Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 25 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.

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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) and C.) A HAZARiD Decontamination Kit from Safecastle.com. (A $350 value.)

Second Prize: 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 $350.

Third Prize: A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing.

Round 25 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Food Storage–A Necessary Preparation, by Melanie G.

An important resource to have in times of need is a good food storage.  When I have talked to others about having an emergency supply of food in place, I have received laughter and ridicule.  I even had a neighbor to tell me when he needed emergency food, he would just come to my place.  I jokingly informed him not to bother as I had a supply of ammunition as well.  Too many people have come to rely on the grocery store.  But the threat of a snow storm here in Kentucky clears out the milk and bread in record time, this should be a testament of what it might be like should the trucks not come.

From childhood, my parents taught me the importance of having an emergency supply of food in place.  I grew up in eastern Kentucky where jobs were not plentiful.  As a result, my father changed jobs a few times.  Fortunately, the pantry that my parents filled in times of feast, fed our family of five in times of want, until my father found the next job.  If there was such a thing as unemployment or food stamps back then, I never knew.  My dad would go out and find work quickly and mom would continue to squirrel away food to feed us.

There are some guidelines for emergency food storage.  It is recommended that you have two weeks of water per person and year’s supply of food, clothing and if possible, fuel in your storage.  A first aid kit is also recommended.

An important part of any food storage system is to have on hand the basics:  flour, grains, beans/legumes, oils, rice, salt, sugar/honey, and water just to name a few.  These basics can help you to sustain your life if you are prepared in every needful way.   

My mother taught me to store items, in addition to these that families will eat every day.  Therefore, my storage not only contains these key items, it contains items that are foods we eat every day.  I store condiments, peanut butter, soups, jams, jellies, canned vegetables (both store bought and home grown), cake mixes, pasta, pasta helpers, nuts, fruits, crackers, oatmeal, canned meats (store bought and home canned), etc. etc. 

The key to a good food storage is usage.  If you store something you don’t use or eat, it will eventually go bad and you will have to replace it.  If you store something you use, then you will just replace it as you go along and your food storage will stay fresh and replenished. 

Replenishing your food storage, especially in light of rising food prices today, can be an expense.  I have my pantry to a level where most of my replenishing can be done cheaply.   I get the sales ad and purchase what is on sale.  If ketchup is on sale, I buy several.  We use this item, so it won’t go to waste.  If cereal is on sale, I get several boxes.  If ground beef is on sale, I load the cart down, go home and prep several meatloaves and throw them in the freezer.  Then over the next couple of weeks, while these items are no longer on sale, my pantry is stocked with them and I can go to the next item.  Let’s say next week, pasta is on sale, or sugar.  That is the week to stock up on that item.

To make the deal even sweeter, you can go online to your favorite coupon list and search for coupons that you can trade for and use on the sale items.  Before you shy away from this, read on.  With a good sale and coupons, you can save thousands of dollars over time.  Once, I went to Kroger’s and using coupons, I actually walked out with $100 worth of groceries and $30 more in cash than I had when I walked in.  This doesn’t normally happen, they normally won’t give you cash, and I asked the head cashier repeatedly if she was sure she could give me money.

Also, the Kroger’s supermarket cash registers print coupons out at the point of sale.  I have found free drinks, free eggs, and other items free or cheap.  There are a lot of complexities to using coupons that I haven’t even explored myself.  But it is a good resource.  Check out www.mycoupons.com, www.hotcouponworld.com and there are so many more free sites.

Another good thing to do is utilize your own back yard.  It doesn’t matter if yosu own 100 acres or a back door terrace, grow something and preserve it for later use.  Or, better yet, eat it now to save your reserves.  Fresh grown vegetables are so good for you and they don’t have all the chemicals and preservatives added to them.  You know what’s in them, because you grew them.  Nothing tastes as good as something you grew yourself. 

Even in a small confined space, you can grow in containers or boxes.  For years, I have grown straight from the bag.  I take a bag of dirt and cut an “X” in it, flip it over and cut the plastic out.  Nestled up against my house or out building, I plant two tomatoes in the bag.   I add composted manure to the dirt in the bag.  I also place worms there to enrich the soil.  I also grind up my kitchen scraps and pour around the soil.  I repeat this process every year and eventually I have built very rich vegetable beds.

This year my husband and I canned several jars of green beans, pickles, pickled okra, tomatoes, salsa, strawberry jam, grape jelly, beef, pork, chicken, soup and chili.  It was so much fun and fills you with pride knowing you have actually put away healthy food without harmful preservatives for your family. 

Another trick that will add to your storage preservation is eating your weeds [from un-sprayed areas].  A lot of the plants that are found in the wild are partially edible.  I have just begun researching this and have discovered several varieties of wild plants in my yard that are edible.  My backyard is covered in young poke salet, which I have tried.  My mother in law used the young leaves and cooked it with eggs.  This is a traditional dish in eastern Kentucky.  I am very leery of this plant as it can be very toxic is not prepared correctly.  Perhaps this is a plant to put on the “If there is nothing else to eat” list.  There are many other plants that are edible, and this would be a good skill to learn in order to survive.

This month, we will be getting a local raised cow.  The cost will average $2 per pound.  This will be mostly canned, but some frozen for later use.  Another advantage to canning meat as opposed to freezing it is that you can open it and eat the meat straight from the jar.  If frozen, you will need to thaw and cook.  If we are in times of survival, having the meat ready to eat can mean life or death.  I have friends who told me they have stored canned meat for eight years and counting and it’s still good.

If you watch for good deals and sales in the stores, use coupons and augment your stores from growing, local food, and even eating your weeds,  you can have a wonderful food storage that will sustain you and your family through most any crisis.

Letter Re: Older Technology Radio Receivers

James,
I was glad that a reader mentioned the Hallicrafters S-38 series of radios. I had forgotten to mention that the All American Five (AA5) type of radio was also sold in a multi-iband version by Hallicrafters. These are still often available for under $100 in working condition. I have a Hallicrafters model 5R10A, which is a lot like a [Hallicrafters] S-38D. It’s an AC/DC design like the AA5 radio that can be run on nine or ten car batteries wired in series with no inverter. (In a test, I found that nine fully-charged “12-volt” batteries wired in series provide 113.4 volts DC.) With 50′ of copper wire it picks up stations from everywhere. Just search on eBay for “Hallicrafters S-38.”

While it is obviously useful to listen to foreign shortwave broadcasts, long-range AM listening (DXing) can also provide life-saving information. Canadian AM broadcast stations are easy to receive by those who live in the northern half of the country. Those who live in the south, especially the southeast, part of the US can also find English-speaking foreign stations on their nighttime AM dial. I once lived in the panhandle of Florida and I was easily able, at night, to pick up AM broadcast stations from all around the Caribbean. I can recall in particular one strong English-speaking station in Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles.

After the lights go out, and nearly all modern electronic devices stop working, an old AA5 wired up to car batteries (or better yet, deep-cycle 12-volt batteries) can keep the nighttime listener up to date on such matters as US and foreign troop movements, martial law declarations, fallout patterns, city riots, and highway problems. – ME

JWR Replies: Thanks for the suggestion. To get the maximum life out of tubes and to be kind to capacitors in an AA5, I recommend using slightly low voltage DC (~110 to 115 volts) and when in both AC and DC operation, using an in-rush current limiter. This gives a gentle “soft start” to the components. In common ham radio parlance these are dubbed in-rush filters, but properly they should be termed “In-rush Current Limiters” (ICLs) or “negative temperature coefficient” (NTC) thermistors. One that is typically used by old radio restorers is the CL-90 NTC made by GE Sensing. If you are handy with a soldering iron, it is fairly simple to build your own “In-rush box”, that you can plug in to a surge-protected power strip. The ICL box should have its own its own power switch. This has the advantage of reducing wear and tear on your radio’s combination on/off/volume knob. (This is a part that is likely to fail, typically when the volume potentiometer gets scratchy beyond the point of minor annoyance–the classic “scratchy pot” syndrome.) By leaving your radio’s power switch always in the “on” position and the volume at a comfortable level, and instead controlling the power with your in-rush box, you’ll eliminate most of this wear and tear.

Letter Re: Making Your Own Maps for the Field

Jim,
I have several books, folded sheet, and other type maps. I wanted to purchase or acquire a good satellite image map with roads and terrain. After thinking, big mistake, I realized I already had the answer loaded on my computer.

I have Google Earth. On Google Earth you can add lots of legend material, Miles/ Kilometer, parks, etc, I went to the area I was in and printed out several elevations. In some areas you can zoom down to 100 feet elevation. I then went to the nearby office place and had the sheets laminated, and spiral bound. Keep you print outs in order or in the word processor program number your pages and add N,S,E,W tags. Then I got the bright idea that 8”x 11” was rather large so I made new print outs ½ size, laminated spiral bound, with a cover. Now if you do not have a color printer it is possible to save your handy work to disk and at an office place like Kinko’s have them print it out for you. The cost is slightly more but well worth the effort. I you don’t have a computer you local library has one and if they don’t have Google Earth, then use Weatherunderground.com. Choose your area and then pick “wundermap” function right click to copy then paste into your document.

One other item I will suggest is a journal. Write down your thoughts and dreams. Later in life it may provide some laughs, good information or just having reading material. The “Marble” type bound notebook is fine or if you are so inclined a mole skin type bound or there are lots of other options just not spiral bound.

Jim, you and your family are in our Prayers and thank you for writing your new book, “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It“. I’m now only several chapters into it but I’m already certain the information will save me several thousands of dollars in mistakes. – Jeff B.

Economics and Investing:

Reader Brian S. sent this: Dutch DSB Bank Nationalized After Bank Run By Clients. “The Netherlands’ central bank said Monday it has taken control of DSB Bank NV after clients began a run amid fears the regional lender might collapse.” Brian notes: “People can [presently] only take 250 Euro per day from their accounts.”

Icahn: Risk of Double Dip, Investor ‘Bloodbath’. (Thanks to Flavio for the linkio.)

A piece by Charles Hugh Smith posted over at Housing Storm: Deflation or Inflation: Who Cares?

Analysis from Greg Fielding (also at Housing Storm): Did the FHA make bad loans with taxpayer money to prop up home prices?

I found an an interesting video of a Jim Sinclair interview by David Williams in South Africa: Gold & Inflation. Sinclair predicts gold at $1,650 per ounce by January, 2011. (This was linked at the Total Investor blog.)

Items from The Economatrix:

California Budget Already in the Red 10 Weeks After its Passage. California unemployment hit 12.2% in August

US Dollar Falls as Skeptics Buy Euro, Aussie

Derivatives Lobby Links with New Dems to Blunt Obama’s Plan

China Buys The World

US Has Miles to Go With Its Mortgage Modification Plan

FHA May Be Setting Up Repeat of Housing Bubble

Many Jobless Workers Could Lose COBRA Subsidy. 65% subsidy will end on December 1st if not extended

Will Social Security Survive the Recession? Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, has written that when debts to various government trust funds are added to the anticipated 2010 budget deficit, the U.S. debt burden will reach nearly 100 percent of gross domestic product in 2010. Moreover, Rep. Chaffetz estimates that when unfunded liabilities of more than $100 trillion from Social Security, Medicare and government employee pensions are included, national debt is several times larger than GDP.

Citigroup Tries to Shed $100 Million Man “Superstar trader a political liability now that bailed-out firm is 34% owned by feds”

Orange Juice Jumps 10% on Crop Report

Gary North: Banksters Bait and Switch Fractional Reserve System

Gary North: Fractional Reserve Banking System Basis of Bankster Fraud

FHA Raising Concerns with Policy Makers

Odds ‘n Sods:

GS in the State of Jefferson sent us this: Schwarzenegger signs ammunition sales bill. A thumbprint and detailed personal information before completing an ammo sale? BTW, this new law includes .22 Long Rifle ammo! What insanity. Once again, my advice to SurvivalBlog readers is to get out of California. It is a lost cause. Vote with your feet!

   o o o

Exercise can extend survival even in ‘oldest old’ (Thanks to Roxie for the link.)

   o o o

Ralph U. sent this one: Cold temperatures threaten Idaho seed potato crop

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Every man who goes into the Indian country should be armed with a rifle and revolver, and he should never, either in camp or out of it, lose sight of them. When not on the march, they should be placed in such a position that they can be seized at an instant’s warning; and when moving about outside the camp, the revolver should invariably be worn in the belt, as the person does not know at what moment he may have use for it. – Randolph B. Marcy, Captain, U.S. Army, The Prairie Traveler, 1859

What Recovery? Find Yourself a Recoveryless Job

For more than a month, the mainstream media has been yammering about an economic recovery. Chasing phantom “good number” statistics amidst an onslaught of otherwise bad economic and global credit market news, the Wall Street cheering section is desperately seeking some news that the current recession is coming to an end. They talk about “the recovery in progress”–almost a fait accompli. They have been so good at this that they have fooled some investors into putting their sidelined money back into the stock market. What a masterpiece of disingenuous grandstanding. But the sad truth is that there is no genuine recovery in progress. Perhaps there will be a minor economic boost, generated by the huge bailout spending, but the bottom line is that we are in the midst of a major recession. And unlike the recessions in the past 50 years, this one is not based on just market cycles, but rather caused by a systemic failure of the global credit market. So any attempts to re-inflate the bubble with new credit (based on artificially low interest rates and bailout “programs”) are bound to be unsuccessful. This recession cum depression won’t end until malinvestment is driven out of the system, and trust in a fully transparent system of credit that backs genuine, truly marked-to-market tangible assets is restored.

America’s debt bubble that emerged from over-inflated real estate is at the root of the current mess, just as it was in Japan in the 1980s. (In their case, it was commercial real estate, in parts of Tokyo.) The Japanese government has tried similar measures (mostly in the form of massive public works programs and artificially low interest rates) for 25 years, and they still haven’t pulled out of their economic doldrums! But consider that our real estate bubble was much, much bigger, and that unlike Japan, we are a net-debtor nation. (Japan has traditionally been a fiscally-conservative nation of savers.) So how can we expect to do any better at “recovery” than they did?

The Obama administration has two potential courses of action that it can implement–through Treasury Department action, in concert with the Federal Reserve banking cartel’s open market committee–to attempt to emerge from the current mess. Neither of these are appetizing:

  1. Continue keep interest rates artificially low. This, however, will create a huge dollar carry trade market that will be the source of laughing derision, internationally. This course of action will eventually destroy the US Dollar as a currency unit.
  2. Allow interest rates to rise, but that will likely choke off any economic growth. And regardless of the path chosen, the current administration (like its predecessor) seems committed to profligate spending on umpteen bailouts. These bailouts are funded by “out of thin air” dollars, creating massive budget deficits. In the long run, this dollar creation will prove to be highly inflationary. But there will probably be a time lag, since the effects of the continuing asset deflation is masking the ongoing currency inflation. I anticipate substantial inflation to become evident, circa 2011 and in subsequent years. It could be very nasty, so shelter yourself from it, as I’ve previously suggested in SurvivalBlog.

My suspicion is that the BHO administration will opt for the “weak dollar” route, since that will be the least painful of the two options. The sad news, however, is that ultimately neither option will solve the underlying problem, and hence the US economy is doomed to a deep 10+ year depression. During this period we will witness (and endure) massive unemployment, high crime, dislocation, rioting, repatriation restrictions, and substantially higher taxes. With these in mind, take the steps necessary to protect your family’s safety, and your assets.

The talking heads on the finance and investing shows would have you believe that an economic recovery, or at least a “jobless recovery”, is just around the corner. Do not be deceived. If any of you reading this are still under the deceptive spell of the CNBC rah-rahs and believe that recovery could be underway, then just take a look at this chart of scheduled mortgage interest rate resets, which I’ve previously mentioned in SurvivalBlog. As you can see, the oft-cited peak in subprime mortgage interest rate resets is now behind us, but the peaks in Alt-A, and Option Adjustable (aka “Option ARM”) rate resets are still ahead of us. Thus, in actuality, the worst is not yet over. We are just in a lull between two tsunami waves.

With the exception of a few newcomers, SurvivalBlog readers are already well-informed on the foregoing facts, so I won’t belabor these points. Instead, I’ll move on to some practical issues that will have some benefit to you. Lets talk about jobs, and to be more specific, your job.

A Recoveryless Job

Even if you are currently employed somewhere in a “safe and secure” job, keep in mind that there are no absolutes. You could have a small town civil service jo, for example at a water treatment plant. But what if the city or county that you work for goes bankrupt? You could be laid off in a heartbeat. The phrase “under new management” often means firing you, and hiring the nephew or old pal of the new boss. The fictional character Sarah Conner said it best: “No one is ever safe.” So hedge your bets.

I recommend that you develop a second stream of income through self-employment. Typically this can be found in a moonlighting service job, or a home-based mail order business.

I’ve often encouraged even my rural consulting clients to develop a second income stream. Why is this important? “Living off the land”-style self sufficiently is an admirable and commendable goal. But even if you are living truly “debt free”, you will still have property taxes to pay. That means that you will need a recession/depression proof revenue stream in the event that you lose your primary job.

Successful home-based businesses usually center around unfilled needs. Find something that your neighbors buy or rent, or service that they “hire” on a regular basis that currently requires a 40+ mile drive “to town”. Those are your potential niches.

A successful recession-proof home-based business is likely to be one where the demand for your goods and services is consistent, even in a weak economy. These include septic tank pumping, home security/locksmithing, care for the very young and the very old, and escapist diversions such as DVD movie rentals. (It is noteworthy that the movie industry was was one of the few sectors of the economy that prospered in the 1930s.)

One market segment that prospered in the Great Depression of the 1930s was repair businesses. Obviously, in hard economic times, people try to make do with what they have. So repair businesses are a natural. If it is some small appliance that you could repair that could be mailed from and back to the customer, so much the better. (That way you could have a nationwide business, rather than just a local one.) This might include: DVD player repair, laptop computer repair, and so forth.

Its a Dirty Job, But Someone Has to Do It
If you want to work for someone else and have that be recession-proof, then consider the dirty jobs. These are some of the least likely to suffer a layoff. In Japan, these are called the “”Three-K” jobs: kitsui (“hard”), kitanai (“dirty”) and kiken (“dangerous”). If you are willing to take on any of the Three K jobs, do cheerful and hard work, and have exemplary attendance, then you will likely have a job that will carry you all the way through a deep recession or even a depression. If times get truly Schumeresque and you get laid off, then please be willing to “think outside the box”, and consider taking a Three K job. Some of these are low level city and county payroll jobs. And by low level, I mean things like sanitation worker, animal control officer, sewer technician, solid waste transfer station worker, highway maintenance worker, and so forth.

Think about it: A steady job beats no job. Don’t let your family starve, or end up homeless. There is no shame in accepting good old-fashioned hard work. If you take a job that brings in only one half of your existing income, consider that you’ll actually come out ahead of any of your contemporaries that are laid off more than half of each year. Further, you will have uninterrupted benefits, such as health insurance, that they will also lack. A menial and low-paying job is better than no job.

Some suggested employment possibilities:

1.) Mining and manufacturing processes that because of shipping expenses cannot be practicably be moved offshore. Coal mining is a good example.

2.) Service industry jobs that are essential and non-discretionary. Let me reduce this to a few key examples, so that you’ll know what to avoid:

Essential and Non-Discretionary Non-Essential and Discretionary
Mortician Pilates Instructor
11B Infantryman Hairdresser
Septic Tank Pumping Truck Driver Manicurist

3.) Retail sales (face to face, or mail order) of crucial items.

4.) Retail sales (face to face, or mail order) of comfort items. In the midst of an economic depression, people will crave escape. Movie DVDs are a good example.

5.) Military service. Most people don’t think of the armed forces as service industries, but that is essentially what they are, on a national scale. In the military you are sort of a security guard for the real Mall of America. Or think of it as a lead delivery service. My father was an Air Force instructor pilot, back in the days of T-33s. He summed up his service when he told me: “I was a glorified bus driver, burning up lots of Uncle Sam’s jet fuel. I did a great job of defending miles and miles of cactus.” Thirty years later, I served as an Army Intelligence officer. It was great fun at the time, but in essence, I was just a detective–or more precisely the manager of detectives–that worked for one of the world’s biggest detective agencies.

6.) Repair work.

Be Flexible and Proactive

The coming years will be difficult ones, globally. If you are risk of a layoff, then hedge your bets by developing a second stream of income, now. And if you are laid off, do not hesitate. Do whatever it takes to find steady work, even if means moving, or taking a lower-paying job. Don’t just wallow in self-pity and draw unemployment insurance. be proactive and do something!

Experience With Bicycle Commuting and Touring, Hammocks, and Stoves, by David in Israel

Since June of this year when my new Dahon Speed 8 folding bicycle arrived I have greatly increased my bicycle mileage typically doing about 120 miles a week commuting instead of taking the bus in. The Dahon is a 20″ wheel folder so I have the option of bagging it up throwing it in the back seat or trunk and catching a ride with friends or taking the inter-city bus if I am tired, this hitch-hike-ability could be an important to a survivalist trying to cover long distances, perhaps even beating out the larger harder to stash 26″ wheel folding bikes. The better Dahons come equipped with Schwable super long life tires, they have significantly longer wear life than most bicycle tires. Since this bicycle is ridden around four hours a day comfort is key, a quality narrow spring seat, alloy pedals, hand grips and multi position “horn” bar ends were upgraded since these were the places that my body interfaced with the machine. Good fenders and aluminum cargo racks front and rear let me carry my backpack on the front with the extra pack strap length secured with recycled inner tube rubber bands. I had straps added to my pack to secure my pack onto the front rack where I feel I have the best control. A useful feature of some Dahons is the seat post air pump which gives a long stroke floor pump inside the long seat post shaft. As for spares I carry an extra tube, LED headlight, tire levers, Rema Tip Top patches(by far the best), and a Crank Brothers folding bicycle multi tool, additionally I have 4mm and 6mm Allen wrenches on my key chain next to my Kryptonite bike lock key. During regular times I wear a bluetooth headset for my mobile phone and white LED forward headlamp and red rear LED flashers attached to the helmet, a yellow reflective safety vest makes me even more visible to drivers. A Glock Model 17 and two spare mags in a padded Michael’s of Oregon (“Uncle Mike’s) holster on my heavy leather belt is comfortable and has shown no complaint to my regular sweating on summer rides. During a two hour afternoon ride I consume about two liters of water and occasionally gulp down some salted honey I keep in a sports gel flask for an extra boost before a hill. Regular mountain commuting will wear on your brakes, a complete set of brake pads is a good idea to keep in your repair kit.

I have made several five day to one week trips in the last few years and in addition to the regular stuff I carry for commuting I also include:
-Stuffable semipermiable rain/wind jacket
-Two pair of wool socks
-Hennessey asym hammock
-MSR Whisperlite International stove
-Kerosene fuel bottle
-MSR cook set
-Military nesting silverware
-MMR-40 40 meter QRP kitted radio
-15deg F lightweight sleeping bag
Everything fits in a mountaineering day pack.

I find that beans and lots of rice supplemented by eggs for dinner and fresh fruit especially bananas for snacks keep me running strong all day if I am careful to pace myself, I also try to remember vitamins. Since I know that I will be eating large portions it makes sense to pack larger camp pots. Strong coffee seems to boost my cycling strength especially when traveling uphill, but a person should know how late in the day they can drink caffeine before it affects their quality of sleep. Caffeine also causes you to urinate more requiring additional water supply. Along with the Norwegian and Swedish armies, I use the fold-a-cup coffee cup. It is unbreakable and flexible.

Hydration is key, for commuting my regular 2/3 liter bottle and a 1.5 liter soft drink bottle is enough for commuting 1.5 to two hours with about 200 meter climb in the hot sun. More water bottles for longer trips can be carried in tight panniers on the rear rack. There are times where a very dilute fruit juice makes gulping down water easier. I refill my bottles at every opportunity. I carry an Aquamira filter squirt bottle for my bike bottle and purification tablets for using questionable irrigation or spring water.

I have previously in SurvivalBlog extolled the virtues of kitting together the very small (2/3 the length of a 600 page paperback book) and inexpensive MMR-40 radio. It provides 6 watts for CW or SSB PSK-31 digital mode has a range of up to several thousand miles [with favorable ionospheric conditions].

The Hennessey hammock is a wonder of simple engineering. The asymmetrical design lets a large person lay off-axis on his side without being forced into the parabolic curve of the hammock. Entry is through a slit in the bottom which snaps shut from the weight of the camper and a tough bug net is sewn to the whole hammock. There is a cord keeping the bug net off of the campers face hung from this is a mesh pocket for your glasses, phone, or headlight. The rain fly when attached kept me warm and dry through a few downpours, but if there is a possibility of strong wind the rain fly cords should be staked or weighted with water bottles else they might blow a flap of rain fly open to the rain depending how the hammock is hung. If it is cold more insulation or a sheet of closed cell foam will make up for the compressed insulation heat losses on the bottom of the hammock. The Hennessey hammock also makes a nice swing seat, if you have no big trees available. The instructions also show how to use the hammock as a one man tent using walking stick or saplings. As with any hammock be sure you are tied into live trees and not dead rotted snags which could fall and crush you. On the upside you need not worry about how steep the incline or rockiness of the terrain as you are hanging suspended.

I used to carry a small Triangia cook set including a brass alcohol stove, which is a tougher sealable version of the DIY soda can stoves. I have found these to be useful in their weight but the hazard of a tip over burning fuel spill combined with the price of alcohol fuel at the paint store lead me to keep this for ultralight expeditions and instead to use my MSR stove. The MSR Whisperlite is designed for easy field maintenance as are most MSR products. The one main weak point, the pump stop, which has failed in a non critical way on all of my older MSR stoves, could allow foreign objects into the pump mechanism or loss of the piston, this has been upgraded to a much stronger design in recent years by MSR. I use kerosene due to the higher energy content over gasoline and the cleanest flame of fuels easily available to me in Israel. I carry a small bottle of alcohol to prime the stove, this leads to much less carbon accumulating on the stove, and quicker startups. (A tablespoon of alcohol fuel into the primer cup is enough to prime the stove most of the time.) Using the wind guard (very heavy aluminum foil) wrapped tight to keep the heat in the stove it primes and is ready to cook much faster, then the wind guard keeps the heat on my pots. I must also mention that MSR makes a repair/service kit with most of the parts and tools to fix and maintain your stove even on extended outings. – David in Israel

Three Letters Re: Heating With Wood

James Wesley,
That was a good informative article by SGT B., however there was one glaring omission in the safety section : “Which brings me to the always wear appropriate safety gear rule. Always do. Period. Long sleeves and pants, boots, gloves, helmet with a face-guard or safety glasses, hearing protection.”

He didn’t mention Kevlar chainsaw safety chaps, which jam a chain in milliseconds are now considered required for wood cutting, one moment of inattentiveness and your thigh, shin, etc, can be hamburger. The least expensive, yet best ones out there are from Labonville.

Remember chainsaws don’t just cut flesh , they tear it! There is a youTube video available for those who want to watch that shows that, thankfully demonstrated with butchered meat, not people. Sincerely, – Wayne B.

Sir,
I’d like to add to Sgt B.’s information. After doing all that he discusses for 40+ years, I would add the following: I put wood in my basement where I have a woodstove. The critters did emerge as he mentioned. I used Zodiac Advanced Insect Spray and that wiped them all out very quickly. A cat takes care of four legged types. I put wood in the basement for when I’m too lazy, tired, or the the weather is just plain nasty. Otherwise, I haul it in as necessary leaving the inside wood for those times mentioned.

Woodstoves: you really don’t need to spend a fortune to get some decent heat. My basement is all masonry. The block and concrete soak up lots of the heat (versus a finished basement). Still, my inexpensive little woodstove gets that basement to 70 degrees. I got one from Northern Tool & equip. Sure, a much more expensive all cast iron or fancy one would get the basement and wood floors above a lot warmer but this stove only set me back a few hundred and arrived at my doorstep via freight. Do your homework if you are new to woodstoves. Buying used is okay if you can verify that it’s safe. Check for any cracks and if the gaskets / rope are ok. One method of verifying if the gaskets are ok is to place a dollar bill one the backside of the door, close the door, see if the dollar slips out when you pull it. Gaskets kits are cheap and easy to replace. My brother bought a used/antique potbelly type and it has been in use for years.

Traditional fireplace / fireplace insert: The one I just pulled out was very attractive but they sure waste a lot of heat. I finally purchased a top dollar insert as a replacement last year for the ground floor of the house and it paid off immediately in terms of having to bring in wood, using up your wood pile(s), & time/labor. This replacement once hot, remains so all night. I was a great investment.

Log splitters: I’m on my second one. The first was a 20 ton and it was a workaholic. I sold it in one day. It was about 12 yrs old and still good to go. In 12 years I did replace the engine once and the detent valve. My new 37-ton spilts everything I feed it. You may have a hard time finding something it can’t split. I had to use my front end loader to push the heaviest of oak under it and the splitter had no problem. This was another Northern Tool and Equipment purchase.

Chainsaws: Useful but dangerous. Be careful. Read the safety instructions if you are new to these items. If you are going to have something go wrong, it’ll happen so fast that you won’t be able to stop whatever mistake you made. I have two – a 15 year old lightweight 14″ Poulan that still gets the little stuff done and a 20″ Husqvarna that can handle just about anything. The best accessory item when working with a chain saws is a wedge (plastic, not the steel wedges used with manual splitting…) to prevent pinching of your blade/bar. I recommend using high test gas as 2-cycle engines prefer it for long term engine performance. I also purchased an electric chain saw sharpener which has paid for itself several times over. I can do it manually in the field also and you should be equipped for that anyway. Extra chains make life easy. If the saw is going to sit 11 months of the year, you’ll have starting problems. [Use gas stabilizer and] start your 2-cycle engines monthly, warm them up and they’ll be kind to you when you need it.

All things wood heating: I enjoy the outdoor time doing all this. It’s both exercise and refreshing cold weather outdoor time. Note: it does require time and labor but the payoff is worth it. I cut my oil heat consumption back to one-third of the previous year’s averages. Now I can spend more money on more wood cutting stuff. – Flhspete

 

James,
That was a good article on finding wood, but I would like to see you make a special invitation to a chimney expert or someone else with similar expertise to write an article on wood stove safety. That is something that is often overlooked, or just not understood, often with disastrous consequences.

My wife and I started our “back to the land” voyage back in the 70’s with a small homestead in the Ozarks and for the next 10 years we heated only with wood. During that time we saw our neighbors down the road lose an infant daughter to smoke inhalation during a bad fire and our best friends came home on Christmas eve to find nothing left but the foundation, their house had burnt to the ground. Both were caused by skimping on chimney installations. Anyone who has lived in the boonies probably has similar stories to tell. It’s okay to scrimp and save on a lot of things, chimneys [with regular chimney cleaning] are not one of them. You have a wild beast under partial control inside your home, one tiny mistake and it can escape and destroy your home and kill you. I don’t mean to unduly scare people but I would like to see people have the appropriate amount of respect for the hazards they’re taking on. Everything has to be done right up front and maintained properly to keep you safe.

BTW, the biggest drawback to wood heat is just the fact that in the winter you can never be away from home for more than 16 hours or so or the house will freeze up. No weekend trips and if the rig breaks down it adds another level of urgency to getting home. If possible, it’s great to have a small emergency propane heater you can set to 45 degrees and run off a 100 pound tank so that if the temperature drops too low it will kick on and keep the house from freezing, it makes a huge improvement in giving you some freedom in the winter. – Bill S. in Oregon

Economics and Investing:

Mara spotted this: First Fannie and Freddie, Now the FHA? Mara’s comment: “Every time I read about more bailout money for existing “customers” or new bailout money for new “customers,” I start to get woozy and lightheaded! Good thing I am sitting down when I read this stuff!”

GG flagged this New York Times piece: Failures of Small Banks Grow, Straining F.D.I.C. (100th US bank failure thusfar for 2009.)

Items from The Economatrix:

The Great Recession: The Numbers Tell The Story

Investors to Companies: Show Us Higher Sales

State Budgets Get Adrenaline Shot From Clunkers

World’s Largest Shopping Mall is Empty

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Steve B. is a broker in the wholesale canned foods market. He wrote me to mention: “As a result of the recent tsunami, canned tuna production in Samoa will be severely
curtailed for many months.” We all know what the law of supply and demand dictates. So stock up now, while prices are still low!

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For American viewers that missed it, Survivors: Series 1 (2008–the remake of the Terry Nation 1970s British series) is now available via Netflix.

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Speaking of England, reader LJ spotted this: Apocalypse city: Welcome to the ‘estate that time forgot’ (or when regeneration plans don’t go ahead as planned

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A new book that was co-authored by the late Carla Emery has been released: Canning and Preserving Your Own Harvest an Encyclopedia of Country Living Guide

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Pittsburgh Police Deny G-20 ‘Sound Cannon’ Allegations. Gee, then they’d better have those YouTube videos removed.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“When I was asked to make this address I wondered what I had to say to you boys who are graduating. And I think I have one thing to say. If you wish to be useful, never take a course that will silence you. Refuse to learn anything that implies collusion, whether it be a clerkship or a curacy, a legal fee or a post in a university. Retain the power of speech no matter what other power you may lose. If you can take this course, and in so far as you take it, you will bless this country. In so far as you depart from this course, you become dampers, mutes, and hooded executioners. As a practical matter, a mere failure to speak out upon occasions where no statement is asked or expect from you, and when the utterance of an uncalled for suspicion is odious, will often hold you to a concurrence in palpable iniquity. Try to raise a voice that will be heard from here to Albany and watch what comes forward to shut off the sound. It is not a German sergeant, nor a Russian officer of the precinct. It is a note from a friend of your father’s, offering you a place at his office. This is your warning from the secret police. Why, if you any of young gentleman have a mind to make himself heard a mile off, you must make a bonfire of your reputations, and a close enemy of most men who would wish you well. I have seen ten years of young men who rush out into the world with their messages, and when they find how deaf the world is, they think they must save their strength and wait. They believe that after a while they will be able to get up on some little eminence from which they can make themselves heard. “In a few years,” reasons one of them, “I shall have gained a standing, and then I shall use my powers for good.” Next year comes and with it a strange discovery. The man has lost his horizon of thought, his ambition has evaporated; he has nothing to say. I give you this one rule of conduct. Do what you will, but speak out always. Be shunned, be hated, be ridiculed, be scared, be in doubt, but don’t be gagged. The time of trial is always. Now is the appointed time.” – John J. Chapman, Commencement Address to the Graduating Class of Hobart College, 1900

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 25 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.

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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) and C.) A HAZARiD Decontamination Kit from Safecastle.com. (A $350 value.)

Second Prize: 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 $350.

Third Prize: A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing.

Round 25 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.