Odds ‘n Sods:

Thanks to D.V. for sending this: Charles Merrill Fears Market Crash . The article begins: “Fearing a stock market crash worse than 1929, Charles Merrill (http://www.merrillcharles.com) of Palm Springs, cousin to the founder of the Merrill/Lynch dynasty, is quickly converting to gold coins…”

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Derrick G. and Brian H., and Jeremy C. all suggested this article: Town learns to live with water three hours a day. Brian posed this question: question: Would people stay this civil if the same were to take place in Atlanta or another major metropolitan area?

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For the dreaded worst-case multi-generational whammy: Seeds of Our Future

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Bad news from the UK: Negative equity warning for first-time buyers as repossessions set ‘to jump 75%’

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law,’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual.” – Thomas Jefferson . Letter to Isaac H. Tiffany, 1819.

Note from JWR:

The high bid is still at $200 in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction, for four items: a Baygen Freeplay Summit AM/FM/Shortwave digitally-tuned radio, and a Baygen Sherpa hand crank flashlight. These were kindly donated by Ready Made Resources, one of our most loyal advertisers. Also included in the auction lot is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing, and an autographed copy of my novel “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse”. These four items have a combined value of more than $350. The auction ends on November 15th. Just e-mail us your bid.

Letter Re: Eating The Food That You Store






Sir:
I currently store many foods which I routinely eat, none of which has the long shelf life of many of the ‘survival staples’. I’m ready and willing to buy several thousand dollars’ worth of hard wheat and other canned supplies, but I have one problem: I don’t know if I will actually eat them!

Is there anyone out there that has a sampler pack, that allows one to try various offerings to make sure that we and our families will eat those staples?

Thanks for all your hard work in helping us prepare! Warm Regards, – Rich S.

JWR Replies: You’ve raised an important point. One of my mottos is: “Eat what you store and store what you eat.” I don’t suggest going on a Spartan diet, just for the sake of living entirely on foods that store well. But regularly using a good portion of your storage foods has multiple benefits, such as:

1.) Efficient rotation.

2.) Minimal waste due to food passing their expiry dates.

3.) A digestive system that is accustomed to storage foods. (This represents one less stress to go through, WTSHTF.)

4,.) Cooking expertise with storage foods. Cooking skills do not develop overnight. Two recommended books are Cooking with Home Storage and Making the Best of Basics

5.) Economy. If you eat foods that you buy in bulk, you will be eating cheap, in some cases amazingly cheap. For example, consider that rice in small bags sometimes sells for $4 a pound, but if bought in 50 pound sacks and repackaged it costs just a fraction of that.


 One of the few drawbacks to storage foods I’ve heard of is for people that live alone. They may find that the container sizes for storage foods–often one gallon (#10 size) cans–last so long that some might spoil before all of the contents of a can are used. (The smaller (#2-1/2 size) cans are also available, but the per-unit cost of foods is higher.) To minimize spoilage, be sure to get a supply of plastic can lids and get in the habit of putting them on immediately after removing portions from a can. This is particularly important in damp climates.

Long term storage foods available from a number of our advertisers including:
Freeze Dry Guy
JRH Enterprises
Ready Made Resources
 Safecastle
Best Prices Storable Foods
PrepareTV
 EM Gear
 Nitro-Pak

Many vendors do make sample packs. One of the best is offered by Mountain House. (Available from Safecastle, Ready Made Resources, and EM Gear.)

OBTW, when assembling your food storage larder, don’t neglect to stock up on vitamin and mineral supplements. One good mail order vendor is eVitamins.

Three Letters Re: Treadle Sewing Machines and Advice on Storing Bolts of Fabric

Mr. Rawles.
I have thought about this at some length and being an avid seamstress it would be distressing to not have fabric to sew new or repair old clothing. I have bolts of muslin,denim,canvas stored in Rubbermaid tubs. Plus a huge stash of quilting fabrics. Also sewing thread,needles for hand and machine sewing, extra bobbins for my old treadle machine if I need to dig it out,zippers and a big button box. If new clothes aren’t available keeping the old ones patched will be very important. Some good places to get sewing supplies are www.homesew.com or www.newarkdress.com. For bolts of fabrics try www.hancocks-Paducah.com. These are all reliable companies I recommend. Often I find such items at garage sales for pennies on the dollar.

On the same theme it would be wise to store sturdy work clothes, extra boots, shoes, socks, underwear, and work gloves. it is hard to work with inadequate clothing. I’m always on the look out for good bargains and I’m never averse to hand-me-downs. I have a collection of basic sewing patterns for shirts/pants/jumpers/pajamas for adults and kids. A lot of the patterns today are multi-sizes in the same package which is helpful. Learning to knit/crochet will enable you to have plenty of warm hats, mittens, sweaters, and socks. It is a relaxing hobby. All my kids can knit. Yes, even the boys! Just as they can cook, garden, can, sew by hand or machine. Yes,patch their own pants! – Dee

James,
I live near a large Amish Colony and I was visiting their local General Store. Back in the Fabric Department was a treadle cabinet with a modern sewing machine mounted on it. They had removed the motor and had a stout belt attached to the drive wheel on the right side going down to the treadle drive cam. I thought that this was the marriage of the best of both of our worlds. I inquired as to how well it worked and the lady store owner said she made all of her family’s clothes on it. So I guess that means it works well. – Carl in Wisconsin

James,
You wrote: “The Memsahib and I do have some experience with treadle sewing machines. In addition to a spare drive belt and plenty of needles, the most critical spare part for a treadle sewing machine is its shuttle (a.k.a. bobbin holder). They do eventually wear out. Thankfully, these are fairly easy to find for the Singer brand, but replacement shuttles for New Home and some of the other less popular brand of sewing machines can be quite hard to find. One great resource that we found for treadle sewing machine information and parts is Treadle On.”

I went to Treadle On and an extensive search on eBay and other sites and could not find anyone selling shuttles for treadle sewing machines. In particular I have a 1923 Singer Treadle Sewing Machine [Model] 66. Where would you suggest I go to find it?
Thank you. I love your site and read it every day. I have recommended it to about six other people. – Nancy

JWR Replies: There are currently two Singer shuttles up for auction at eBay. Just be sure to use loosely-worded search phrases like “Singer treadle part” or even just “Singer part” since some people use incorrect terminology or have typographical errors in their item descriptions. People call shuttles all sorts of things. I’ve found them in the past with auction titles like “Treadle Sewing Bullet”, “Singer Bobben [sic] Holding Part” and “Singer Thread Holder” Good luck bidding!

Weekly Survival Real Estate Market Update

Today we will be reviewing Colville, Washington as a possible retreat location. The city of Colville (population 5,000) is located about an hour and a half drive north of Spokane Washington (Pop. 200,000) and lies within Stevens County (Pop. 45,000). From many personal visits to the city and surrounding towns during my retreat search I can say that the Colville and surrounding area came a close second to our current locale of Northern Idaho. In 1811, the valley was explored by a man working for a fur trading company working the Columbia River. During the first year of operation nearly 11,000 pounds of furs were exported overseas from the Colville area. In 1825, Fort Colville was built at Kettle Falls, a few miles west of Colville. The fort was the center of the fur trade in the Northwest. Now the fort is under water, covered by Lake Roosevelt, a part of the Coulee Dam National Recreation Area. The town of Colville was founded in 1882 when Fort Colville was abandoned.

The reality of most SurvivalBlog readers situations is that they are looking to relocate to a retreat locale that allows them to make a reasonable commute to a larger city since meaningful employment is a strong requirement, as most of us are not ready for retirement. The Colville locale offers many opportunities to purchase land and homes that are very reasonbly priced compared to others nearby in Idaho and Montana, due to the fact that the private ownership of land has not been abated by the State and Federal governments (yet) in the northeast part of Washington. Northern Idaho and Northwest Montana suffer from higher prices due to the lack of private land for sale as over 80% of the land in northern Idaho and 89% of the land in Northwest Montana is either National Forest or State Forest land. This makes for a considerably better retreat locale of course, but the price is adjusted accordingly, and justifiably so. If you can afford these areas by all means choose them over the State of Washington.

If you’re willing to deal with higher taxes and the possibility of more draconian gun laws (from Seattle), you may own a suppressor in Washington but not a machine gun or short barreled rifle (SBR) as you can in Idaho and Montana, then the price adjustment from those locales may certainly be worthwhile, especially if you are looking for a larger parcel at a reasonable price. Typically, you’ll find that a parcel of land in Washington will be 1/2 to even 1/3 of the cost of a comparable parcel just to the east, in Idaho. JWR Adds: There is indeed a ban on machineguns, machinegun parts sets, and SBRs in Washington State, but most owners get around that law by getting a Class 3 dealer’s license, and then buying Federally registered “dealer’s samples.”]

For example, there is a gorgeous 120 acre parcel south of Colville with a creek, spring and pond for $319,900 asking price and the drive from Spokane would be about 1.25 hours northwest of the city (Please contact Todd Savage for a referral to this listing). A similar parcel in north Idaho would sell for about $750,00 to $900,000 and in NW Montana it would easily run over $1.2 to $2 million. So, as you can see there are merits to dealing with tax and gun issues if a larger parcel is needed on a budget. If you were faced with a total collapse for an extended period my opinion is that laws will not matter at all so you’ll be able to have any firearm you want, although purchasing them in advance may be an issue of course should Washington State go like California. But right now there is no assault weapons ban and the only silly law I can think of is that you may own a suppressor but not legally use it. Don’t ask.

Colville has a nice micro-climate for growing almost anything you’d expect in the inland northwest climates. The city is has a picturesque location and landscape and we fell in love with it almost immediately. The people are friendly as you’d expect in any small town and there was a Home Depot and ChinaMart (WalMart) in the works there as well, so the town is experiencing some growth but nothing that should preclude someone from considering the locale on their list. Most properties have good water sources and access is acceptable to most retreat shoppers. As with any property access has a lot to do with price, so if you can find a property that meets your needs but needs road work then it may be an opportunity to get a diamond in the ruff. Spending $25,000 to bring a stretch of road up to par will be invaluable one day and will increase the value of your property more than you think. You city folk will understand this more than most!

Here is a great article from Sunset magazine that will give you a good look into the small town and another bit of information on the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, a wonderful recreational destination that will be literally in your backyard, be cause everyone needs a break from the retreat!

Overall, the Colville area is an excellent choice when the cost factor is placed in first place. When your in the pacific Northwest on a retreat shopping spree be sure to stop in and see the locale! You can watch for upcoming listings in the Colville region on SurvivalRealty.com. (A SurvivalBlog spin-off site.)

Odds ‘n Sods:

Latest Case-Shiller Home Price Index Shows No Turnaround in Sight

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Vic at Safecastle mentioned that because this year’s hurricane season turned out to be more mile than expected, one their vendors found themselves overstocked on MREs. Safecastle was therefore able to arrange some advantageous pricing. They are now having a special short-term sale on MREs.

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RBS sent this: Vultures eyeing mortgage corpse

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D.V. suggested a piece by The Mogambo Guru (Richard Daughty): Drowning in Inflation is Never Popular. (Warning: this one has some literary license that is not for kids!) Beware of the debt demons.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Courage is the first of all the virtues because if you haven’t courage, you may not have the opportunity to use any of the others.” – Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Note from JWR:

Today we are pleased to welcome our newest advertiser, EM Gear. Check out their great line of outdoor, tactical, and preparedness products.

Letter Re: Treadle Sewing Machines and Advice on Storing Bolts of Fabric

Jim:
Having just restored my 1925 Singer treadle-powered sewing machine to operation, I want to get some fabrics so that I can start making clothes for my family. Would someone with the appropriate experience please advise for a semitropical climate what weight fabrics, what types of fabrics and how many yards would be considered a good ‘cache’ of fabric so as to make a family of four clothing independent?
Thanks, – SF in Hawaii

You question about fabrics goes beyond my expertise. Perhaps some of our readers would care to comment.

The Memsahib and I do have some experience with treadle sewing machines. In addition to a spare drive belt and plenty of needles, the most critical spare part for a treadle sewing machine is its shuttle (a.k.a. bobbin holder). They do eventually wear out. Thankfully, these are fairly easy to find for the Singer brand, but replacement shuttles for New Home and some of the other less popular brand of sewing machines can be quite hard to find. One great resource that we found for treadle sewing machine information and parts is Treadle On.

Letter Re: Rolled Oats Versus Steel Cut Oats for Storage

Mr. Rawles;
Here is another thing that readers should be aware of: steel-cut oats require substantially more cooking than the more processed varieties. I buy #10 cans of steel-cut from Honeyville Grain, mostly because I like the taste of this product. Compared to “just add boiling water” instant oats, steel cut is much slower to cook, requiring about 20 minutes of boiling to become sufficiently soft.
As a preparedness food, it requires too much fuel and preparation time to be a first-line food of choice.

On the other hand, a pressure cooker could probably make short work of preparing any of these “semi-processed” commodities, so your mileage may vary. – JN

Letter Re: Recommendations for a Storage Food Vendor in Canada?

Hi Jim,
I live near Ottawa, [Canada] and have no idea where to buy wheat, whole corn, etc. The only place I can think of would be the feed and seed store, but don’t know about whether these are human consumption quality. I went to a huge local farm and asked them, and they said “I’m not sure where to buy it…” Thanks, – Chris R.

JWR Replies:

I have heard positive reports about FC Surplus, a storage food vendor in Ontario, Canada. At last report, they carried Mountain House freeze dried foods, the Canadian “Freddy Chef” MREs, and a good selection of military surplus and preparedness items, mostly Canadian and from the UK. If they don’t stock bulk grains in five gallon food grade buckets, then they can probably direct you to another Canadian vendor that does. Here is their contact information:

FC Surplus
1712 Dundas Street E.
London, Ontario N5W 3E1, Canada
(519) 451-0246 (Inquiries) Toll Free (877) 393-0056 (Orders only)
(519) 451-9341 (FAX) E-mail: question@fcsurplus.com

Odds ‘n Sods:

I’ve recently received two anxious e-mails from SurvivalBlog readers about the Mental Militia Forums (formerly called “The Claire Files Forums”). It seems that the old URL:
http://www.tcftalk.com/clairefiles/index.php — was allowed to lapse and folks were getting a “not found” error message. But the new URL http://thementalmilitia.com/forums/ is working fine. I hope that the board’s new owners see the wisdom of maintaining the old URL with an automatic URL redirect.

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Eric S. sent us a link to a speech by Federal Reserve Board Governor Frederic S. Mishkin: Financial Instability and the Federal Reserve as a Liquidity Provider. My favorite snippet: “Moral hazard occurs when the lender is subjected to the hazard in which the borrower has an incentive to engage in activities that are undesirable from the lender’s point of view, that is, activities that make it less likely that the loan will be repaid.” This leads me to ask: If it it is “moral hazard” to knowingly lend to the less than creditworthy, then what do you call it when you use billions of taxpayer’s dollars to bail out bankers that made those bad lending decisions?

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By way for reader RBS: Extinction by comet?

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Three readers forwarded us this article link: America’s big, fat housing inventory

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“There is nothing wise nor noble for a person to act merely in their own self-interest. Such action is in fact rudimentary in nature and referred to as a survival instinct. Even microbes move toward food and favorable conditions of light and heat. They do this most likely without wisdom, or knowledge and understanding of conditions of the past. Noble acts in nature are largely seen in acts of parenting, which some see as purely instinctual as well, and thus not noble. Mankind is of course the one species which has the knowledge and understanding of the threats which it faces and thus the opportunity to wisely prepare for them, yet the vast majority of mankind does not. Thus to be instinctual, noble, and wise, a person would have to be a charitable survivalist. ” – Rourke

Note from JWR:

One last reminder that today is the last day of the special “six pack sale” for autographed copies of the latest 33 chapter edition of my novel “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse”. The sale price of a box of six books is still just $90, postage paid. (Normally they are $24 per copy, but during this sale you get six autographed copies for $90, mailed in a Priority Mail Flat Rate box, sent to anywhere in the United States, including APO/FPO addresses.) This sale ends on October 31st. This is your chance to buy some extra copies for Christmas presents. Note that because of the recent rush of orders, I am now out of stock. I will continue to honor the special $90 six pack price, but there will be a delay for re-stocking until perhaps as late as mid-November, when the remaining six pack orders will be shipped. Orders will be shipped in the sequence that payments are received. Do not order from me unless you are willing to wait until the third week of November for your six pack of books to arrive! (If you are in a hurry, you can order from Fred’s M14 Stocks. They recently bought 1,000 autographed copies for resale.)