being out in the weather and become very brittle.

When building your Ghillie suit there are a few things to keep in mind:

  • Your environment (Dry or Wet).
  • What is your surroundings (Desert, Woods or Brush)?
  • How long are you going to be wearing the suit?
  • What is the weather going to be like?

If you live in a dry/desert area then you are going to want to make your suit accordingly.  You will want it to be lightweight but you might have to use more material to get it to blend in better.  You can make it so that your back is a bug netting material (heat rises).  This will let your body naturally release body heat and it will let you get the most out of every breeze.  If you live in a wetter environment you would not want a netted back.  Being wet in a wet ghillie suit is no fun at all. With that in mind, I am not a fan of coveralls for the base of a ghillie suit.  Coveralls are a full body suit that in it’s self is not really a lightweight garment.  If you were in a “hide site” why would you wear a garment that conceals your legs?  If you were on a long patrol in the weeds, why would you cover your legs?  There is no need carrying extra weight on your body than you have too.  You are going to be burning enough calories on daily activities let alone walking patrols with a full ghillie suit on that might get wet or cause you to sweat more than you need too.

Tactical Concealment has, what I think is a nice alternative for use of a ghillie suit for a patrol.  The Cobra is lightweight and allows you easy access to your mag pouches (if they are in front of you).  They make one with and without a hood.  This is not a very hard article of clothing to make with the hood or without.  This could be made of bug netting to make it very lightweight.  I am not a big fan of bug netting for clothing because of its lack of strength.  It tares very easy when in a bind.  You can get some sort of netting material (I would make sue that it has no smaller than ½ inch squares).  You can use 550 paracord for your edging.  Sew the netting to the 550 cord and sew a couple of Fastex buckles, in the front, to each side and you are ready to start tying on your ghillie material.  If you choose to make one with the hood, I would not use the drawstring!

The materials for your front side, I would not use materials like felt.  Felt is a thick material that can just add a lot of weight if/when it gets wet.  If your in a desert area,
maybe.  Reason I say maybe is because if you are crawling around the felt will wear out pretty fast.  If you go with a thin batting material (for cushion) covered by a Cordura material it will keep the batting material drier because the Cordura material can repel water.

We personally have ghillie suits made of BDU-style coat and trouser, Cobra like cape style coverings and blankets.  It is much cheaper to buy the materials and make them yourself.  Use your ghillie material sparingly.  To much cover can also look out of place and you can always fill in the bare areas with natural vegetation!  No camouflage in the world can beat natural covering.

The poster of the article had it right but I will make things a little more clear on covering your face.  One thing you should remember about covering your face is that you want to make your face “flat” but not appear flat.  What I mean buy that is that your face will cast natural shadows that you want to remove.  Your eye sockets are naturally lower than your forehead and cheeks and your eyes are white.  You would not want to make your eye sockets black!  You want to make them appear that they are on the same level.  Same thing goes for your nose but in the opposite.  You would want to make your nose darker and your eye sockets lighter but not with just blobs.  Make it random to match the area your in.  Use a mix of blobs and [curved] lines.  Think of the different camouflage patterns out there and how they look.  Be sure to match your face to your own camouflage. – R.H.

Economics and Investing:

Chuck McAlvany: The Atomic Bomb that is About to Explode at the Federal Reserve

Days of Reckoning Are Here: Accumulate Precious Metals and Hard Assets

Zero Hedge: It Begins: Harrisburg Files For Bankruptcy Protection

G.G. flagged this: Banks turn to demolition of foreclosed properties to ease housing-market pressures

Items from The Economatrix:

Buckle Up:  America Is Getting Very Angry And The Protests Are Going To Become Much More Frightening

Millions Could Lose Unemployment Benefits In 2012

Wall Street Sees “No Exit” From Woes

Roubini:  Double-dip Recession A Foregone Conclusion

Odds ‘n Sods:

F.J. spotted this: 50 Simple Tools Used to Rebuild Haiti. (Those lists have applicability in rebuilding here in the U.S. of A., in the aftermath of major disaster.)

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Michael Z. Williamson (SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large) suggested this booklet: The Flowerpot Crucible Furnace–Build a furnace from a flowerpot and melt metal! Warning: All the usual safety provisos on high temperatures and molten metals apply! Do not experiment with this technique without all the proper safety clothing and gear, including a fire extinguisher. Also, be advised that a terra cotta crucible that is waterlogged or that has an unseen crack or void could shatter unexpectedly! Also note that while it is currently illegal in the U.S. to melt pennies or nickels, that law will likely change in the next few years, soon after the composition of the coins are “modernized” (read: debased.) So here is yet another good reason to stockpile pennies and nickels…

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Bob G. recommended this web page: Making Your Own Penicillin at Home

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Fernando Aguirre (aka “FerFAL”) had some observations on a recent farm attack in Argentina. (Thanks to Brian W. for the link.)

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Reader R.W. wrote to note that Glenn Beck just focused on prepping in his show on Wednesday: What can you do to prepare? He mentioned Texas as a relocation destination. You would have thought that he would have mentioned Utah or the Inland Northwest.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“In all ages, men who neither feared God nor regarded man have combined together and formed confederacies, to carry on the works of darkness. And herein they have shown themselves wise in their generation, for by this means they more effectually promoted the kingdom of their father the devil, than othwise they could have done.” – John Wesley, Jan. 30, 1763, commenting on Psalm 94:16 (“Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? [or] who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?”)

Notes from JWR:

I heard from my publisher that my novel “Survivors” just debuted at #3 on the New York Times Print Hardcover Bestsellers List! The novel is also at #10 on the combined print and e-book bestsellers list, #31 on the e-book bestsellers list, and #5 on the hardcover and paperback combined list. (Those rankings should be published in print on October 16th.)

—

Today we present another entry for Round 37 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) 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 B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $300 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo, and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) 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, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 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 37 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Land of Plenty–Establishing or Reclaiming an Orchard, by D.V.

Like many preppers we are preparing for food shortages.  Gardening is a mainstay and takes knowledge and lots of work on a regular basis.  Harvesting wild foods requires specialized knowledge.  But orchards and vineyards are a mainstay for a long term homestead that had plenty of land.  For the purpose of this article, an orchard will refer to all reproducing fruits (cane, bushes, vines and trees) although there are technical names (orchard, vineyard or patch).  For our forefathers the planting of the orchard was a priority after a shelter and water source.  The practical reason behind this is that orchards can produce fruit regularly without a huge amount of effort and it takes three to five years for them to become productive.  While orchards need to be tended, once an orchard is established it does not have to be constantly maintained.  Apples in particular are a source of natural pectin which can be used to can other fruits. Fortunately, we can still reap the harvest that our forebearers have planted.  The life expectancy of an apple tree is about one hundred years although there have been documented cases of apple trees living past two hundred and still producing. 

Two years ago we purchased a small farm.  This farm has a half dozen apple trees and several rows of grape vines that stretch a hundred and fifty feet or so.    The farm is in total disrepair (which is how we could afford it) and the orchard looks as if it has not been touched in decades.  Full sized non-fruit trees are interspersed between the hand-full of apple trees.   In order to return the orchard into a more productive state; I’ve been reading about pruning and managing trees as the non-fruit bearers are cut for firewood.  The best I’ve found is Successful Berry Growing: How to Plant, Prune, Pick and Preserve Bush and Vine Fruits by Gene Logsdon and the books How To Prune Almost Everything and How to Prune Almost Anything — both by John Philip Baumgardt.  It is worthwhile to have a good baseline before you go in and start hacking.  I’ve read many other books but these are the few I return to again for tips.  Google search is also great and there are plenty of excellent videos (such as reminders on chainsaw safety) as well.

One of our primary goals is to restore the orchard.  Orchards require planning as trees are not cheap, unmovable and take a while to produce and thus there is a considerable up front investment in time and money in starting an orchard.  One of the web pages that I liked is Planning an Orchard.   For us the orchard was already in existence and therefore we knew that it was the proper soil condition and location.  Our plan revolved around clearing away the new unwanted growth, include new and different varieties of trees and plants and increase the production and protect the current established trees.   In addition to standard orchard concerns our plans includes elements of long term survival (seasonal production and quantity); personal favorites (my wife enjoyed gooseberries growing up and therefore it is important to have the same in our new orchard);  barter (fresh or canned fruit will make an ideal barter item) and additionally we are looking at unique varieties that will grow in our area (Michigan) including such unusual trees as paw-paws (which is considered the Midwestern Banana); Medlar and Asian pear.   We believe that having something different will have a bit more trade value as apples and cherries are fairly common around us and people will always want something special and different as a treat.  As part of this plan, the unusual varieties of trees are lower on the proverbial totem pole to more common fruits but we have also identified what can grow in our area and what we ultimately would like in our orchard.  By having this plan, if we stumble across a good sale (we found a currant bush for $1.50 at an end of season sale) we can affordably include these items into our orchard.

As the grapevines are towards the front of the orchard, we decided to reclaim them first.  There are lots of ways to build a grapevine trellis.  Our goal was to make it more durable so that we would not have to rebuild it in the next decade (or longer hopefully).   In my search, I found trellises made in every conceivable method and material.  An older gentlemen nearby constructed his trellis out of left over plumbing supplies back in the fifties and it was still strong.  I considered the same, but it was cost prohibitive.  I also considered using PVC instead, but felt it could not handle the weight load of the vines.  Therefore I settled on steel fencing post with steel rubber coated wire for durability.  It was easy to work with, was durable and went up relatively well.  While putting up the fencing, we trimmed back a good portion of the vines and removed all the fruit in order to encourage growth next year.  We cleared away a good 100 feet of vines and trellised it all so next year we should have a great harvest.  We did nothing to any of the other rows which are a mess and growing wild.  As part of my plans, I anticipated to have the entire orchard reclaimed in a single year.  This is roughly a seven by seven acre piece of land.  Ultimately, at the end of the season I removed several trees, cleared away roughly three acres, reclaimed a single row of vineyards, started a half dozen blueberry bushes, planted one new apple tree and a currant bush (that was on sale) as well as established a small raspberry patch.   Reclaiming is just as time-consuming as creating an orchard from scratch.  As indicated earlier, a considerable up front time investment.  But we can also share due to the existence of our current trees the value of mature trees.

This fall, as I was cleaning up an area, I noticed there were ripe grapes on the vines that we hadn’t touched.  So I grabbed my kids and a couple of plastic shopping bags and went grape picking.  We were surprised at the amount of fruit that you can get from vines and trees that are not tended.  We ended up with over 50 lbs of grapes and a bushel and a half of apples.  Now these are not the nice pretty apples that you will find in the grocery store although there were a few that looked just fine.  Apples that are not tended and sprayed with chemicals look a bit ugly, but when you cut them open, the flesh was clean and tasty. I went back to the farm and grabbed my wheel barrow and several empty five gallon buckets.  None of the grapes we picked this season came off the vine we recently trimmed so we anticipate that we will have quite the harvest once we have all the vines trellised and anticipate around 100 pounds of grapes.  Also, it was early in the season and there are plenty of apples still ripening on the tree.  Interestingly all of our neighbors have told us the trees and vines didn’t produce so either they did not look closely or have been secretly picking the apples and grapes.  As I indicated earlier, this orchard was neglected for years and if there is a TEOTWAWKI situation, forgotten and neglected orchards can still provide an abundant harvest.  Apple trees are especially easy to recognize and I have found trees in the middle of a wood that has evidently grown up around them.  But you also see them sitting on the edges of fields or in lots, neglected and forgotten.  Please remember to respect private property.  Most people, if asked, are happy to share their fruit if they do not plan to harvest.  Some may plant the fruit trees for the purpose of attracting wild animals and game (to provide for better hunting); therefore do not assume they are unaware of the trees. 

Now we had to figure out what to do with our unfound bounty.  The most rational situation was to can our goods.  My wife and I had not canned before and this was a great learning experience.  The Ball Blue Book of Preserving is a good overall canning book.  There are other canning books and typically there are canning recipes in everyday cook books.  But I based my recipes off the book noted and used the others for comparisons.  You will also need the canning jars and lids, but a canning kit (with a jar funnel, tongs, jar holder, etc.) is a huge time saver and relatively inexpensive.   Finally, a large stock pot is required for the boiling method.  As preppers we have been stocking up on food.  We have several hundred pounds of sugar and frankly we were not sure how we were going to use it.  Believe me, sugar is used up quickly when making traditional jams, jellies and sauces.   Sugar helps the pectin set.  Another good thing to stock now while available is pectin.  Pectin can be made from scratch and there is a good recipe on Mother Earth News.  This recipe is printed out and put inside our recipe book.  Still pectin stores well and will save extra steps for canning your harvest and it makes sense to have a good supply set in. Next year we will experiment with homemade pectin and check recipes so we are not dependent on store purchased goods.  But we want enough on hand to have an easier transition.  Canning lids are not supposed to be reused either and therefore they should be stocked up on as well.  You can also use paraffin wax (which is how my grandmother canned) as an alternative method to sealing a can and this is easier to stock and will last a long time.

So with a few trees and some overgrown grapevines that have not been tended in years, we ended up with seven quarts of applesauce, two quarts of apple butter, and eleven quarts of jelly.   We had a couple of apple pies and ate quite a few apples and during the process had a bad batch of jelly that we ended up composting.  If we were in better practice and in a survival mode, I believe we could have gotten more out of the fruit, but we enjoyed the process, tasting along the way to learn and yes we made a few mistakes.   Next year we plan to extend our process to syrup and wine making as well as apple pie in a can and hopefully make raspberry and blueberry jellies as well. 

Four Letters Re: Wattle and Daub Construction

Jim:
Here are some more links to YouTube.com videos that I forgot to include with my previous note on wattle and daub construction. The links below include construction of a debris shelter, a good instruction on how to construct a clay and stone fire place with chimney.  When constructing a clay chimney without stones you need to build up about two feet and stop and let it dry, continue the next day with another two feet, etc, until you have a height that you prefer.  In log cabin construction in the old days they used to build chimneys of smaller “logs” maybe six inches or less in diameter and stack them up like when building the cabin.  leave about a two foot opening in the center.  Then daub the thing with your clay and grass daub mixture.  Don’t forget to daub the inside surface of the chimney!  Now these did catch fire and burn the cabin down, often in the middle of the night in the colder part of the winter.  So my pet idea is to form a chimney “skeleton” of hardware cloth [wire mesh], forming it around something cylindrical.  Put it in place over your clay and stone fire place and then proceed to daub it with your daub mixture. I am confident that it won’t catch fire [like a pioneer chimney that included logs].

Sustainable shelter     

Bushcraft Clay and Mud Rocket Stove

Clay cooking skillet

How To Build a Semi – Permanent Shelter (part 1)

Regards, – Darrell in Ohio

JWR,
 About ten years ago I traveled across Northern Honduras by car.  The wattle and daub construction was often used  in the mountains and jungles and it was probably close to what the original inhabitants built.  The size of the structure of course varied, but appeared to average about 10 x 12 feet.  The post that they used were a type of tree that grew straight for most of its length and was cut at about 3 to 4 inches in diameter.  The wall height was as high as the builder could reach.  Of course the post was stuck in the ground for a foot or two.
 
Spacing on the posts was about 3 to 3-1/2 feet apart and the wattle was cane or whatever they chose to use.  Daub appeared to be just clay and straw that was plastered either from the inside out, or from both the inside and the outside.  I seldom saw a window.  If there was a window, it was like the door and just an opening in the wall that had a piece of cloth hanging in it.
 
The roof was a framework of poles tied together with about a 45 degree pitch, that was “shingled” in palm branches.  Sometimes these were not too thick and I wondered how good they were at shedding rain. 
 
Often, there was a small open lean-to on the end of the house that served as an outdoor kitchen.  It had a counter made of poles, and on this raised counter was a small clay oven.  If they built a small fire inside the house for warmth the smoke just worked its way out of the branches in the roof.
 
One structure had a raised door sill of about one foot that kept the pigs and chickens out.  Others that I saw had the live stock just wandering in and out.
 
Usually these houses were not too far from the river or stream, and  families were bathing and washing clothes on the rocks during the warm afternoons.
 
The construction only required one tool – the machete.  Practically everyone of the working class carried one when traveling or going about their business.  Especially if they did not have a gun. But, that is another story.
 
Thank you for all of your hard work. – Paul in Southeast Texas

Hello James,
 
Copious greetings and kudos for the fine book…..
 
I saw the article about using natural materials for building construction.
Our home faces two groves of old growth trees. The detritus on the ground is copious, perhaps 2 to 6 inches thick. These groves of trees the old time residents here say go back to the 1920s when the original frame house stood on this site.
 
Each year I clear a section of the low branches to seven feet high. Pile them somewhere out of the way on the detritus.
 
Just today I worked one of these piles of brush to cut out the branches of over 3/4 inch for kindling. Nearly all of the wood in contact with the ground had extensive termite damage. I had to discard much of what was in contact with the ground. Only the wood that was elevated in the air was still solid. This was Hackberry, Hedge, Juniper, plum brush and Tree of Heaven. All good solid wood except for the Tree of Heaven which is a very light wood with a reduced density. Not very good for firewood anyway.
 
But the bottom line is that termites will take down a wall made with formerly living material such as wood, straw, brush and grass.
 
I lived in native built hut in Niger during my Peace Corps days. The bottom section of the walls were pure dense packed soil. No plant material until you got up above some 4 or 5 feet. They put the plant material above a height where the termites did not transition into.
 
We had termite mounds that went to 15 feet in height near by. Plenty of termites.
 
I would think twice before making any structure of wood in contact with the soil if you have a resident termite population such as we have.
 
Exception: I have a hunting blind set 24 inches deep in the soil. Lined with railroad ties that I selected for the best coating of creosote preservative. They have been in the ground now going on seven years.
I inspected the building yesterday and it still looks like the day I constructed it. But that is why creosote is such a good preservative. On the other hand you do not want to spend much time during hot weather in a creosote soaked wood structure. The fumes can be very evident. The railroad ties we have in the garden put off a very bad smell during the hot summer days out in the open.
 
I suspect you could spray for termites each year if you had the correct insecticide and sprayer system.
 
Chance favors the prepared. – J.W.C.

James:
I was in Haiti in January of 2010 as a civil engineer and paramedic. In the rural areas, nearly all the concrete and/or masonry block structures failed or were damaged. I only saw one wattle and daub dwelling that was destroyed. All of the others merely had to be re-mudded. Keep the Faith, – Bill D.

Letter Re: Uses For Discarded Political Campaign Signs and Wickets

Mr. Rawles,
I searched the blog, and found no mention of a tidbit I find useful.

Political campaign yard signs made with corrugated plastic and H-style wire posts make very useful target backers for posting targets when you don’t have easy access to your own range. I like to make use of National Forest or National Grasslands, and these work wonderfully. Use a stapler to post the target. The plastic takes quite a beating before it needs to be retired. They also stand up fairly well to wind.

Have fun in choosing your targets, and get out and practice!

Also, don’t wait until after the elections, as many of these get recycled for other uses, and rapidly get scarce.

Thanks. – K.B.

JWR Replies: Growing up in the 1960s in Northern California, many local campaign signs were still made of 1/2-inch fiberboard. Rather than going to the local landfill, these were actively collected after each election day, and often put to creative use. I once saw a livestock shed with walls entirely sheeted with campaign signs. It was very colorful, inside! These days, of course, less substantial materials are used, and most signs are designed to be disposable. Thanks for suggesting a truly practical way to “re-use, re-purpose, and recycle.”

Three Letters Re: Trapping Options for the Non-Trapper

J.W.R.:
Greeting from a long time reader in Southeast Texas. Regarding the article “Trapping Options for the Non-Trapper” by Pat in Oregon: When I was a child some 60 years ago, my neighbor had a problem with pigeons eating the chicken feed.  She solved the problem with large rat traps, which you can still get in any hardware store.
 
She baited the traps with the feed and placed them on the fence posts.  She also attaching about two feet of string to the trap and tied it to a nail in the post.  This kept the pigeon from taking the trap away if it wasn’t
a clean kill.
 
The game was collected through the day, cleaned and stored in the refrigerator until she had enough to make pigeon pot pie.
 
Today I watch large flocks of pigeons feeding in parking lots and flying over the stores in our town, and wonder how many pot pies I am missing.
 
Keep up the good work, – Paul B.

 

James, 
On trapping skunks: According to my neighbour, an easier way to kill a skunk that has been caught in a live trap is as follows: After you recognize that there is indeed a skunk in the trap and not just a black cat, cover the trap in a blanket, or better yet, already have a blanket covering the trap. This way you can peek into the trap to see what is in there and also camouflage the cage-like look of the trap. It is either that or throw it over the trap after you see a skunk in there. Skunks will not spray themselves. Then you just carry the trap over to the back of your car, start it up and direct the exhaust from the tail pipe into a gap in the blanket. In just 10 minutes your skunk problem is over and no neighbours will have heard a gun shot. – Lee M.

 

Dear Brother James,
Just a slight correction to a great post by Pat in Oregon, you can indeed use foot hold traps in Oregon, it is a wonder though because Oregon is a very liberal state which prostitutes itself to the federal government all it can to the peril of its citizens. The regs are available online, here. May God grant you and yours peace through Christ. God Bless, – Paul S.

Economics and Investing:

More folks are catching on to nickels, as an inflation hedge. For example, see this recent piece over at Seeking Alpha: Looking For An Alternative To Gold And Silver? It is noteworthy that Kyle Bass didn’t make all of his millions with foolish irrational investing plays. He is one sharp cookie.

James C. sent this from Sovereign Man: How Bankrupt Governments Will Confiscate Your Gold. (Yes, it has happened before in the U.S.: See Executive Order 6102. And the potential repeat of that, BTW, is one reason why I prefer investing in silver rather than gold.) Have you got your nickels, yet?

You already had a couple of weeks warning, courtesy of SurvivalBlog. It is echoed here: Stock Up on Peanut Butter Now Before Prices Get Ridiculous. That will put the price of peanut butter in the same “spendy” league as almond nut butter and sunflower butter. Yikes! (And of course their prices will rise, in sympathy. So stock up on those too, if you use them.)

Drugstore Markups Are Worse Than You Think

Items from The Economatrix:

US Mint Sells Nearly 3/4 Million Silver Eagles First Day of October

Physical Silver Running Out Because its Spot Price Does Not Reflect True Investment Demand

Wall Street Flies On Euro-Fund Hope, S&P Up 2%

Gold Climbs as Dollar Falls to Three-week Lows

Odds ‘n Sods:

Several readers sent this: Foreign insects, diseases got into US

   o o o

“PapaBeagle” wrote to mention that Amazon.com now has some good quality Facet fuel transfer pumps back in stock.

   o o o

Jeff W. recommended a great article from The Small Wars Journal: One Team’s Approach to Village Stability Operations. Ponder it as future history for a post-collapse United States.

   o o o

From Nanny State Europa: Children to be banned from blowing up balloons, under EU safety rules. Meanwhile, French multicultural do-gooders are re-writing history. (Thanks to F.G. for the link.)

   o o o

Could they be getting ready to hunker down? Why Did a Secretive Filipino Church Buy a South Dakota Ghost Town?

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Lord, the money we do spend on Government and it’s not one bit better than the government we got for one-third the money twenty years ago.” – Will Rogers

Notes from JWR:

I was delighted to see that Amazon has again reduced price on my novel “Survivors” to just $12.39. (They originally had it priced at more than $16, and just before publication, they dropped it to $15.30.) Anything under $13 is a very good price for a 380-page hardback, these days. Meanwhile the e-book (for Kindle, Nook, iBook, and now also in ePub format at the Sony Reader Store) is priced at as low as $10.99.

—

Today we present another entry for Round 37 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) 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 B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $300 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo, and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) 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, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 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 37 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Trapping Options for the Non-Trapper, by Pat in Oregon

Most folks are familiar to some extent with animal trapping but have little experience.  In a TEOTWAWKI world I suggest there are several advantages that trapping will offer almost everyone.  With minimal equipment and some basic experience trapping can offer security, food, and economic opportunities.  Before taking any action please familiarize yourself with your local laws and requirements related to fur-bearing animals and trapping.
 
I trapped coyotes and bobcat back in my college days with a good friend.  It was a great time but required considerable equipment, preparation, effort, and skill.  Today I still do a lot of trapping, though not for profit.  Most of my trapping is for security of my livestock and preservation of my garden.
My first recommendation for everyone is to have a live trap.  These are the cages with the trap-door that locks shut when the animal enters the cage.  These are useful every day in the city, suburbs, or on the farm and very simple to use.  New they cost about $150 for large animals, but they are often found on craigslist for $30 or less.  The best part about these traps is that they are so effective and easy; yet do not injure the animal.  This is very important in a populated area where neighborhood pets are a frequent “by-catch”.
 
The live is effective at guarding our chicken coop.  The western Oregon woodlands are full of predators – coyotes, skunks, raccoons, and feral cats.  All of these predators love chicken, and frequent our coop.  We keep a live trap ready at the back of the coop at all times, and it never fails to catch a troublemaker.  Since deploying this security measure we have never lost a chicken to a land-based predator.  No bait is necessary; we simply leave the cage open against the back of the coop, and as the snoop travels along the coup it naturally enters.  We have regularly caught the neighbor’s cats, and it is always much appreciated when we can return the cat (still in the cage) safely to the grateful owners – no harm done to either party and stronger, friendly ties are forged between us.
 
A side benefit we soon realized with our live trap is a big reduction in field rats.  All of the chicken feed and eggs naturally draws rats, and they regularly are caught in the trap as well.  I recommend your first trap to be a big one – big enough for large raccoons, but if you can find a smaller one just for rats and rodents this is also a good investment.  Over the last three years we have averaged 4 skunk, 2 raccoon, 3 opossum, 5 rats, 1 squirrel, and 1 cat.

Look for a strong, sturdy construction on the trap.  Newer traps with fancy double-doors or mechanisms are less reliable.  Another great benefit of heavier wiring is that the trap is more forgiving when a trapped skunk must be dispatched by a .22 while in the trap.  We tried to get a tarp over a caged skunk to help calm it for transportation, but that did not work!  The .22 is the cleanest option for all involved with skunk work.
 
In the last couple of years the budget cuts to our county’s Animal Control office rendered it almost entirely useless.  Animal Control now only responds to dog control, since that still generates income for the county.  Neither Animal Control nor the Sheriff’s office is willing to respond to livestock or predator calls – including cougar threats!  Last night the Sheriff informed me personally that even if my children and I were physically attacked by wild or domestic animals, other than dogs, they would not respond unless there was a court order.  We are on our own.  Having a means to neutralize a threat to our animals (and kids!) with a live trap is simple, easy and effective.
 
In Oregon the use of foot hold traps is not allowed.  Too many pets were being injured, I guess.  I still have many foothold traps from my college days, and expect these could be valuable in a post TEOTWAWKI world.  Our area has been plagued over the years with “drop off” pets – people disposing of their pets they no longer want or can care for by simply driving out in the country and dropping them off.  Wild dogs and cats are often our problem to deal with, and leg hold traps could help if or when they might be permitted.  They might be quite effective against 2-legged intruders in some scenarios, too.  Just another option to consider in your planning.
 
Wire snares are another inexpensive option to consider –especially if your plans include livestock like sheep or cattle.  My wife’s family ranches on 3 sections of northern Wyoming range, with coyotes (and of course wolves) being a major concern.  Wire snares around the perimeter have been our most effective means of coyote control, and are inexpensive to deploy in numbers.  Take caution when using these as they are very effective on a neighbor’s dog and are deadly or at least disabling.  Because of this risk I do not recommend them for everyone unless you have some pressing need or experience.
Food opportunities are an obvious option trapping affords post TEOTWAWKI.  No, our family has not yet sampled opossum or raccoon.  While it might sound unappetizing in our current lifestyle of plenty, preparation is not about having treats, it’s about having options.  Food for your dog is also an important consideration. 
 
My second recommendation for every person would be to get at least one #110 Connibear style body-grip [killing] trap.  These are small, inexpensive, and fantastically effective tools for catching smaller animals – especially squirrels and weasels.  Squirrels are abundant in suburban and city settings and could become quite valuable.  A single trap can be found on eBay for about $8 and are so effective; we only allow each of our children to use them for catching one squirrel.  This gives the kids a great learning experience with the trap and the habits of a squirrel, and is also good practice skinning and sampling wild game.  It teaches them the responsibility to wisely use the life they took – a valuable lesson preparing them for hunting when they get older.  A simple Google search of the web or SurvivalBlog.com will provide more than adequate suggestions on using these traps.
 
The last trap recommendation I would offer is to get one or two mole traps.  The scissor trap is available for $5-10 and is quite valuable Pre-TEOTWAWKI in teaching skills, securing our gardens, and helping neighbors.  A wide variety of trap styles are available but we have found the old standard scissor traps to be most effective.  My younger daughters, ages 10 and 7 are my mole trappers – they wait for me to return each night from work to make our ‘rounds’ checking traps.  We have caught 15 to-dates this year, and they love it!  Our neighbors love it too, since we ran out of targets in our yard and expanded our territory.  Sure, it technically isn’t ‘trapping’ in the traditional sense, but don’t underestimate the value of quality time with children, service to neighbors, and riddance of problem animals in preparing us for a SHTF event.
 
In this sense trapping can be a valuable service to offer others as well.  My live trap is frequently at friend’s homes to deal with marauding raccoons or rats.  The added benefit of the body trap is its use on fur-bearing animals such as martin, mink, or fishers.  In some parts of the US they can pose a threat to livestock, and with the proper license they can be a valuable source of income.  Even the less-valuable pelts from raccoon and skunks are quite sought after by friends and the community – people love a nice raccoon pelt, and skunk pelts are beautiful and proudly displayed when we give them as gifts.  Even small ‘niche’ skills like these can have real value in any type of economy.
 
Two final recommendations I would offer for someone unfamiliar with trapping – a big bag of salt and a small ‘tanning kit’ of chemicals.  Salt is a critical, “stock up” item for preparations in general, and is very useful in working with animal hides.  I won’t go into skinning or tanning an animal hide, but it is quite easy and very fun – especially for teenage boys.  When the animal is skinned and the hide stretched out on a board, salt on the underside of the skin can preserve it for months until you work it for tanning.  Van Dyke’s Taxidermy supply has several ‘tanning kits’ offering complete directions and chemicals needed to tan animal furs.  They are easy to use and a $30 kit has tanned 6 or 7 different animal hides over the years.  It has offered us great experiences and fun for us to do together.   If or when you start trapping animals, making use of that animal will be the next logical step.
 
Fur trapping is not for most folks, but it does offer considerations and options for everyone as we are abandoned by our society and government.   There are pictures of equipment, skinning animals, and tanning hides on our family blog (nwpodcast.blogspot.com).  Our goal in emergency preparations is to find what opportunities afford us the greatest benefit and options.  Hopefully my ideas have generated some options for you.