Raising Backyard Chickens, by Kevin T.

The following are some of my suggestions on backyard poultry flocks, based on my experience:

Before you take possession of your birds consider where you will keep your flock. A backyard can work just fine, if your local zoning abides it. If you are going to let your birds roam outside their coop then you will need to fence your yard in to keep the birds in and four legged predators out. Fencing can be as simple and as aesthetically pleasing as you want. If you have an existing solid fence you are in luck. If you do not have any fence in place, consider the cost and what you have available. Wire fence comes in many forms. Typical rural fence, sold as “pig” fence which keeps large livestock in their pastures could work if you put chicken wire along the bottom to keep your birds in. If you are starting from scratch you could use 48 inch chicken wire and T-posts every eight feet or so. Some folks prefer to use an electric fence to keep the birds in and the pests out. Don’t forget a gate so you can get in and out with your wheelbarrow. I have found wire, posts and gates at yard sales and farm auctions.

Next you must consider what you will house your birds in. Take into account how many chickens you want to start with. I would recommend an even dozen to start. There are plenty of designs out there to facilitate a small backyard laying house. Another method is a “chicken tractor’ which is a large cage on wheels. The idea is that the birds are free ranging inside the pen and the pen can be moved around inside your property to keep the grass fresh. Things to consider are ease of cleaning and egg collecting. Some designs have a mesh floor raised off the ground so you can scoop up the future compost without going inside the building. There are designs with the laying nests accessible from the outside, so you don’t have to go in the coop to retrieve your eggs.

Chickens do poop and you need to clean it up promptly to keep the smell and the flies down. Also what are you going to do with the end results? Will the garbage man take it away? Can you compost the litter for your garden?  The litter makes excellent compost but there is a bit of a smell that may cause a problem in the urban environment.
Also you will need to consider what bedding to use. You will need to cover the floor with something to collect the waste. I use wheat straw since I compost the litter. In the past I have used wood shavings with good results, but consider how the wood chips might affect your garden.

To keep the flies at bay a proactive approach is best. I try to keep the coop clean by cleaning out the litter every week. Some flies will hatch though so to get the varmints I hang glue strip fly catchers inside the coop. Just hang them from the ceiling where the chicks can’t get caught in the sticky tape and the tape won’t catch you. You may need to replace them during the fly season as the tape fills up. Also the flies can be trapped using the stinky bait method. You can purchase the bait and trap from your local store. It is usually a plastic jug half filled with fly bait and hung around the coop where flies congregate. Once the trap is filled it can be disposed of or emptied, refilled and reused.

You will need some basic tools. A pitchfork, a flat shovel and a yard rake are the bare essentials. If you go with a bigger coop and a larger flock you will find that a wheelbarrow is essential to haul the litter and the straw bales or wood chips.

Now that you have a fenced in place for the chickens to run and a coop to protect them you need to select your birds. You can order live chicks from any mail order bird supplier and pick them up at the post office. The local agricultural supply outlets usually order chicks and birds in the spring. As a new birder I would recommend you start with grown birds. The mortality rate for the baby chicks can be high and if you start with the grown birds you will be ahead until you have some experience raising birds. Look on Craigslist under Farm and Garden for birds in your area. You can also look for a local sale barn or poultry swap meets in your area. There are merits for the various breeds and they all have their supporters. Heritage breeds are becoming more popular and are a way to preserve history right in your own backyard. The idea is to keep the genetics of the old time birds from going extinct. Look on the internet for ideas for different colorful breeds. I would recommend starting out with hens only. The flock of hens will provide you with unfertilized eggs and be much quieter than a flock with a rooster. The rooster will crow at all hours, day and night and the neighbors may not appreciate the noise. You can branch out into trying to raise chicks at a later time if you so desire.

You have to feed and water your fine feathered friends. Any agriculture supply store will have laying feed for your chickens. You will also need to offer crushed oyster shells and cherry stone to your birds. The cherry stone goes in their gizzard to grind their food and the oyster shells provides calcium and gives the eggs a tough shell. You will also need a place to store your grain. I buy chicken feed in 50 pound sacks and store it in blue barrels with lids in my garage. The bigger the barrel the more feed you can store.
I hang my feeders and self waterers about eight inches off the floor using light weight chains. You can buy the feeders and waterers at the ag store or the net. The birds will eat lots of feed and drink plenty of water, especially in hot weather. For the cold weather there are insulated and heated water containers so the birds can always get a drink. Keep the waterers clean by frequently spraying them out with a water hose. Algae may grow inside the plastic waterer, so add a drop of bleach and let it go to work by setting the waterer in a secure place where the chicks can’t get to it. In a few hours rinse the waterer thoroughly and set it back up in the pen.

Other things to consider. The chicken coop should be locked at night to keep the predators out. Tragedy can be averted by keeping your coop locked up tight at night. My coop has a small chicken sized door that is locked open during the day for the girls to have free access and has a hasp with a spring loaded snap to keep Mr. Raccoon out at night. Ventilation is provided by two doors on opposite sides covered with chicken wire and securely closed at all times. In cold weather there are solid doors to keep the snow out and are wired open in good weather.

Once you have your flock established in their coop you can sit back and watch the eggs roll in. You should check for eggs in the morning, when you refill the feeders and check the water, and in the evening before you lock them up for the night. You may want to check more often in the warmer months. Our eggs go straight into the fridge and once a day the chief egg washer cleans them up and puts them in the carton. Eggs have a natural oil on them that protects the inside. If the eggs are clean you can hold off washing them until ready for use and they will last longer. Cartons are another matter. You can have family and friends save egg cartons for you to get started, or you could buy a gross of cartons from a retailer. Be sure and get the bigger sized cartons so the lid will close over the eggs. Some of our girls lay monster sized eggs. Cartons can be reused several times until being sent to the recycle bin. If you have enough eggs for your own consumption you might consider giving them away or trading or selling them. Check your local laws for the rules on selling eggs in your area.   

This is a short list to get you started. Use your local County Extension office, library and the Internet for resources to get more information. Chickens are easy and rewarding to raise. They don’t take lots of room or time, and they provide eggs for the table. You don’t have to spend a bunch of money to get started. Of course you need to check local zoning and have good relations with the neighbors to make sure you can raise a flock where you are. Good "Cluck" with your birds.

Pat’s Product Review: German Sport Guns (GSG) .22s

A relative newcomer on the firearms scene is German Sport Guns (GSG) which, as the name implies, are guns made in Germany. GSG firearms are imported into the USA by American Tactical Imports (ATI) and they are causing quite a stir these days. Under review here are the GSG-5 and the GSG-1911 firearms. The GSG-5 is a “clone” of sorts, of the HK94 semiauto carbine (patterned on the Heckler & Koch MP-5 submachine gun) – except it’s semiauto only and it fires .22 Long Rifle (LR) cartridges. The GSG-1911, is a virtual “clone” of the legendary 1911 .45 ACP handgun, except it is .22 LR only.

I happened upon the GSG-5 about a year and a half ago, at my local gun shop. There it was, hanging on the wall, and for all appearances, I thought it was a Heckler und Koch Model 94, semiauto, 9mm carbine. The gun looks “that” good! It only took me a minute or so to make a decision to purchase the GSG-5. About a week later, I purchased another GSG-5, this one slightly different than the first. Both GSG-5 models have what appears to be a suppressor on the barrel. However, they are for looks only, and are not sound suppressors. One false suppressor is quite a bit larger in diameter than the other. For some reason, the BATF, told ATI, that they believed these larger false suppressors could be converted into real suppressors, and they had to be removed, and replaced with the smaller diameter false suppressor. Personally, I don’t know how people were converting these hollow aluminum tubes into real suppressors. But the BATF employs a lot of boneheads, who have nothing more to do than come up with this garbage. I sent my larger diameter fake suppressor to ATI and they sent me the smaller diameter fake suppressor free of charge.

The GSG-5 comes with one 22-round .22 LR magazine, and I immediately purchased a dozen more – they are selling for around $20 each. ProMag magazines also makes an after-market 22-rd magazine for the GSG-5, and they also work flawlessly, and are priced a few dollar less than the originals. So often, after-market magazines don’t work very well, but these are an exception.

The sights on the GSG-5 are adjustable. You can change windage with the rear H&K style drum sight, as well as elevation. I used the lowest elevation setting, which has a buckhorn style sight and left it at that. The other adjustments have a peep rear sight on the drum, for raising the impact of the bullet. The front sight is easily removable and you can change the height of this sight with the additional front sights that came with the gun. I saw no need to change out the front sight, as the gun was hitting where I wanted it to hit. Still, the sights are there if you need them.

The forearm, butt stock and pistol grip are all made out of plastic, which makes the gun very light-weight. The upper receiver appears to be either zinc or aluminum, with the lower being made out of polymer. The gun operates with a blow-back bolt, which is the way all .22 semiauto rifles work, no big surprises there. The charging handle is on the front-left of the upper receiver, just like it is on the real H&K MP-5 or Model 94. You pull the charging handle back, lock it in place, insert your loaded magazine, and release the charging handle to chamber a round. The safety is ambi, and easily reached with the thumb, too. Trigger pull was more than acceptable, and I saw no need to fool around with it. No sling was provided, but it’s an easy and cheap fix for anyone.

The GSG-5 models I purchased have the sliver/gray finish on the upper – it’s the collector’s version, celebrating the first year of production. Current GSG-5 models have an all-black upper.  The magazine release can be operated one of two ways, with either a push of a button to release the mag, or pressing forward on the paddle. I personally prefer the paddle, as it seems quicker and more secure. The HK MP-5 can be found with the paddle, and most H&K Model 94s can be found with the button magazine release.

I’ve literally put thousands of rounds of .22 LR ammo through my GSG-5 samples – albeit one was given to my wife for a birthday present, she still let’s me shoot hers. I’ve had very few malfunctions of any sort, and all were ammo related – either the rounds didn’t fire, or there wasn’t enough “oomph” for the rounds to push the bolt back far enough to fully eject the rounds. The guns don’t appear to be ammo sensitive at all, and that’s a good thing. So many .22s are very ammo sensitive these days, especially .22 handguns, that you have to find just the right ammo to make the guns function.

I’ve used the GSG-5s for hunting “big” game in my front yard – moles! I’ve literally lost count of the number of moles I’ve taken with the GSG-5s, but it’s been quite a few. Whenever I see a new mole mound coming up in my rural front yard, I reach for a GSG-5 with a 22-round magazine in-place, and unload the entire magazine into and around the mole hole – dead mole! Some folks in the area use a 12 gauge shotgun for moles, and they make a bigger hole than the moles were making. I prefer using the GSG-5 for mole eradication. In my neck of the woods, the GSG-5 can be found for $400–give or take a few bucks, and for a mean-looking .22 rifle, it is a great deal.

I recently purchased the GSG-1911, and it looks for all the world, like a full-sized Government Model 1911 .45 ACP pistol, except it shoots economical .22 LR ammo. The GSG-1911 is made out of aluminum for the frame, slide, and most major parts. However, most of the innards are genuine all steel 1911 parts – nice touch – should you want to change some parts out, or have spare parts on-hand. The GSG-1911 is very-well made and nicely fitted – better fitted than many 1911s I’ve owned over the years. The GSG-1911 takes a proprietary 10-rd magazine, however, I expect we’ll see after-market mags coming down the pike soon. The GSG-1911 model I picked came with a threaded barrel and had a fake aluminum suppressor on it – it has a very “kool” factor look to it. The fake suppressor can be removed quickly by hand, and you can put a thread (provided) protector on the threads to protect them from damage.

The GSG-1911 is very popular with folks who want to put a real suppressor on them, and who are willing to jump through the red tape and hoops that are required for purchasing a real suppressor with a $200 Federal tax stamp. I just like the super-kool look to the gun with the fake suppressor on it – and it does nothing to reduce the sound signature when the gun is fired. Take note, BATFE: The fake suppressor is for looks only.

Three-dot sights adorn the slide of the GSG-1911, and they are eye-catching, too – neat! The rear sight is adjustable for windage. And, if the point of impact isn’t to your liking, there are additional front sights provided with the gun, along with an Allen wrench to swamp ’em out. My gun shoots where I want it at 25-yards, so I haven’t changed the front sight. Both the front and rear sight are made out of tough polymer.

There is an ambidextrous safety on the gun, and it’s fitted nicely, it clicks on and off with authority. It’s actually better fitted than safeties on many .45 ACP 1911s. Personally, I can take or leave an ambi-safety, and I prefer a 1911 without ’em. The grip safety – it needed a little bit of stoning. I had to press the grip safety completely in before it would release and allow the gun to fire. I’m surprised this one slipped through quality control from GSG. If you know anything about 1911s, you can easily correct this if your sample has the same problem. It only took me about 10-minutes to get the grip safety to release where I wanted it to.

Trigger pull! It’s outstanding, even though the gun has the Series-80 firing pin safety – which I see no need for. GSG did a great job on the trigger pull – mine breaks at slightly less than four pounds, and it’s crisp and smooth, too. Again, I’ve run across a lot of 1911s that didn’t have a trigger pull any where near this good. I saw no need to change the trigger pull on my sample.

Take-down of the GSG-1911 is similar to that of a genuine 1911, with a few exceptions, and an added step or two – it’s all there in the instruction manual, and read it before you attempt to take the GSG-1911 apart for regular cleaning and maintenance. Also, if you have a mind to tear the gun completely apart, there are some added parts in the gun, that you need to know about – or you might lose them – I lost a spring in the mainspring housing – it holds in a magazine safety, so the gun can’t be fired without a magazine in place. Luckily, I keep a lot of spare gun parts around my digs, and it only took a minute to replace the spring that went flying. The lost spring will show-up eventually, but I wasn’t gonna start tearing my office/gun room apart looking for it. Just be advised, if you are removing the mainspring housing, do it slowly and keep it covered with your hand, so when the spring pops out, you’ll have it in your hand, instead of it flying across the room.

The GSG-1911 is now my new mole hunting gun. I can sit on my front deck or in my front yard, with the GSG-1911 in my hand or holstered, and I can unleash 10-rds of .22 LR ammo into a newly forming mole hole. The GSG-1911 sample I purchased has an accessory rail for mounting a light or a laser on it, and this gun won’t fit in all 1911 holsters. I can place mine in a Blackhawk Products Serpa hip holster, which is made for 1911s with or without rails. (Most molded leather holsters will not accept a 1911 with an accessory rail – be advised!)

I’ve had zero malfunctions with my GSG-1911 sample. The gun is rated to operate best with high-velocity .22 LR ammo. However, I’ve used standard velocity .22 LR ammo without any problems at all. The GSG-1911 with the fake suppressor and accessory rail sell for around $360 in my neck of the woods, and the model without the fake suppressor and accessory rail are about $30 less. Spare mags for the GSG1911 run around $30 to $35, not too bad, all things considered.

In the grand scheme of things, I think everyone needs some kind of .22 LR in their survival battery. A good .22 is certainly great for taking small game. However, if all you have on-hand is a .22 rifle or handgun of some type, you can sure make the bad guys wish they had chosen another house or property to attack. Sure, the .22 LR isn’t a real man-stopper, but it’s better than a sharp stick or throwing rocks. And, it’s sure better than going hand-to-hand with an intruder. Truth be told, there’s probably been more people killed with the “lowly” .22 than any other caliber. And, I’m willing to bet good money, that more game has been taken with a .22 than any other caliber.

There are a lot of different .22 firearms on the market these days. Of course, the gold standard is probably the Ruger 10/22 rifle, followed by the Ruger .22 pistol (one of the many versions) and they are great guns. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen guys bring tricked-out 10/22s to the gun shows or gun shop and they want to trade them for something else – after they’ve invested a thousand dollars to make that 10/22 look like some kind of “assault” rifle. With the GSG-5, you have the super-kool look to it – it looks like an H&K MP5 or HK94, without you having to add anything more to it. It also works, and works well. The GSG-1911, again, there’s nothing you have to do to it – and with the fact suppressor on the barrel, it also has the super-kool look to it – and those who don’t know better, will think you are shooting suppressed .45 ACP when you touch off a .22 LR round.

In a survival situation, you always have to look at how much ammo you can afford to buy and stock pile. With a good .22 rifle and handgun, like the GSG models, you have great guns to start with, and there’s nothing more you need to do to them, except buy some spare magazines. And, you can easily stock-up on ten thousand rounds of .22 LR in short order. That’s a lot of fun shooting, as well as a lot of ammo to have on-hand for target shooting, pest shooting and small game hunting purposes.

By the way, GSG also makes an AK-47 clone, again, in .22 LR if you like the look of AKs and want to have any inexpensive to shoot trainer with the same ergonomics. – SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Pat Cascio

Letter Re: Planning for Multi-Family Cohabitation

Hi Jim,
Just wanted to chime in here on the recent blog post about multi-family living. There are currently three families in our house: Five adults and and four children ranging in ages from 13 down to 6. (This includes two married couples and a single mom.) And how did all of this begin? Well the spark was friendship.  My wife and my friend’s wife were best friends and room mates. We spent all of our time at the girls apartment, going there after church, meeting there for evening outings, etc. I would get back to my apartment with just enough time to sleep before work or church the next day. Eventually I married my wife, and six months later my friend married his. We were finding ourselves staying up very late, and always, one couple would eventually drag themselves off the couch to get back to their respective dwellings. After about a year of this I suggested we find a place together, so we rented a three bedroom two car garage townhouse.  This was over 20 years ago. When I got a job offer to move to the pacific northwest, they decided to come with my wife and myself. We had a hard time finding a house to purchase that would meet our needs. We finally found a 3,500 square foot two story house on 1.5 acres, in a rural area surrounded by pasture and blueberry farms.

One of the best things about our floor plan was that it had dedicated living areas that could be converted to master bedroom/ bath combinations. They were far enough away from each other to provide privacy (one master bedroom is upstairs, the other was built into a bonus room attached to the rear of the southeast corner of the house)  we share common areas, the kitchen, living and dining room, our front school room, and an office area that housed a couple of desks, file cabinets and book cases. We added to our family when a good friend of ours went through a messy divorce and was left homeless, just her and her daughter. She moved into our school room, and we converted a set of rooms and a bathroom into a “mother-in-law” quarters. She and her daughter have their own bathroom complete with washer and dryer, and we placed a refrigerator for her foodstuffs in the pantry.

It has been a long learning curve for all of us, some of us are early risers, some of us are night owls, everyone has different dietary needs and allergies, I think we are one of the few households that actually use up Costco-sized items quickly!   We have learned to accommodate each other , and defer to one another wherever possible .
We are all of the same faith and attend the same local church, this has done more to engender unity than any other single thing in our living arrangement. We have weekly bible study groups, which include people from our local church, and that faith is the cement that really holds us together.   I like to tell people we are like the new testament church in the book of acts, having everything in common.

It is nice transportation wise as there are five cars available if one is broken down there is always a way to get a ride from someone , and there is always a sitter around if one of us wants to have a date night with his/her spouse.

Prepping as a community has its advantages also. Pooling resources we can buy in bulk at wholesale prices form place like bobs red mill, and cash and carry. Being rural we are on a well and septic, and have just finished a solar array to go completely off the grid if need be.   OPSEC and perimeter management is nice also with the instant ability to set watches and assign duties should the flag go up.

The Golden Rule really applies in living situations like ours. We all have different skill sets, that add up to a very unique and advantageous living arrangement. – C.T. in Portland, Oregon

Letter Re: Observations From Fence Building

Dear Mr. Rawles:
As a Texas rancher, I understand the difficulties associated with fence building and repair. Too much fence building in a short amount of time will run off a good ranch hand. Mudflap’s comments about proper clothing and hydration when fence building are right and should be given attention. We use twisted smooth wire (no barbs) for horse pens but to contain cattle, barbed wire is necessary. Good gloves are essential. Pigskin gloves are very barb resistant. You will be nicked by the barbed wire, so stay current with tetanus shots. Every vehicle on my ranch has a set of fencing pliers and other fence repair items because I have discovered many small repairs over time to be much easier than waiting for things to get so bad entire fence sections need rebuilding. Many small repairs over time is also much easier than continually tracking down stray cattle.

Six wire barbed wire fences are stronger and seem to function longer than those with fewer wires. They also catch more tumbleweeds and blowing debris which in high wind conditions can bend T posts. We go on tumbleweed patrol during sustained wind conditions. I can walk across the prairie and maybe see one rattlesnake but let me work on a fence and they are everywhere. My wife was bitten by a rattlesnake a few years ago and almost died. After that, we got really serious about rattlesnakes and wear pistols in flap covered holsters at almost all times when doing routine ranch work, and at all times when fence building. Flapped holsters are a must in our windy and dusty climatic conditions. They also protect the pistol against wear and damage and help preclude loss, especially when on horseback. Sure these holsters are slow but so is a dirt clogged weapon and where the wind blows almost all of the time, a weapon can clog in one day. Graphite rather than oil helps reduce dirt problems. Blowing dirt also causes magazine feed problems so we use flapped holders for them as well. We disassemble magazines routinely for cleaning but I digress.

Many fencing problems are caused by not placing rigid poles (steel pipe, creosote dipped wood, or cedar) at intervals in a T post fence. We use six to eight inch oil field pipe either driven into the soil with a ram or set in concrete both at low spots to keep a tight fence from pulling the T posts up, and on ridges which seem to be weak places for wind and animal caused shear forces.

We take extra time with T post clips to ensure both ends are securely wrapped around the barbed wire. This causes the wire to be pulled up tightly against the T post. It can be tedious but I believe greatly improves the integrity of the fence. Western union and other type splices can work with barbed wire but I have found that pairs of high tensile crimp style tube splices per wire splice to be more trouble free in the long run. Tab through the photos to see how these are crimped. A well built fence (and it must be surveyor straight – vertical T posts with tops all aligned) will always need less care than a shoddy fence.

At every point where a barbed wire fence changes direction we use six to eight inch pipe braces set in concrete. Such a brace consists of an eight foot long vertical pipe at the point of direction change (three feet buried in the ground) flanked by similar pipes on either side in line with the old and new fence directions. The three vertical posts are connected by five foot runs of horizontal pipe welded a foot below the tops of the vertical pipes. A front end loader is essential because these size thick walled pipes when welded together into a brace, may weigh a thousand pounds. Wooden posts are easier to work with and steeples easy to use, but nothing lasts like thick walled oil field pipe. We wrap several turns of a short piece of barbed wire around the vertical pipes leaving two wire ends, one about two feet long and the other four feet long. The shorter free end is wrapped tightly around the the longer end. The fence stretcher and splices are then used to connect the free end of this wire to the long run on down the fence line. This is the only way I have found to ensure taught wire runs using when metal pipe braces. We strive to get it right the first time.

A good quality fence wire stretcher is also important. T posts can be difficult to pull out of the ground if a fence line is being moved. We use a T post puller T-Post Puller. Everyone should have a Hi-Lift Jack and they work well with a post puller, but if I’m moving a line of fence, we usually have a tractor with a front end loader on site so I chain the T post puller to the front end loader in order to pull up the posts. The loader bucket is also a good place to store the pulled T posts. The higher on the T post the puller is placed, the less chance of bending the post.

I hope these comments help. The only thing I like about fence building is the end of the day. – Texas Rancher

Economics and Investing:

Bernanke: Fed May Launch New Round of Stimulus. It seems that Helicopter Ben is addicted to “quantitative easing”–the Fed’s euphemism for monetizing Federal debt. If they can repeatedly get away with creating dollars out of thin air, then the end result is inevitable: the wholesale destruction of the U.S. Dollar as a currency unit.

Reader John T. liked this piece by Jim Willie: The Silver Platter Opportunity

Yohay over at FOREX Crunch posted this provocative article: Captain Ben Can Handle the Debt Ceiling

D.S. sent this: Derivatives Rules to Help Swaps Market Grow $40.7 Trillion, Citigroup Says. The market for interest-rate and credit-default swaps will grow more than 10 percent to $435 trillion by 2013. Here is a quote: “Combined interest-rate and credit-default swap notional values totaled $394.3 trillion as of December, according to Bank for International Settlements data. The $601 trillion private derivatives market also includes foreign exchange, equity and commodity derivatives.”

Items from The Economatrix:

Markets May Turn Turbulent Waiting For Debt Deal

Fed Divided Over More Stimulus as Economy Weakens

Motorists Driving Less, But Gas Prices Keep Rising

Economy Faces a Jolt as Benefit Checks Run Out

Obama “Cannot Guarantee” Social Security Benefit Checks Will Be Paid If Debt Deal Isn’t Reached

Odds ‘n Sods:

Here is something new for all you paracord hobbyists: BBK Paracord “Rip Cords”. It isn’t patented, so I suppose it a good candidate for reverse engineering.

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Just a slight tightening of the noose: Police: Internet providers must keep user logs.

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Dark Fireworks on the Sun. (Thanks to Frank Z. for the link.)

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Ready Made Resources has added the Goal Zero PV portable power systems to their product line.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.” – Isaiah 41:10-11 (KJV)

Notes from JWR:

Warning! Today’s Economics and Investing news is guaranteed to exceed your recommended daily allowance of Gloom und Doom.

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Today we present another entry for Round 35 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 Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 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.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.

Round 35 ends on July 31st, 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.

A Prepper Goes to College, by S. John

In this article I intend to give the prepper some Christian perspective on what is valuable in an education.

First, a couple of quotes:

“Youth is wasted on the young.” – George Bernard Shaw

“Education is wasted on the youth.” – Michelle Hanson

Many people are considering college and advanced education this year, especially with the unemployment at record highs. They believe that having a college degree will help them get out of the economic slump they find themselves in. They imagine a high-paying job in a new field, and economic prosperity.

Unfortunately, college is not what it used to be. Since our public education system has made grammar school an intellectual joke, employers have a skewed concept of what makes a good employee, and college degrees are now mandated in most jobs. At the same time, undergraduate four-year degrees teach the average student almost nothing.

The government and private banks are more than willing to loan you money to go to college. Thanks to subsidy programs, unless you are quite stupid, you can probably get funding to go to college. But how does a Christian prepper view the opportunities for education?

I read recently that half of student loans are currently in deferment. It is a huge financial bubble that will burst very soon, predicated on people with college degrees finding employment that does not exist. Almost everyone has a college degree now, and they are almost worthless on the free market.

Combine those easy student loans with state-sponsored universities which create fluffy degrees in order to attract more debt-leveraged students, and you have a job market that will never recover. The student loan bubble will burst. And it will burst on the backs of young families just trying to survive.

As an example of this, you must realize that many colleges were created only to get free Federal money, which students have to pay back. “Trade colleges” like DeVry, University of Phoenix, and all sorts of art schools are only there to take students’ money which is “free” to them through student loans. If a school advertises on television ,then it probably offers junk diplomas.

Accredited universities do similar things. They create degree programs in Golf Course Management and Hotel Hospitality, attempting to take advantage of ignorant students with an open checkbook from the government. The result is a degree with decreased market value. While a four-year degree used to be a legitimate signaling device to an employer that you were an educated person, now it is not. It simply means you know how to borrow money to buy a college degree.

I am 30 years old, and my wife is 28. We got married last year, and the best man at my wedding gave us Dave Ramsey’s book on debt. We immediately realized how bad debt is for long-term finances, and set about destroying our debt. Thank you, Mr. Ramsey!

Unfortunately, I had $23,000 in student loan debt from an undergrad degree from a state university. And even worse, my wife “Drank the Koolaid” of cheap student loan money in 2006 and decided to go to law school. She came out with a degree from a prestigious school into the worst job market since the Great Depression. Altogether, we are $185,000 in debt to the government for our educations.

Paying off this debt will be our lives’ work. We have an aggressive plan to tackle this monster, but it will be a full decade before we defeat it. There will be no dinners out, and very few fun things for most of the next 10 years until it the debt is gone.

Oh, and that law degree? It’s not very valuable. It took my wonderful wife, who is quite brilliant, 18 months to find full-time employment. Her new job is also 150 miles away, and requires commuting there most of the week.

Higher education is a scam!

In the mean time, we are working on getting prepped. We read your books and your blog and are working on getting a modicum of beans, bullets and Band-Aids. Unfortunately, having debt the equivalent of a mortgage keeps us from really being prepared. We take a little money each month and move it toward something that will hedge against a full collapse in the next 10 years. But it is hardly enough. We are fully on board with the prepping concepts, but handicapped by our stupid decisions.

For those deciding whether to take on student loans, please consider the following: You cannot walk away from it. Unlike a house which you could simply move out of if you cannot make the payments, there are no ways to get out of it. You must pay it back. There are no bankruptcies. You are their slave.

No other industry has so little consumer protection. Even a car loan puts the consumer in a better bargaining position than student loans – you can always sell the car. And since almost all student loans are subsidized by the government, most of them are serviced by banks in bed with the government. It’s not like a credit card – you owe the United States Treasury for your education. And they will get their money.

Every young person, whether they think it or not, plans on having a family. They plan to eventually get married, have children, and hopefully they plan to raise them in the Christian faith. Unfortunately, our $185,000 in debt (I call it a “mortgage without a house”) means we will be cutting it pretty close (biologically, and financially). We are trusting in God that he puts us in a position eventually to do that, and helps us get fully prepped and ditch this debt.

For us, prepping is primarily a financial concern. While we are still learning many preparedness basics, we can’t move forward until we find the money. I love my wife very much. And God elected her before the beginning of time to be his child, and to be my wife. But if I could have met her five years ago, and rescued her from the idea of investing in a career that precludes having children or a family for a decade or more, we would be much better off. We would have only my university debt to pay off, and could be building preps at a retreat in our area.

I repeat, higher education is a scam.

So how do you decide if the college you are looking at is worth it? How do you know you won’t be scammed like my wife and I were?

I have a formula to help:
For undergraduate degrees, take the total cost of your education, and divide it by five. That is the five years you will take to pay it back. Figure that you must make enough money that your monthly payment during that 5 years is not more than half of your disposable income. If you have children in your plan, figure those in. Figure that half of most people’s disposable income is probably less than $500. It may be closer to $100. That means your bachelors degree shouldn’t cost you more than $30,000, at the high end, and $6,000 at the low end.

But you say: “After I get a degree, I will make more money!”

That’s not necessarily true. With a deflating economy and an inflating currency, you may actually come out worse. Your education is a potential risk, not just an investment.

My wife is an attorney, and one of the smartest people I know. She makes $37,000 per year. You’re probably not an attorney. How much do you make? Do the math, folks.

(For advanced degrees, I posit you replace the “five” with “ten” in the previous formula. Your mileage may vary.)

The important thing that preppers need to remember is to do the research before you go back to school. Find out how much money people in your industry are making, apply it to the previous formula, then decide. Do real research, then make a decision based in the real world.

My wife says, “If you’re college advisors are saying there are jobs if you get a degree, but you don’t see any of those jobs, you’re being lied to.”

College advisors do not have your best interest at heart. Unlike other private institutions, they do not have to adjust their prices to their customers. They can charge whatever price they want, because the government will give you “free money” to attend.

You should realize that there is risk. Realize that if you took the money you would put to toward education and bought a fully-stocked retreat in the mountains, you might have something that would save your lives, rather than just your ego at a cocktail party. “Opportunity cost” is something that all preppers should consider. And in a times of political, economic and social volatility, it may make more sense for you to avoid college and do something else with your money.

At the risk of getting on a soap box, there is also a potential moral hazard in the mainstream view of education. As “modern” Americans, we choose to extend our childhood into our 20s. We don’t become adults until we are done with our educations, often when we are 40+ years old. God’s plan of raising children takes a back seat. We worship the god of convenience and success more than the Lord’s will, which would have us support a local church and raise children in the faith. Preppers should keep these things in mind as they decide about college.

Many people are asking, should you even go to college? The answer is, a definitive “maybe.”

Keep in mind, there is still value in a college education. There will be life after the collapse. Civilization will keep going. As a matter of fact, you may find yourself competing with even more folks for the same employment in a semi-collapse. You may be among 50 percent of the population unemployed, and looking for work. A college degree and a work history will help separate you from the pack.

Higher Education The Right Way

So how do you do pick the right college?

After looking at what worked for me in my Bachelor’s, and my wife in her Juris Doctorate, I think I’ve figured out how to do it right.

First, go to community college. Start there, work a job on the side, and get straight A’s. Junior college is dumbed down to the lowest level. If you can’t pull a 4.0 grade point average there, you’re probably not meant for college. You’ll also come out of community college with no debt if you work at the same time. Live at home with mom and dad, and save the cash. I know it’s hard, but work it out. It’s better than debt.

[JWR Adds: I recommend getting as many units as possible via Advanced Placements tests, CLEP tests, “life experience” portfolio courses, and so forth. Dr. Gary North has some great advice on how to do so.]

Get as many internships as possible. They are very valuable. While I have had only one company do a background check to see if I actually have a college degree, all of them saw my work experience. Nobody asks about my GPA, nobody asks about classes I took. They all see the internships. I worked for three businesses while in college, including an internship with a financial company. I still get calls on my resume from that experience, but not from my degree.

Transfer to the school of your choice, preferably one that you can either get through quickly to obtain your piece of paper (such as a major university), or one that will in fact give you an actual higher education, such as Hillsdale College or Grove City. (These two schools do not participate in any Federal funding for students, and have therefore maintained their level of excellence.)

While there, do internships. Do many internships. Do more internships than classes. They are worth more than the classes.

If you do choose a state university, remember that modern colleges are full of evil influences. Feminists, socialists, moral relativists and all sorts of thieves and immoral people teach classes there. Just keep your eye on the prize, hold your nose, get your degree and get out.

In all this, as in all of life, do not forget to listen to the Word of God. It is very easy, when transferring to a state university where women and men are housed on the same floor, of a dorm and alcohol stamps out your conscience, to forget the teachings of Proverbs: “Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.”

There is a vein of thinking among preppers that only trade schools and practical skills are useful. They talk about college, advanced education, the arts and humanities as being inferior to practical knowledge, such as the skill of fixing a car.

There is some truth in that. But it is not fully true. A real liberal arts degree from a real higher education institution is worth more than almost anything in the world. I would encourage readers to visit Hillsdale College in Michigan and listen to Victor Davis Hanson talk about education. There is such a thing as a liberal arts degree that sets a mind above the non-collegiate view of the world.

A truly educated person will be more successful in life, whether that is financial, personal, or moral success. I hope my essay encourages preppers to have discriminating taste in education, and to make the right decisions.

Letter Re: Unleaded Spout Solution for NATO Gas Cans

Mr. Rawles,

Like many others that bought military surplus steel NATO fuel cans, I was frustrated by the fact that only large diameter leaded fuel spouts were available for these cans. This meant that I had to either use a funnel or transfer the fuel to another can before putting it into the tank of a car with an unleaded (small diameter) fuel receptacle. A friendly employee at my local Lowe’s found me an inexpensive solution.  I brought my spigot to the store so I can test fit items (always a good idea for any home improvement project), and he gave me the following two items:

1.) A Genova 1″ x 3/4″ Polypropylene Coupling

and,

2.) A Murray #12 Adjustable [Aero-Seal style] Hose Clamp

I stuck the reducer in the hose that was attached to my pour spout, slipped the clamp over it, and tightened it.  I used it tonight with great success!

It cost me $2.74 for two reducers and two clamps, so it was a $1.37 solution for each of my nozzles.  – Lee H.

Letter Re: Winter Wheat Harvest Season

July is the time of year that Winter Wheat is harvested, priced, and sold.

You can call an area “Ag service” farm and seed center, and ask for a price to buy Winter Wheat by the bushel.  Look them up in the phone book, or ask a farmer.

The Ag service may buy it locally from a farmer for you, and clean it and bag it.  Or they will buy it cleaned and bagged from their seed wholesaler.  You will receive it ready to store or grind.

If they ask why you want 25-50 bushels of wheat, you can tell them you want to plant it, or you want to bake with it, or feed the squirrels.  They won’t really care.  (Don’t be intimidated because you’re not a farmer.  They are merchants looking for customers, and you’re a customer!) 

Before you order, check with any prepping friends who might want to go in on an order with you.

A bushel contains 60 pounds of wheat, and when you buy it at about $9 per bushel, you’re only paying 15 cents a pound.  Since a pound of wheat has about one day’s worth of calories (around 1,750), you’re buying long-storing (25+ years) calories very cheaply.

I put my wheat (now 24,000 pounds) in 55 gallon drums (now 60) .  Figure 400 lbs. per drum.  (I saved all the original bushel bags, in case some day I need to dispense my grain in large quantities, or move it.)

I buy barrels on Craigslist for $10.  I’ve used both plastic and metal barrels, but I prefer the metal for food, plastic for water.  I use drum liners from www.usplastic.com  (55 Gallon LDPE Drum Liner 37" x 40" x 4 Mil).  That is probably overkill with the sealed barrels, but it’s just $3 a liner. 

I drive out the oxygen with 1 pound of dry ice (set on 2-3 paper towels) per barrel.  I let it sublimate (melt) for a day before I seal up the barrel. 

If you put boards across the top of the barrels, you can stack them safely.  I have all my barrels two-high.  That’s still less than 6 ft high.  Then I put on more boards, and fill the 3rd level with 6-gallon buckets. 

Keep the drums in a cool dark place, like a basement.  Put wood or cardboard between the metal or plastic, and the cement floor, to prevent rusting or leaching of chemicals.  Put the drums along the basement wall, and hang a curtain/sheet in front for secrecy, and to keep them even cooler.

If you miss the Winter Wheat harvest, put in an order for Spring Wheat, which will price and be available this fall.  Remember, Hard Red or White are what you want for long term storage.

Also consider storing some Rye.  (Bushels of Rye are 56 pounds.) It’s cheaper per pound, has different nutrients, and works well baked on its own, or mixed 25% with wheat before grinding.

If available, you can also store Triticale (wheat/rye hybrid), Durum Wheat, Buckwheat, Amaranth, Teff, Kamut, Quinoa, Spelt, Sorghum etc.  Variety is fun and healthy.  Oats also store well.

Stop buying 40 pound buckets of wheat for $50-$75 each.  For that money, you can buy 400 pounds (one barrel’s worth) directly.  You’ll know what you’ve got, and how it was stored. 

And at the same time you’ll build an important local relationship that may pay big food dividends if TSHTF. – Scott in Wisconsin

Letter Re: Some Useful Figures for Grain Grinding Yields

To plan for your recipes, be advised that each of the following whole grains when ground up will yield about 1 cup of grain flour.

• 3/4 C. Wheat

• 1/2 C. Pearled Barley

• 1-1/3 C. Rolled Oats (Grind these up in your blender)

• 2/3 C. Buckwheat

• 2/3 C. Quinoa

• 1/2 C. Navy Beans

• 2/3 C. Lentils

• 1/2 C. Chickpeas/ Garbanzo Beans

• 5/8 C. Popcorn

• 2/3 C. Kamut

• 2/3 C. Millet

Regards, – K.A.F.

Two Letters Re: Strong and Sticky Stuff for Sticky Situations

Jim,

Regarding J-B Weld: It is not like most other two part epoxies.  The additives in the product impart a very important characteristic: It can be machined (drilled, grinded, sanded and even tapped.   Normal two-part epoxy tends to chip and shatter when drilled, can’t be tapped effectively and is extremely hard to sand.  J-B Weld, on the other hand, is easily worked with normal home workshop tools. 

Just last weekend I had a stripped machine screw hole for the screw that holds one of my car’s sun visors up.  I filled the hole with J-B Weld, let it cure overnight, then drilled and tapped to the original size.  It worked just great – sort of a liquid Heli-Coil.  I’ve done plenty of work with “regular” two-part epoxies on my boat and I know this couldn’t be done with a two-part epoxy (like West Systems), at least without additives.

With all that said, J-B Weld is not suitable for a drilling-tapping application subject to (a) much tension or (b) high heat.  I figure any more than about 10-15 foot pounds of torque would cause the J-B Weld to separate and heat makes [virtually] all epoxy resins soften – so it’s not going to hold an engine head bolt in with it!

Best, – Matt R.

 

Hey Jim,
I thought I would mention that Slime tire sealant breaks down fairly rapidly in my experience and becomes a worthless mess inside of your tire/tube.  I have had much better luck with Ultraseal which does not freeze and has not broken down in the 4-5 years I have been using it. Regards, – S.D. in West Virginia

Letter Re: Antenna Launching Alternatives

CPT Rawles:s
I know this is a very obscure topic, but having been a communication guy on a Special Forces A Team for many years and a ham radio operator, I know a couple things about wire antennas in trees. I’ve tried them all, slingshots, bow and arrow, lead weight, one-quart canteens et cetera.

The problem is getting the right weight to mass ratio – otherwise you either can’t get the rope up high enough, it gets caught up in the branches or wraps around the branch you are throwing at.

The single best object I have found is an M69 [spherical steel] grenade simulator body (without the screw-in simulator fuse assembly). It is just a hollow metal ball with two holes in it. It is slightly smaller than a baseball and has enough heft to bring it right back to the ground. Simply run the rope through the holes and tie to itself and throw overhand like a baseball. (underhand never seems to work for some reason, though it is easier on the arm)

Once the grenade body gets back to the ground with the hoist rope over the branch, untie and attach your doublet or other antenna and hoist away.

You can usually find grenade simulator bodies at Army/Navy surplus stores.

I hope that this helps someone. – Mike S.

Economics and Investing:

Hi-yo silver! Typically, the precious metals are in their summer doldrums in July and August. but not this year. This coming Autumn could get very interesting, depending on financial developments on the periphery of Europe. All eyes are presently on Greece, but Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Iceland will probably soon be in the headlines again. I wouldn’t be surprised if silver gets above $55 per ounce. Its a good thing that most SurvivalBlog readers have been buying on the dips.

Reggie Middleton warns, over at Zero Hedge: Eighteen Percent of the EU is Literally Junk, Carried as Risk Free Assets at Par Using 30x+ Leverage: Bank Collapse is Inevitable!!!

Speaking of silver, don’t miss this commentary from James Turk: Huge Base Will Propel Silver to Record Highs With Gold.

And here is some commentary from Chris Duane: 11 Silver Investor Mentality Shifts

Moody’s Considers Downgrading U.S. Credit Rating Amid Stalemate Over Debt Limit

John Galtfla:  Total Euro Chaos Tonight

The Lumberman pointed us to this at Zero Hedge: What An American Bank Run Would Look Like

The ever-cheery Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reports: Italy and Spain must pray for a miracle–Once again Europe’s debt crisis has metastasized, and once again the financial authorities face systemic contagion unless they take immediate and dramatic.

Tom in Buffalo flagged this: 20% Drop in Housing to Cause Recession in 2012, Says Gary Shilling. Here is a quote: “Housing prices will fall another 20% and underwater mortgages will balloon from 23% to 40%.”

Pierre M. kindly sent this: Analyst: Even Dollar Stores Struggling in ‘Obama Depression’

Central Falls, Rhode Island, struggles to step back from financial abyss.

 

Items from The Economatrix:

Gerald Celente:  Arab Spring + European Summer = Winter Of Discontent

Rampant Unemployment = The Death Of The Middle Class – 40 Facts That Prove The Working Class Is Being Systematically Wiped Out

Could Silver One Day Be Worth More Than Gold?

Killer Combo of High Gas, Food Prices are Here

Greece Set to Default on Massive Debt Burden