Bee Colony Collapse Disorder and Adapting Gardens for Surviving TEOTWAWKI, by Craig D.

At any retreat or home base a garden is vital to help supplement your stored food supply with fresh fruits and vegetables. In the past decade a disorder has been rapidly occurring in the bee pollinator populations that can put the viability of your garden in jeopardy.  Unless you adapt to prepare for this phenomenon and its possible affects upon bee populations, your garden can have serious short comings come harvest time.

Pollination is the process in which a pollen grain (produced by male portion of a flower) is deposited upon the stigma (female portion of flower), the pollen grain grows a tube down thru the style to reach a ovary in the pistil.  Once there, fertilization can occur thereby producing a seed.  For example every corn kernel on a ear of corn has a pollen tube (silk) which has grown down to each individual ovary to bring about fertilization to produce a seed (i.e. no pollination = no seed).

Colony collapse disorder (CCD) is a phenomenon in which worker bees from a beehive or European honey bee colony abruptly disappear.  This phenomenon was named for the sudden collapse of North American honey bees in late 2006, (similar collapses have been seen in Europe, India, Brazil and Taiwan).  The reasons for this collapse are not known as of yet but the major factors seem to be from either a virus, Varroa mites and / or a fungal parasite called Nosema.  There is no known remedy for this as of yet but scientists are busy working on the issue.
“The phenomenon is particularly important for crops such as California almonds where honey bees are the predominant pollinator.  The crop value in 2006 was estimated at $1.5 billion.  In 2000, the total U.S. crop value that was wholly dependent on honey bee pollination was estimated to exceed $15 billion “ (Morse, R.A.; Calderone, N.W., The Value of Honey Bees as Pollinators of US Crops in 2000. Cornell University (2000). Honey bees are responsible for the pollination of approximately one third of the United States crop species, (see below).  It has been suggested that when honey bees are absent from a region, that native pollinators may reclaim the niche, it is assumed that these species are going to be better adapted to serve those plants (assuming that the plants normally occur in that specific area), but new research puts this suggestion in jeopardy.

Penn State researchers have found that native pollinators, like wild bees and wasps, are also infected by the same viral diseases as honey bees and that these viruses are transmitted via pollen. (Their research is published on December 22nd, 2010 in PLoS ONE, an online open-access journal).   These findings not only show that European honey bees along with native pollinators in North America are affected by CCD but also raise biosecurity issues because pollen is currently being imported into many countries thru ought the world to feed honey bees used in agricultural pollination.   This disorder is also spreading rapidly due to Beehive rental and migratory beekeeping (moving and renting bee hives thru ought North America ) .
“Since 2006 more than three million bee colonies in the US and billions of honeybees worldwide have died”, for example in 2008/2009 there was a loss of 28.6% of managed beehives,  and in 2009/2010 there was a loss of 33.8% of managed beehives in the US.

How does this affect my philosophy on surviving TEOTWAWKI? Your gardens will have to be adapted for the possibility of planting vegetables, fruits and seeds that are either pollinated by wind, self pollinated, pollinated by a species that is not affected by CCD or to be pollinated by hand.  Also some plants which are pollinated by bees but in which the editable portions are not affected by pollination (for example the carrot) would be eliminated by this scenario but their seeds are included.

Lists of plants and their pollination methods are long and can be found at the following links.

Wikipedia’s List of crop plant pollinated by bees

and,

Iowa State Pollenizing Data

Some of the more common plants that are pollinated by bees in which the fruits or seeds are used for food stuffs are:

Common name

Latin name

Pollinator

Commercial product of pollination

Okra

Abelmoschus eshculentus

Honey bees and solitary bees

Fruits

Onion

Allium cepa

Honey bees, bumblebees and solitary bees

Seed

Celery

Apium graveolens

Honey bees, flies and solitary bees

Seed

Beet

Beta vulgaris

Honey bees, hoover flies and solitary bees

Seed

Squash, Pumpkin, Gourd, Zuchini

Cucurbita spp.

Honey bees, Squash bees, bumblebees and solitary bees

Fruit

Watermelon

Citrullus lanatus

Honey bees and solitary bees

Fruit

Coffee

Coffea spp.

Honey bees, stingless bees and solitary bees

Fruit

Cantaloupe

Cucumis melo L.

Honey bees, bumblebees and solitary bees

Fruit

Cucumber

Cucumis sativus

Honey bees, bumblebees and solitary bees

Fruit

Lemon

 

Honey bees

Fruit

Buckwheat

Fagopyrum esculentum

Honey bees, and solitary bees

Seed

Soybean

Glycine max, Glycine soja

Honey bees, bumblebees and solitary bees

Seed

Flax

Linum usitatissimum

Honey bees, bumblebees and solitary bees

Seed

Cotton

Gossypium spp.

Honey bees, bumblebees and solitary bees

Seed, Fiber

Apple

Malus domestica, Malus sylvestris

Honey bees, Native bees, bumblebees and solitary bees

Fruit

Avocado

Persea americana

Honey bees, stingless bees and solitary bees

Fruit

Pear

Pyrus communis

Honey bees, bumblebees and solitary bees

Fruit

Peach, Nectarine

Prunus persica

Honey bees, bumblebees and solitary bees

Fruit

Sunflower

Helianthus annuus

Honey bees, bumblebees and solitary bees

Seed

Allspice

Pimenta dioica

Honey bees and solitary bees

 

Apricot

Prunus armeniaca

Honey bees, bumblebees, flies and solitary bees

Fruit

Cherry

Prunus spp

Honey bees, bumblebees, flies and solitary bees

Fruit

Almond

Prunus dulcis, Prunus amygdalus or Amygdalus communis

Honey bees, bumblebees, flies and solitary bees

Nut

Plants that are pollinated by wind or self pollinated.

  • Some common self-pollinators are:
    • Tomatoes
    • Lettuce
    • Peas
    • Beans
    • Eggplant
    • Peppers
    • Endive and Escarole
    • Barley
    • Wheat
    • Oats
    • Cowpeas
  • Some wind pollinators include:
    • Sweet corn
    • Beet

For those who raise their own beehives you may or may not have experienced this phenomenon in your beehives.  If you do have your own beehives there are signs to watch out for.  A colony which has collapsed from CCD is generally characterized by all of these conditions occurring simultaneously per the Canadian honey council (“Discussion of phenomenon of Colony disorder collapse”. Canadian Honey Council. 2007-01-27)

  • Presence of capped brood in abandoned colonies. Bees normally will not abandon a hive until the capped brood have all hatched.
  • Presence of food stores, both honey and bee pollen:
    • Which are not immediately robbed by other bees
    • Which when attacked by hive pests such as wax moth and small hive beetle, the attack is noticeably delayed.
  • Presence of the queen bee. If the queen bee is not present and the hive died because it was queen less it is not considered CCD.

Symptoms that may arise before the final colony collapse are:

  • Insufficient workforce to maintain the brood,
  • Workforce seems to be made up of young adults
  • The colony members are hesitant to consume provided feed, such as sugar syrup.

The Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium (March 1, 2007) offered the following tentative recommendations for beekeepers noticing the symptoms of CCD:

  • Do not combine collapsing colonies with strong colonies.
  • When a collapsed colony is found, store the equipment where you can use preventive measures to ensure that bees will not have access to it.
  • If you feed your bees sugar syrup, use Fumagillin.
  • If you are experiencing colony collapse and see a secondary infection, such as European Foulbrood, treat the colonies with Terramycin, not Tylan.

Other possible remedies include:

  • Switching to native bees (suggested before Penn state research was revealed, see above). or
  • Using disease resistant bees (if any become available in the future).

If you are concerned about the prospect of your plants not being pollinated, or wish to increase the chances, you can always hand pollinate your garden (or selected plants).  On flowers that have only one or other sex, locate the female flower; remove a male flower (male flowers will have a stamen, which is a pollen covered stalk that sticks up in the center of the flower. Female flowers will have a sticky knob called a stigma inside the flower, sitting on top of the pistil, which will eventually become the fruit once fertilization occurs). Carefully peel off the petals of the male flower, leaving only the stamen which is covered in yellow pollen. Take this stamen and rub it all over the pistil of the female flower.  On plants with “perfect” flowers (male and female parts in same flower) simply take a brush, remove pollen from stamens and rub on stigma.  While this is a very laborious process it will guarantee that your plant gets pollinated.

In conclusion, whether or not CCD will get worse, will correct itself due to natural events or man will find a remedy, it would be best to recognize the problem and prepare for the possibility that your food supply might not only be in jeopardy from other humans, but from natural processes themselves.

JWR Adds: Needless to say, dwarf and semi-dwarf fruit trees are easier (and at safer ladder heights) to hand pollinate than standard varieties. And, thankfully there are other insects that can pollinate (albeit inefficiently), such as Mason Bees, wasps, and even flies.

The Two Dogs You Don’t Want Barking, by T. Tony

A lot of time and effort is placed into most preppers’ survival plans, or at least the ones who intend to survive: bug out bags, radio communication, firearms, food storage and, a personal favorite, etcetera. However, many of us forget two of our most important assets to survival; our feet. Foot care isn’t just something for your podiatrist to worry about. Perhaps, it’s so mundane and simplistic that many of us don’t even think about those two guys down under doing all the stepping so they may find this surprising; your feet will make or break your entire survival plan.

Have you thought about how much you use your feet? It may sound stupid, but take a moment and think about your survival plan and include three painfully large blisters on your feet after your first day walking because you didn’t take the proper precautions. You won’t be going anywhere quick; blisters are painful and, if you took the moment I suggested you take for reflection, you’ve realized you use your feet a lot. Diabetics need to be especially careful about their feet because they are more likely to have adverse effects from foot injury.

In the military, they are very fervent about foot care and with good reason. In a combat situation, you need to be able to move: jump, run crawl, etc. In a SHTF scenario, who knows what will be required of you at any given point. However, the fact of the matter is if you don’t learn proper foot care, you’ll be sitting this one out.

Basic Foot Care
1. Buy boots that fit: Your boots are one of the most important things that you’ll wear. You need to make sure they fit right, and do the job. More on this later.
2. Change your socks often: Your feet are nasty after roughing it for miles in the same socks. If you don’t believe me, walk a 12Ks tonight and, upon returning home, take your foot out of your boot, place it to your nose and take a whiff. When you wake up, you’ll agree. Keeping your feet clean keeps them healthy.
3. Keep your feet dry: If your feet get wet, change socks as soon as possible. You don’t want to be trudging around with wet feet due to the increased friction it will add on your skin and therefore giving you blisters.
4. Use foot powder: This goes with 2 and 3 but it deserves its own category. Foot powder will help keep your feet clean and dry. Therefore, it’s a good idea to stash a couple  bottles of it in your survival gear.
5. Insoles: Not necessary but a good idea for more support and comfort. Remember, walking is hard work, and your feet have to carry you and all your gear; treat them nice.

Blisters
Blisters are perhaps the most common foot ailment. Usually blisters are caused by friction. They are bumps on the skin that are filled with fluid. Excessive friction or rubbing to one portion  of your foot, for example your heel, will cause a blister to form. Usually, this is from wearing poorly fitting or unbroken in boots or shoes, poorly fitting socks, etc. It is important not to pop blisters, especially if they are smaller as this could lead to an infection. Large blisters should be  drained using a sterile needle (hopefully you have a few in your medical supplies.) If you need to lance and drain a large blister, do not remove the layer of skin because it will keep the blister somewhat protected from infection.

I know you’re  all tough dudes and dudettes. You’ll want to push through the pain, it’s just a little blister after all, it can’t really hurt you. Unfortunately, friction blisters need time to heal and continued friction on the area will only continue to break down the skin and bring more fluid to the area thereby increasing the chances of infection. Blisters become infected by the introduction of outside bacteria.  The blister will show symptoms of becoming more painful, swelling, and reddening. and you’ll notice a thick fluid filling the blister.  Also, infected blisters lead to foot ulcerations which are extremely severe.

Treatment
1. Cover it:
I speak from experience when I say Moleskin is a lifesaver, not to mention it’s cheap. If you don’t have Moleskin because you don’t take my advice seriously, you can make use of gauze or a band-aid or even duct-tape if you’re feeling especially industrious mixed with a little lucky and perhaps a dash of MacGyver. The important thing here is to add padding to remove the friction from the blister.

2. Clean it:
Clean the area with disinfectant something or other. Alcohol or iodine are especially useful, for disinfecting (remember not to use iodine if you have a shellfish/penicillin allergy or at least check with a real medical person about your allergy to see if it’s affected by iodine) however, use whatever is clean and available.

3. Pierce The Big Ones (As mentioned before, only advisable on large blisters)
With a sterile needle, pierce the side of the blister and allow the fluid to drain. This will ease some discomfort and also will allow healing to begin. It is important not to rip the skin off but to place the loose skin back over the injury so that it offers some protection.

4. Finish up:
Apply antibiotics if you have them, or else just make sure the area is clean and bandage it up. If you absolutely must push on, make sure that your bandage allows for little or no friction to the area in question. Remember, bandages like to come off and so it’s important that you apply the bandage well and securely so that it won’t come undone while you’re walking and reintroduce friction to the area. Changing the bandage every day or so is helpful to maintain cleanliness.

If your blisters become infected, there is a chance that they may turn into foot ulcers. ( As mentioned before, diabetics need to be especially careful because they’re more susceptible to adverse foot conditions.) A foot ulcer is literally an open sore. They can become increasingly deep and even stretch into other fundamental parts of your feet: tendon, nerves, bones, etc. Foot ulcers that are left untreated can become abscess and even become gangrene. Try surviving TEOTWAWKI after that awesome amputation performed by none other than your father-in-law who you feel only survived the SHTF because he wants to make your life even more miserable post-collapse.

It is important to make sure your footgear fits well and does the job you’re asking it to do. Boots are not the place to get stingy with your money because in a TEOTWAWKI scenario, those might be the last pair of boots you find in a long time that fit correctly. I’m not saying you need to spend $500 on a pair of boots or anything crazy like that. You do need to ensure that your feet are comfortable and there is no discomfort with your footgear. If you must, bring your mom along so she can do the toe-push thing and make sure your toes are up there. Since she’s there you could also try on pants so she can grab and shake the front of your pants while asking loudly if the crotch fits; just an idea. If you have a specific type of arch (normal, high, or flat) and need extra support, buy insoles.

There are several different kinds of boots out there for you to choose from, as you may have guessed. Also, there are many different accoutrements that come with these boots: steel toe, water proof, etc. Obviously the most important factor is fit. I don’t know about you but I’m not going to lug the extra weight around by having steel toes, either. I’m sure someone will avidly dispute my reasoning, talking about how to protect your feet but then not wear steel toes. However, steel toed boots are made for impact protection, not hiking. I’ve had a pair of Bates combat boots for years now, issued to me by Uncle Sam none-the-less, and never have I had an instance – in the military or out – where  I thought they needed to be steel toed. [JWR Adds: The only exception to this is getting a dedicated pair of boots just for wood splitting and shop work, in warm or cool weather. Never wear steel toe boots in sub-freezing weather.] If you live up north like I do, it would be a good investment to get another pair of boots specifically designed for winter. You can find awesome Gore-Tex, waterproof boots for reasonable prices. Break all your boots in right when you get them, don’t wait for SHTF before you take them out of the box.

Your feet are important. You should be adding foot powder, extra socks and moleskin to your survival supply regardless. Make sure you own a good pair of boots that you wouldn’t mind wearing for a long, long while. Remember to check out insoles if you know you need them or think they would make trudging around more comfortable. In short, make sure you’re taking care of your feet so they can take care of you.

Letter Re: Ireland as a Retreat Locale

Ireland as a retreat environment   We’ve all heard about the economic disaster that has recently befallen Ireland. The banking crisis has hit hard the country that less than five years ago was the third-richest nation per capita in the world. Unemployment is rising fast – almost 25% of under-25 year olds are out of work. And the economy is now effectively controlled by the terms of the recent IMF and EU bailout. So why consider Ireland for your survival retreat?  

1. It’s conservative. The Irish Constitution begins by invoking “the Name of the Most Holy Trinity, from Whom is all authority and to Whom, as our final end, all actions both of men and States must be referred” and continues by “humbly acknowledging all our obligations to our Divine Lord, Jesus Christ, Who sustained our fathers through centuries of trial.” This is rhetoric, of course, but it isn’t just rhetoric. Homosexuality was only legalised in the late 1990s, and abortion is still illegal. The Constitution guards the family as “the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law.” It “recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved,” and promises to “endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home” (Article 41). The Constitution also identifies the family as “the primary and natural educator of the child … and guarantees to respect the inalienable right and duty of parents to provide, according to their means, for the religious and moral, intellectual, physical and social education of their children.” It promises that “parents shall be free to provide this education in their homes or in private schools or in schools recognised or established by the State” and that “the State shall not oblige parents in violation of their conscience and lawful preference to send their children to schools established by the State, or to any particular type of school designated by the State” (Article 42). There aren’t many European countries that offer this degree of protection for the family or for home schooling.

2. It’s largely rural. One quarter of the population lives in Dublin, the capital city. There are also large populations in cities such as Cork, Limerick and Galway. The midlands are under-populated – in fact the current population of Ireland is around half that of the mid-nineteenth century. Where we live, on the edge of the Dublin commuter belt, most country houses have an acre of ground and almost everyone is, unconsciously, a “prepper,” keeping hens and growing a large vegetable garden. The annual national agricultural festival – the Ploughing Match – attracts visitors interested in all aspects of country living. Last year over 180,000 people attended the three-day event. That’s a huge percentage of the national population interested in paying to see exhibitions of bee-keeping, home butchering and ploughing with traditional implements!

3. It’s citizenry is armed. Guns are relatively easy to obtain, and the licence is renewed every three years. Students in Trinity College Dublin can join the university rifle club for an annual fee of €4, for example, and on that basis qualify for a licence. It’s reckoned that there is one gun for every dozen or so people.

4. It’s defensible. The price of a castle is close to the cost of an average family home. I’m not joking: take a look at this recent offering to the market. Ireland is a small island on the edge of Europe, with a history of conflict, a tradition of national defence, and the real potential for agricultural self-sufficiency. Come join us!  – C.G.

Letter Re: Buying Prep Gear at Auctions

There is a website that I just found out about that lists all of the auctions in your area.  I am not affiliated with them at all, but I will be looking into it more.  It is called www.auctionzip.com.  Plug in your zip code and mile radius and it will come up with a monthly calendar of upcoming auctions in your area.  I have attended an auction house in my area a couple of times that receives truck-loads of surplus, camping, hunting, tools and outdoor gear; and that auction house was listed.  The website showed their auction schedule and examples with photos of the items up for bid.  It also had a link to the web site for each auction house.  

You never know what each week trucks will bring, but two years ago there was a bundle (28) Blackhawk holsters, Serpa style, spanking new.  I bid but was outbid because I am a cheapskate, but the other guy got the holsters for $220.  That is less than 10 bucks apiece for $35 dollar holsters.  Seems to be a great place to get some gear that we all need.  But just by looking at this website I found out that there are Food auctions that are only about 20 minutes away and they sell sides of beef for fractions of what you would pay in the store.   However, buyer beware. You need to thoroughly look at the gear and make sure that there is not a defect that you can’t live with.  There aren’t any returns.  – K.A.J.

Economics and Investing:

Long-time content contributor P.D. forwarded this link: Austerity In America: 22 Signs That It Is Already Here And That It Is Going To Be Very Painful

Analysis: What is Plan B if China dumps its U.S. debt? (Thanks to Sue C. for the link.)

From SurvivalBlog’s Poet Laureate George Gordon comes a link to a piece by Tyler Durden: US Mint Reports January Silver Sales Hit 26 Year High

Ballmer, Blankfein Invited by Obama to Hu Discussion on Business in China

Items from The Economatrix:

Obama Push For China Currency Changes Could Cost US Consumers  

Housing Market’s Plunge Passes Depression’s  

US Muni Bond Market Warned Near Collapse

Stocks Shrug Off Bad Earnings Reports, Apple News  

Investors’ Return To US Stocks Could Be Too Late  

Disinformation Fog Intensifies As Economic Turmoil Develops     

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Steve C. sent this: Camden, New Jersey Lays Off Half of It’s Police Force. Steve’s comment: “The second most dangerous city in the United States just laid off half its police force and nearly a third of their fire department. This is in a state where honest folks can barely own a gun without breaking the law and getting sent to prison. Anyone still in that city, if not the whole state, with any sense should vote with their feet, now!“

   o o o

Alex M. forwarded this: First burials as Australian flood crisis deepens

   o o o

Several readers sent this: Women searching far and wide for o.b. tampons after they mysteriously disappear from store shelves.

   o o o

Eastern Oregon Mystery: Investigators baffled as wheat fields wither

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Despite the miracles of capitalism, it doesn’t do well in popularity polls. One of the reasons is that capitalism is always evaluated against the non-existent, non-realizable utopias of socialism or communism. Any earthly system, when compared to a Utopia will pale in comparison. But for the ordinary person, capitalism, with all of its warts, is superior to any system yet devised to deal with our everyday needs and desires.” – Dr. Walter E. Williams

Note from JWR:

Today we present another two entries for Round 32 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will 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 $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 250 round case of 12 Gauge Hornady TAP FPD 2-3/4″ OO buckshot ammo, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $240 value), and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) 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 $400, B.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and C.) 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 32 ends on January 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.

Rain Water Collecting and Storage, by Tom C.

Water, gotta have it.  In a world that has become limited or shut down completely there will never end the need for water on a daily basis.  Disruption to the supply from the local water company will wreck havoc on every single person and family within hours.

The immediate need will be toilets:  You come home from work, the kids from school and everyone heads to the same place after the car ride home.  Waters out.
Did you remember to pay the bill?  Pipe bust?  Water Company going maintenance?  Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter/ Can’t flush but that one last time with the water still in the tank, after that tank water is gone, the toilet just becomes a chair.   The waste piles up, what are you going to do? Well, with a little thinking ahead and having installed a rain collecting cistern, or by today’s more common name “rain barrel” that situation might not be anything more troubling than filling a container with water from the barrel and bringing it to the toilets reservoir tank.  After that it just becomes another chore. Beyond toilets staying flushed how many other functions in the daily human lifestyle require water?  Nearly everything.   

Now many people have a get-out-of-town mentality in the event of a major crisis no matter what the cause, be it an approaching hurricane, heavy storms, earthquake or even depending on where you live man made events such as riots, some kind of nuclear, chemical or biological attack.  It might work for a person to have “I’m outta here” such plan, I hope so if that is the course of action to be taken, but every time I have seen it, whether in real life or in a movie, everyone just gets stuck in one long traffic jam.  Look at most highways during a holiday weekend, and that is just the people that went away for a couple days.  Being stuck on a highway ramp with my family, as a horde of enraged rioters makes their way through the jammed up cars is not where I would want to be sitting. So, maybe you stayed home to hunker down, or maybe you turned back after attempting to leave, or maybe you made it to your hide out until whatever happened passes.  Now the water is off, or if at that undisclosed secret location there was never piped in water to begin with.  Now what?

Every single situation is possible; look at Haiti right now even over a year after their big earthquake, for instance.  An island with constant rainfalls and tropical.  Collecting water falling free and clear from the sky for use in human waste sanitation, cooking, drinking and cleaning should be a no-brainer.  Yet filthy water illnesses are popping up all over the place.  Why?  Because the people in Haiti are not taking responsibility for themselves or showing an ability to put in effect a practice that has been with human civilization since the beginning: Collecting and storing water for use later along with basic sanitation practices.  Bathing and drinking from waterways that have open sewage running off into them is not the best means for staying healthy or even alive.

If our forefathers, dating back to the first time a hoe stuck dirt could figure out how to do it, there should be no reason why we cannot.  Back before there was a city Department of Water people had to collect the rain in containers.  A home container could be just a couple hundred gallons, while a municipal cistern could be an underground cavern holding thousands of gallons of water.

Anything watertight and bowl shaped can become a cistern: a bucket, large basin, and those plastic storage bins that are available at nearly all the big box stores. But for easy of modification, durability, and storage capacity, I’m going to use the 55-gallon food grade plastic barrel, commonly blue in color.  These can be found at many reclamation/recycling plants.  I found a great source in my area just by web searching “plastic drums” with my county’s name.  Also you can check on Craigslist, I’ve bought several from there, but for my purpose of making rain barrels to sell, the Craigslist ones were to beat up, customers don’t like that.  But for someone making them for their own use they would be fine. The best place for water collecting is at the gutters of your home, or lacking gutters where the water runs off the roof the heaviest.

With an average size house, just one rainfall of merely 1/4-inch is plenty enough to fill your barrel. A 1 inch rainfall on a rooftop of 1,000 square feet will shed over 600 gallons of water.  So even if your home or safe house is smaller, you’re most likely going to be able to fill several rain barrels in one rainfall. Several barrels can be linked together beginning from the one that does the initial rain water collecting with readily available PVC fitting parts which are extremely inexpensive; giving each point of collection a vast reservoir potential of hundreds of gallons.  This may be exactly the storage ability you will need in the most extreme cases and may have to garden and raise your own crops. 

Barrel position ideas:
At a gutter downspout
Where water freely falls from an overhang
At a position under the gutter where a hole has been cut in the gutters span
In the open collecting free falling rain, perhaps with something like a funnel on the top to expand the collection area

Shower:
     Another good use would be as a small scale water tower for use in outdoor shower stalls and as water with pressure to an outdoor sink maybe used for cleaning game, vegetables, or washing dishes and cookware.
     All that would have to be done is build a platform high enough to produce some pressure and hold over 400 pounds of full barrel weight without falling over or collapsing. 
     Paint the barrel black if you’re able to help the water warm up in the sun, the water will get warm anyway but black doesn’t reflect the sun’s rays back as much as other colors.
     Run a hose adapted with a shower head and there you go, impromptu shower to keep you and yours feeling human.
     There really are so many ways and situations, every use will have to depend on location, situation, blending in with the surroundings, and in some cases secrecy.

Most common uses:
Filling buckets for car washing
Keep plants alive during an extended period without rain
Save your yard and garden green during water restriction Ordinances
during droughts
Soaker hose for garden watering
Fill water pails
Emergency water for toilets during an outage
Just to use less treated water, save money while saving a limited resource.*

Drinking:    
     Now for use as drinking water there have to be precautions made.  Drinking straight from a barrel may or may not be a risk.  Each person will have to assess the situation.  Risks include poisoning yourself, waterborne bacteria, and dissolved pollutants that entered the barrel while flowing to the barrel.  
     At the very least run water through a clean cloth. 
     Have some kind of water tester, a filter system that can function with limited water pressure. 
     A means to kill what’s in the water that can kill you such as: plain chlorine bleach, iodine, boiling, etc.
     That is a completely different article and should be researched by the user to fit their individual needs.
     Anyone drinking water untreated from a rain collection barrel assumes all risks themselves.

What do you need? Materials list:
A food grade 55 gallon plastic barrel (Avoid clear or translucent barrels if possible, as they promote algae growth when used in direct sunlight.)
1 – ¾ copper no kink spigot
1 – ¾ watertight metal connecter (used in electrical conduit).  Don’t even try the plastic version; spend the extra maybe only 50 cents.  Threads on the plastic one will not even survive the installation process.
Silicone
Teflon tape
1-1½ PVC elbow -threaded
1-1½ conduit locknut
Some means to screen out leaves, other debris and insects, namely mosquitoes.

     That is the minimum needed to create a single standalone rain barrel.
Compete step by step plans are available on Amazon.com and at Scribd.com.

     There are many plans out there on the internet; I experimented with several before deciding they were all garbage that wouldn’t last any real length of time during real world usage.  So with that I created my own plans from scratch.
     American ingenuity is not dead.

What makes my plans different is:
An all metal spigot, inside and out even with a closed top barrel
And when built is ready to use immediately in a multi barrel system using a connecting section of PVC as short as 4”.  

Make a small business by making these:
     I used these plans as a means to create a garage business, and so could any other industrious survival/preparedness minded person.
     Also by doing so you’re helping your neighbors get ready “just in case” without them even knowing it if they are of the –that will never happen to me- crowd.  You can label it “going green” or “conservation” and “plants like rain water better than tap water” as selling points, it doesn’t matter as long as people feel good about it and the side affect is of having that much needed resource available at a time of need.  And of course conservation is always important, no one will argue against that.

Supplementing a Survival Larder with Fresh Seafood, by Randall S.

I grew up in South Louisiana, so seafood was a staple of the family diet. Shrimp, Crabs, Fish, and Oysters were easy to come by, or at least it seemed that way as a kid because we ate seafood two or three times a week. Fried Shrimp and Oysters, Crab Stew, Shrimp Gumbo, baked Flounder or grilled Redfish, it was all good and those meals made for many a great family memory. However, as much fun as we had watching our mothers and fathers and grandparents cooking those great Cajun dinners, as kids we had infinitely more fun catching as opposed to cooking the seafood. Those lessons are just a part of this brief tip sheet, which hopefully will enable some of you and your family to enjoy fresh filets of fish roasted over a campfire when you are ready for a change from MREs and beans.

Times have certainly changed over the past 40 years. One thing that has changed greatly is the legal means of harvesting seafood. As a kid, I helped the grownups run gill nets and drag a 210-foot saltwater seine in the surf. We also set trotlines in freshwater and saltwater, used Oyster Tongs in the bays and estuaries, and set crab traps in shallow brackish water and right off the beach. The old trusty rod and reel was fun, but to make a pure meat haul nothing beat a gill net, seine, crab traps or trotlines. While gill nets and seines are now illegal in many states (with the exception of bait seines), I have still have a functional seine net stowed away in storage for the day that might come when survival trumps game laws. I realize that most people will not have the great fortune to have inherited or otherwise still own a good gill net or seine. If you do, you are extremely lucky – guard them like gold because they are expensive. If not, then you really do need to think about taking one of several possible routes to obtain this material to supplement your family’s survival chances and pleasure quotient if that terrible day ever comes when all you have left is canned beans.

As mentioned previously, a good gill net or seine is expensive. If you afford to buy a 100-foot gill net or 150-foot seine, by all means do so. You will want the net to be made of braided nylon, not monofilament. There are many reasons for this, but the most important one is longevity of the net. You will want the mesh to be at least 2 inches stretched for a pure fishing net, or much smaller for a bait seine or shrimp seine, maybe ½ to 3/4 inches stretched. A proper seine or gill net will have lead weights on the bottom rope to which the net is attached, and wooden or Styrofoam floats on the top rope, depending on when the net was made. A gill net is used by fastening both ends of the net to sturdy poles that are anchored in the water. You always want to set a gill net in water that will be near chest-deep at high tide, and always where there will be tidal movement. A great place to set gill nets is near inlets where fresh water meets salt water. A net set overnight can easily yield enough fish to feed a hungry crowd for several days. I remember one early winter morning running a gill net with my grandfather and taking 30 big Flounder out of the net.

As far as being able to really put a mess of good fish in the cooler, nothing beats a large saltwater seine (usually deployed from the beach, as opposed to lakes or bays). It takes 3 or 4 people to manage the net, depending on the surf. You will almost always need at least 2 people on the deep end and sometimes 3 will be necessary. In rough water, it could take 5 people to handle the net, especially if you hit a school of Redfish or a large shark. The way to maximize your catch with a seine is to be methodical. The people dragging the leading (or deep) end should head out from the shore at 90 degrees until the people at the shallow end are in knee-deep water. At that point, the team should begin dragging the net parallel to the shore. The team should drag the net for at least 200 yards before angling back in to the beach, unless you get hit by a school at which point all hell will break loose and you will want to get that net on the beach as fast as you can. A good team should be able to make 3 or 4 drags in about 3 hours. I can tell you that it is possible to catch enough fish in one drag to make you put the net up. I remember many times as a kid where 3 drags yielded over 100 Speckled Trout, several Redfish, and the assorted Shark or Stingray.

Enough on gill nets and fish seines. After you have cleaned your fish, you will always want to use the heads for crab bait. 2 or 3 crab traps properly baited with fish heads and placed in brackish water with moderate tidal movement can easily bring in 2 or 3 dozen crabs per night. That’s enough for a feast, especially when used in a gumbo.

Now for my one of my favorite foods – Oysters. Oysters are a great treat when prepared properly. When eaten fresh, they are hard to beat. When cooked right, they are impossible to beat. They are a great source of protein and vital nutrients. The problem is they are difficult to gather. Oyster Tongs are essential. With a pair of Oyster Tongs and a small boat, it is possible to harvest enough Oysters to feed whole family several times. However, it is difficult work akin to digging post-holes. In fact, Oyster Tongs resemble post-hole diggers. You can gather Oysters by hand, but it is much more difficult and dangerous due to the very sharp edges of the Oyster shells and the fact that some of the best Oyster months (the “R” months) are in the fall and winter when the water will be cold. Like fishing for Crabs, your best results when looking for Oysters will be in salt water that gets influenced by fresh water inflows. Shallow bays near freshwater inlets are usually fertile Oyster grounds. In a good area, you will usually be able to see the Oyster beds at low tide. Mark the spots by throwing old fishing floats with weights attached, and return at high tide when the beds are accessible by boat and load up on Oysters. 

The main point to remember in your quest to prepare for being able to harvest seafood in difficult times is to think creatively. Man has been gathering seafood for as long as we have lived near oceans. Even Gerry-rigged saltwater trotlines fashioned from old nylon rope or clothesline and curtain hooks can be effective if deployed and baited properly.

Lastly, here are a few essential items to add to your stockpile to be able to effectively handle cleaning and preparing your saltwater catch without wasting valuable meat. These items will prove almost irreplaceable, so consider having more than one, especially since they are cheap.

  • Filet Knife – most important knife to own
  • Oyster pry-knife – you can catch all the oysters you want but without this tool, you will be limited to eating them steamed
  • Crab cleaner -especially useful to obtain lump meat when you have many dozens of crabs to clean. This one item can save hours when cleaning crabs. This item can be made from 2×6 boards and flat iron and angle iron attached to heavy duty hinges. Rather than giving a long explanation of how to build one, I will describe the one my grandfather made and that we used often. When laid fully open on a table top, the two boards lay end-to-end, connected by the hinge in the middle which was bolted to the flat iron/angle iron mounted on the end section of each board. On one board, the flat iron piece was mounted to the end section. On the other board, the angle iron was mounted so that one of the 45-degree angles came flush to the flat iron when the board with the angle iron was raised upright from the table. Crabs can be par-boiled, shelled and halved, than placed so that the iron mashes out the meat when compressed.
  • Steel-mesh fish cleaning gloves – a lifesaver, literally. If you happen to take a deep stab from a hardhead catfish barb when heading it for crab bait, you could die from the infection without proper antibiotics. These gloves can save your hands from incredible damage when cleaning or working with fresh seafood like Oysters and Crabs. 
  • Monofilament Cast Net – essential for catching small bait fish, and highly effective for catching shrimp in the right location in the fall.

If you live near saltwater or even if you don’t, consider adding these items to your arsenal of tools so you will be prepared to gather some great seafood to supplement the family diet if times get bad enough to have to rely on your stash of dried and pre-packaged foods. Your health and well-being will be greatly enhanced by being able take advantage of what God put in the oceans for us to eat.

Rep. McCarthy’s Magazine Ban–Worse Than First Imagined

Here is some moron more on Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy’s recently-introduced magazine ban legislation. I studied the bill’s wording and I learned:

  • The bill defines large capacity ammunition feeding devices as “a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device that has a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition” (This is nearly the same as the now defunct 1994 law, but it does not exempt tubular or otherwise non-detachable magazines.)
  • For Post-Enactment Devices: Prohibits the transfer, possession, or import of a large capacity ammunition feeding device manufactured after the date of enactment of the bill .
  • For Pre-Enactment Devices: Prohibits the transfer or import (but not possession) of large capacity ammunition feeding devices manufactured before the date of enactment of the bill. This is a huge difference from the 1994 ban, which allowed the transfer of any “pre-ban” magazines or belts, under a grandfather clause.
  • As Sebastian at the Snowflakes in H*ll blog pointed out, the ban includes any magazine that holds more than 10 cartridges, even if it is a fixed tubular magazine. (The only exception is for .22 rimfire.) So this effectively bans transfers of even pre-1898 antique Henry, Model 1866, Model 1873, and Model 1892 Winchester rifles (and replicas) with long magazines! Ditto for Colt Lightning rifles and many other pump and lever-action guns. And ditto for Astra Broomhandle Mauser pistols with integral 12 or 20 round magazines. All these guns would be “frozen” from any transfer until the death of their owner, whereupon the guns would become contraband.
  • It also includes fixed tubular magazines on shotguns. It is noteworthy that many shotguns with ostensibly “7 round” or “8 round” tubular magazines actually have 12+ round magazines if you use the stubby Mini 12 gauge shells. (And remember, it will be the notorious “shoelace squad” BATFE that will be enforcing the law, so any guesses on how they will define the magazine capacity of your shotgun?)
  • It includes belts and links as “large capacity ammunition feeding devices”. It also requires that any magazines or links produced after the ban goes into effect must have a serial number marked. (Yes, marked on each magazine, belt, and link.) For disintegrating belt links (those ubiquitous little black steel tabs) this would create a manufacturing nightmare for military contractors! Could you imagine stamping or engraving a unique serial number on each of the hundreds of millions of links that are produced each year? How would you fit that many digits on the curved surface of a 3/4-inch long 5.56mm M249 SAW link? Micro-stamping, perhaps?
  • Unlike the 1994-to-2004 Federal ban, there is no 10-year “sunset” clause. This law will be permanent!
  • The term “Transfer” is not adequately defined. Let’s say you were to allow someone in your family or a friend shoot your rifle or pistol with an 11+ round magazine. Then that could be construed as a felony “transfer”, even if you are present during the target shooting session.
  • The absurdity of this bill can best be seen when you consider that it will also control the magazines, belts, and links used for registered Class 3 full-auto guns. Who would ever want to buy a $7,000+ registered machinegun if the only magazines and belts available for purchase are limited to 10 round capacity? (The guns themselves could still be transferred with a $200 Federal tax, but the magazines, and belts could only be transferred if they held 10 rounds or less. And to be legal, any belts assembled from links after the bill is enacted would be limited to 10-round length. That is absolutely ludicrous.)
  • The “transfer” portion of this law opens up innumerable opportunities for inadvertent law-breaking. What about a soldier who accidentally brings home an M16 magazine in his TA-50 dufflebag? What about someone who bids on buying the entire contents of a storage space with a lapsed contract? If they bring home a box that includes just one 11+ round magazine, then they will have committed a felony with huge fines and a possible 10 year prison sentence.
  • There is no exception in the law for magazines belonging to retiring servicemen or peace officers.
  • There is no exception in the law for sales of replacement parts to keep magazines in repair. So if a magazine gets dented or breaks, then it becomes permanently useless.
  • Most importantly: There is no exception in the law for passing down magazines, belts, or links within a family, as gifts or bequests. Once you die, then your 11+ round magazines will become contraband, and any subsequent possessor could be charged with a felony. Your heirs might as well tuck your magazines in your casket.

Please contact your congresscritters and insist that this ill-conceived bill be vigorously opposed!

Letter Re: A 12-Month Harvest From a Small Garden

Jim –  
I’ve been growing food in the city for over 30 years. I addition to the standard  crops of corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, and beans I’ve spent these decades focusing on:

1) What grows well in  my climate?
2) What can I grow/store for the winter? 
3) What will we actually eat? 

I’ve always kept good records of what I grow but I’ve never tracked exactly how my food I pull out of the dirt each year. So in 2009 I bought a commercial hanging scale like those in the supermarkets for my backyard patio to weigh heavy crops like tomatoes and squash and a small kitchen-counter scale to measure things like salad greens, peppers, and broccoli.  

I live outside a big city in the Southwest; my growing areas measure about 1,000 square feet. I have a lot of problems with shade from my 2-story house and neighbor’s trees so my yields are not as good as they could be. The climate is Zone 21 on Sunset Magazine’s chart and gives me favorable growing conditions overall but we are susceptible to frost in December, January, and February. We produce food 12 months of the year even during the colder months. Following is an exact record of what we harvested in 2010:  

  • 88 ears of sweet corn
  • 70 lbs summer squash
  • 28 lbs winter squash
  • 93 cucumbers
  • 50 lbs tomatoes for the table
  • 6 lbs green tomatoes after frost for stir-fry
  • 3 quarts canned tomato sauce from oversupply of table crop
  • 4.75 lbs dried navy beans
  • 1.5 lbs dried lima beans
  • 16 lbs sweet red chili peppers
  • 55 lbs of baby mixed lettuce
  • 61 lbs peaches
  • 8 lbs nectarines
  • 3 lbs pears
  • 6 lbs broccoli
  • 3 lbs garlic
  • Continual harvest of kale throughout the year.
  • Fresh basil from June to December
  • Rosemary, sage, and thyme throughout the year.  

We pick sweet chili peppers, salad greens and kale all year long. The winter squash and dried  beans are stored for winter meals. Our four peach trees are different low-chill varieties that ripen from mid-May to mid-August so we have a steady supply during summer without being inundated. They are still maturing so I expect that yield to increase to about 100 lbs/year. The two pear trees are only three years old and I expect about 10-15 lbs per tree once they are full size. I also have two apple trees that are just starting to bear fruit. I do two plantings of heirloom tomatoes (April and July, both from home-grown seedlings) so we pick from June to December.  

All our food is organically grown and allowed to mature to maximum ripeness before harvesting. This assures not only peak flavor but maximum nutrition as the food grows slowly. Pricing my harvest against what’s charged at local markets requires a bit of estimating but works about to about $1,000 per year. I produce my own compost – a local landscape company supplies me with unlimited grass clippings and dried leaves that they would otherwise have to dump. My soil is very deficient in potassium and has virtually no phosphorus so I spend about $200 per year for bone meal, kelp meal, and other amendments that I order in 50 lb bags from Peaceful Valley Farm Supply. I also use one 50 lb bag per year of organic balanced fertilizer from a local farm-supply store to boost nitrogen for the heavy-feeder crops like corn. I don’t save seed  (but I could under survival conditions) so I spend about $50/year on seed, mostly because I’m always ordering new varieties that I want to try. The fruit trees were mail-order from Bay Laurel Nursery which has the best selection of low-chill varieties in the country.   Jim, I hope this helps your readers understand just how much food (and money) can be pulled out of a small backyard garden.   – J.P., a Country Farmer Stuck in the City  

Economics and Investing:

John R. suggested this piece by Marty Weiss about municipal bonds: New Debt Crisis Striking RIGHT NOW!

Dave C. sent us this: Why supermarket stocks are getting squeezed

EMB flagged this: MERS Minus A Few Bricks….

10 American Companies That Will Disappear in 2011

Items from The Economatrix:

The Truth About Money, Silver & Gold  

Will This Be The USA In 2012?  

Doom & Gloom: Food Riots  

2011 Will Top 2010 Record of One Million Foreclosures  

States Eye “Sin” Taxation as Salvation for Budgets

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“There are several methods of conflict resolution. First, there’s the market mechanism — let the highest bidder be the one who owns and decides how the land will be used. Then, there’s government fiat, where the government dictates who gets to use the land for what purpose. Gifts might be the way where an owner arbitrarily chooses a recipient. Finally, violence is a way to resolve the question of who has the use rights to the coastline — let people get weapons and physically fight it out. At this juncture, some might piously say, ‘Violence is no way to resolve conflict!’ The heck it isn’t. The decision of who had the right to use most of the Earth’s surface was settled through violence (wars). Who has the right to the income I earn is partially settled through the threats of violence. In fact, violence is such an effective means of resolving conflict that most governments want a monopoly on its use.” – Dr. Walter E. Williams