The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.

And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.

And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.

And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.

Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.

And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not:

And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children’s children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast:

And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.” – Genesis 45:1-11 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — March 19, 2021

On March 19, 1982, 50 Argentines landed on South Georgia in the Falkland Islands to plant the Argentine flag. They renamed the islands The Malvinas. This precipitated the Argentine army invasion on April 2nd. Despite some significant naval losses and dreadful weather, British Marines re-took the island on April 25th in a well-coordinated ground campaign. Coincidentally, in this brief war, the British Army and the Argentine Army were both equipped with FN-FAL variant rifles. The Brits carried L1A1 “SLR” inch pattern FAL rifles. The Argentines carried metric FALs. Perhaps the Falklands should be called The FALklands.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 93 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical 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,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  4. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  5. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  4. A transferable $150 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 93 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Leatherman Wave and Skeletool, by The Novice

It was a beautiful late-July evening in southeastern Alaska. I was on a work team helping a missionary supported by our church. The missionary’s organization was updating an old fishing lodge to serve as a halfway house. The goal was to provide a place to mentor native Alaskans who had recently been released from prison.

I was tired in a good way. We had been busy all day clearing land at the lodge for a sawmill site. Now we were enjoying a quiet evening. A friend from church was fishing on the river nearby. I was just watching, because I was too frugal to buy a non-resident fishing license for just a few days of use. As you can tell, I am not a true fisherman.

Before long, my friend caught a nice salmon. He took out his Leatherman Wave to remove the hook. I had been considering getting a Leatherman Wave. When my friend was done removing the hook, I asked if I could take a look at his Wave. I was quite impressed with the item. It seemed to be exactly what I was looking for in a multi-tool. It had the extra benefit of being made in the USA.

It can be dangerous to admire something that belongs to a friend. Later that week, my friend presented the tool to me as a gift, along with a leather sheath to carry it in. My friend reported that the tool was an extra that he had picked up inexpensively at a pawn shop.

Customer Service

The multi-tool that my friend gave me had just one flaw: the scissors were broken. I went to the Leatherman website, and completed a warranty request. The website provided me with a shipping label which I printed and then used to ship the knife to Leatherman for repair. About ten days later I received it back as good as new, free of charge. (Or maybe it really was a brand new one. I am not entirely sure). I am very impressed with their warranty service.

Basic Description

Like many multi-tools, the Leatherman Wave is built around a folding pair of pliers. While the unit remains folded, a three-inch plain edge knife and a three-inch serrated edge knife can be opened one-handed. With the help of the other hand, a wood saw or a file can also be accessed while the unit remains folded.

Unfolding the unit gives access to the pliers, which include an integral wire cutter. The handles are marked so that they can be used as either an eight-inch or 20 centimeter ruler. Folding out from the handles are #1 Phillips and flat head screwdrivers, a can opener, scissors, eyeglasses screw-sized Phillips and flat screwdrivers, and a large flat screwdriver.Continue reading“Leatherman Wave and Skeletool, by The Novice”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at the global demand for cobalt. (See the Commodities section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold/Silver: An opportunistic approach for accumulation. JWR’s Comment:  This is a good juncture to sell half of your crypto holdings, and buy silver.

o  o  o

Can gold price break free of Treasury markets? Analysts zero in on this trigger

Economy & Finance:

Jared Taylor, writing at American Renaissance: Joe Biden: Already Hard at Work Wrecking the Country

o  o  o

Some figures from the globalists: Strengthening the recovery: The need for speed — OECD Economic Outlook, Interim Report March 2021

o  o  o

At Seeking Alpha: Bond yields continue to rise and technology ETFs suffer

o  o  o

UN: COVID-19 cuts global maritime trade, transforms industry

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“When you disarm your subjects, however, you offend them by showing that either from cowardliness or lack of faith, you distrust them; and either conclusion will induce them to hate you.” – Niccolo Machiavelli

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — March 18, 2021

March 18th is the birthday of novelist John Updike. (He was born in 1932 and died in 2009.)

It is also the birthday of Luc Besson, director and producer of films such as Nikita and The Fifth Element. He was born in 1959.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 93 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical 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,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  4. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  5. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  4. A transferable $150 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 93 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Basic Computer Privacy and Security, by Liber T. Y.

First of all, a few disclaimers:

1. I am not a computer geek and I am not good at coding. I am merely a layman who has found some useful tools for computer privacy and security and knows a thing or two about computers (I’m also not a lawyer so any legal ramifications should be talked about with a legal professional).

2. This article is about what a layman can do to secure their computer and browse privately in the Windows operating system (OS). As such, not all of the products listed herein may work in an Apple or Linux OS.

3. I am not affiliated with any of the following-mentioned software and devices. I do not receive any monetary compensation for endorsing them. In fact, all of the products listed are either free or have a free version that I currently use. Thus ends the disclaimers.

I’ll give a little basic background about myself and this article.
I’m a paranoid (one of the things my dad tells me is that my tinfoil hat is on too tight) 14-year-old, who lives in rural Minnesota, and has a nominal budget. I mostly just use my computer for accessing the Internet and storing some files (plus the occasional video), so what I consider good may be inadequate for someone who works remotely or uses their computer to play high-quality games.

This article was originally going to be very different. It was going to be about a version of Linux called Puppy Linux. Suffice it to say I have run into some speed bumps. This is not to discourage you from working on some of the more complex attributes of computers. In fact, I still want to use a version of Linux and I would fully encourage you to delve deeper into things like Linux and some of the more esoteric uses of VeraCrypt (see below). In spite of this, I have come to realize that while I, or anybody else, is experimenting with alternative OS like Linux we ought to (at least partially) ensure our security and privacy with Windows. Since this is free and, also, fairly easy, we should take a little bit of time to secure the OS that most of us use. Not to mention, there are probably quite a few people reading this that would never even consider migrating from Windows but still want a secure and private computer experience. So, without further ado, this is what I’ve come up with.

Browsers

The browser I use is Brave. This is an open-source browser that has some great features. It has an ad blocker (which regrettably blocks SurvivalBlog ads so disable the shield for SurvivalBlog) and also has the option of in-private windows with The Onion Router (Tor) built-in. I haven’t tried it and only include here for interest). You can do just about anything with it that you can do with a standard browser. It is generally regarded as one of the most private browsers available, right up there with Firefox (which I no longer use due to their CEO’s anti-conservative comments found here.). I discovered this browser partially through SurvivalBlog, and partially through other online recommendations. You can download it here.

Search Engines

Since you’re going to require a search engine to use in your browser, I would suggest DuckDuckGo. They store very little to no information about you and the info they do store is well nigh the bare minimum. You can read their (very succinct) privacy policy here. DuckDuckGo has given me what I need when I search and I would say it is as good as or better than Google in practically every way. It has a map feature built into the search engine (Apple Maps) and you can even install an extension in most browsers that appraises the privacy of the sites you visit. I learned about this search engine through the book Laissez Faire’s 2016 Guide To Happiness.

E-mail Privacy

I’d bet you use your e-mail for a good number of things. E-mail’s an altogether useful thing and you can get encrypted e-mail for free! ProtonMail will end-to-end encrypt e-mails to fellow ProtonMail accounts and your messages are stored with zero access encryption (i.e. ProtonMail itself cannot read your e-mails). Another bonus is that ProtonMail is based in Switzerland and consequently, according to their privacy policy, they “will only disclose the limited user data we possess if we are instructed to do so by a fully binding request coming from the competent Swiss authorities (legal obligation).” Their free account only comes with 500 MB of storage, but this can be upgraded, and it is ample for me at the moment. I found out about this e-mail service from the same source as my search engine. You can open a free account here.

VPN

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is advantageous for masking your IP address (among other things). The best free VPN, according to my research, would be ProtonVPN. Basically, what ProtonVPN does, is it connects your computer through a tunnel to a server. That server’s IP address then appears in the place of your own when you search. All VPNs do this, however, ProtonVPN has other, additional features as well. It encrypts your connection, has a scrupulous no-log policy, and it doesn’t have any ads. It doesn’t bar you from using the VPN after a certain amount of bandwidth is used due to the no logs policy and it has similar Swiss privacy protections as its sister company ProtonMail. You can see the rest of its features here.

The free version comes with a mere three countries to route your traffic through (the USA, the Netherlands, and Japan) and limited servers in those countries (and is thus supposedly slower due to more people competing for fewer servers), but it is still fast enough for anything I do. One caveat to consider, however, is that ProtonVPN states: “ProtonVPN supports most popular Internet browsers. However, ProtonVPN uses cutting-edge technology that is only supported in the latest versions of these browsers”. This means that you must have a version later than or equal to the version listed on the website above. Interestingly enough though, Brave browser is not listed but is still supported. I verified this by looking up my IP through Brave and it is also generally considered to work with Brave on other sites online. I found out about this service from ProtonMail’s e-mails and ProtonMail login info will work for ProtonVPN. You can install ProtonVPN here.

Firewall

A highly regarded firewall is ZoneAlarm. This firewall will provide you with the security any good firewall would with a two-way firewall that monitors traffic going into and out of your computer. I read about this in the book One Nation, Under Surveillance by Boston T. Party. You can install it here.

Antivirus

This next one is a handy antivirus program called AVG Antivirus. With the Smart Scan (it comes with numerous other types, too) it analyses browser threats, viruses and other malware, and advanced issues with your computer such as whether you have basic firewall protection. I heard about this from an unlikely source, as a matter of fact: the Cadet Safety Officer at my Civil Air Patrol Squadron. You can download it here.

File Encryption

What I use is a fantastic program, called VeraCrypt, to generate an encrypted file container on my computer. An encrypted file container is, in this case, a file on your computer that contains all your other files inside of this. VeraCrypt also creates this file so that it can’t be identified as a VeraCrypt volume (at least from a cursory check). Once you’ve created this volume all you have to do is select an available disk letter, select the volume from your files, and enter your password. It is then treated as a regular drive.

VeraCrypt is an open-source program with a lot of cool features and is a descendant of the mysteriously discontinued file encryption system TrueCrypt. Assuming a sufficiently strong password and encryption algorithm (e.g. AES) it would take such a long time to decrypt as to make it next to worthless to attempt to decrypt the volume without the correct password (so don’t forget it!!!). The program has a ton of extra features that are probably too involved for this article, such as hidden volumes and a hidden OS, so I’ve just covered the basics.

If you want to learn more about these features (which I would heartily encourage you to do) you can read about everything here. For our purposes you should still at least skim the beginner’s guide. I learned about this one after reading about TrueCrypt in the book One Nation, Under Surveillance by Boston T. Party and subsequently discovering that the program was discontinued. You can download VeraCrypt here.

File Erasure

You may not be aware of this, but if you delete a file it isn’t actually destroyed. It is merely counted as free space to be overwritten at a later date (as shown here, here, and here.) This means that you can’t just delete all those critical files you copied to VeraCrypt. You have to truly erase them by multiply over-writing those file sectors. You can erase them with an open-source program called Eraser. This is a rather simple program and fairly self-explanatory. You can run tasks to be executed manually, recurring, have them run on completion, or on restart. There are many different erasure methods like Gutmann standard (probably overkill) and standards used by the Department of Defense. I found out about this one through One Nation, Under Surveillance by Boston T. Party. You can download Eraser here.

In Closing

These are all fine, free pieces of software (most of them are also open-source) and they will greatly help you in becoming more private and help in securing your device. These are also all fairly easy to install and don’t take too much effort. I would like to encourage you to experiment with more things like the above (or even stuff that’s drastically different). Experiment more with VeraCrypt and/or Linux. Upgrade if you love the free versions of these items.

Please note that I wrote this article to help people have a little more than the modicum of security and privacy that’s average while using their Windows OS. If you’re number one on the NSA’s watch list, then this probably won’t help you much since you’ll have a supercomputer against you. I for one am (probably) not number one on a watch list and most people aren’t actually important enough to warrant such scrutiny. Thus, this will work for most people, is relatively simple, and even I know how it works.

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at backyard chickens.

Legalizing Backyard Chickens

SurivalBlog reader Rita M. forwarded us this link: Legalizing Backyard Chickens. This web page describes how city zoning laws crept in, over the years, to restrict the rights of property owners to keep a household egg-laying flock.

CPAC Attendees Flagged as Possible “Domestic Terrorists”

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site, and also mentioned by blog reader D.S.V.: Airports flagging conservatives who went to Orlando for CPAC as potential “domestic terrorists”

Record Drought in the Southwest

H.L. sent this: Fears Of A ​​​​​​​”Return Of The 1930s Dust Bowl” Rise As Record Drought Sizzles Southwest. A pericope:

“The United States Drought Monitor publishes weekly data that shows the Western U.S. is in a historic drought.

The latest Drought Monitor map shows for Mar. 4, “Dry conditions dominated much of the West and especially the Southwest and into the Plains.” 

Extreme to exceptional drought conditions are seen across 57% and 90% of the land in Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, and diminishing snowpack could jeopardize drinking water for tens of millions of people from Denver to Los Angeles.”

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people’s idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage.” – Winston Churchill

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — March 17, 2021

Today is the birthday of the late Thomas Michael “Mad Mike” Hoare (born 1919, died 2020.) In the movie The Wild Geese, the Colonel Alan Faulkner character (played by Richard Burton) was patterned on Michael Hoare.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 93 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical 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,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  4. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  5. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  4. A transferable $150 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 93 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Volume Vegetable Gardening – Part 2, by J.T.

(Continued from Part. 1. This concludes the article.)

Onions

1. Onions can be started anytime between February 25 and April 27. I grow my Walla Walla onions from seed not from sets that have been started by another grower. You can begin harvesting these about 125 days after starting the seeds.

2. Using the small containers, start by filling each with 90% starting material then soak each one. Next, put 50 to 60 seeds in each pot, then cover 1/8″ with potting soil, then very slowly add enough water to soak the last 1/8″, trying hard to avoid the seeds from floating in the mixture. Keep the material damp while the plants emerge in a warm room under grow lights.

3. If the onions were started February 25, they should be ready to move to the greenhouse the middle of March where there will be sufficient light and warmth for them to continue maturing in their original pot. While in the greenhouse, you will need to trim their tops to keep them around 4 to 5 inches short. Don’t rush to plant outside. You want the ground to be in the high 60s with some low 70 degree days. For my location, that would mean outside planting would take place about June 1st after hardening off for 3 or 4 days.

4. It’s now time to transplant the onions to an area of the garden that has been tilled and leveled. Carefully separate each tiny plant from the 50 or 60 crammed into the little containers. Each plant should be planted about 6″ apart. 100 plants will fit an area 5′ by 6′. Keep the ground moist during the growing time. Growth has been slow until now, however, in just 60 days you will be eating your own onions.

Peas

1. Snap peas are a favorite of our customers, so I grow lots of them. Most folks start peas by planting them directly in the ground. I find that starting the seed in planting material and putting them in the greenhouse for transplanting later works best. My first seeds are started April 1st followed by my second planting April 24th. Harvesting will occur in our area about 2 & 1/2 months from the time the seeds are started.

2. Using the small containers, start by filling each with 70% starting material then soak each one. Next, put 4 to 5 seeds in each pot, then cover 1″ with potting soil, then slowly add enough water to soak the last 1″, trying hard to avoid the seeds from floating in the mixture. Keep the material damp while the plants emerge in the greenhouse.

3. Plants will be ready to transplant outside about 20 to 25 days after starting the seeds. The ground will be chilly, but peas actually prefer cooler weather. Be sure to harden off the plants a few days before putting them in there permanent outside location.

4. When it’s time to transplant the peas, be sure it’s in an area of the garden that has been turned over and leveled. Each plant should be in a row about 1″ to 2″ apart with the row being separated by at least 2′. 100 plants will fit an area 5′ by 7′ when using 2 rows. Keep the ground moist during the growing time. In less than 2 months, peas will be ready to harvest. Plan for the harvest to last for about one month.Continue reading“Volume Vegetable Gardening – Part 2, by J.T.”

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — March 16, 2021

Today is the anniversary of the Battle at Pound Gap Kentucky. (1862)

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 93 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical 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,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  4. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  5. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  4. A transferable $150 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 93 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Volume Vegetable Gardening – Part 1, by J.T.

This article describes the steps required to raise a variety of 14 vegetable plants from seed starting to a successful harvest. I’ve been at this for 50 years and feel like I am getting closer to getting it done right.

I raise vegetables and fruit, manly to sell from a roadside stand. Yearly, I grow about 4,200 pounds of vegetables and 1,500 pounds of apples, plums, and pears. Our family uses only 30% of this yield, so that leaves a lot to sell.

The following are what I believe are the most important preparation and focus points for a successful garden:

• Your outside garden area will be best prepared if your soil has at least a 3-inch layer of compost over the entire area placed there at the end of last year’s harvest.
• Best date to start seeds will be listed. Don’t start too early and don’t start too late.
• The amount you can expect to harvest from each seed will be listed by number of plants or pounds per plant. Don’t start more seeds than you expect will produce a sufficient harvest. On average, 10% of your seeds won’t make it, and if they are more than two years old, increase the loss to 20% or more.
• Start plants in pots that are placed under grow lights and left in a warm room, or are started in the greenhouse. I use 3.5″ square black plastic containers that are 3.25″ deep.
• If you don’t have a greenhouse, your seed starting date should be delayed by the number of days I am showing that they need to be left in the greenhouse before transplanting outside.
• All plants require outside soil preparation. Some garden spots need to be tilled and level before planting. Other plants such as Cole crops, cucumbers, squash, potatoes, and tomatoes don’t need the ground to be tilled.
• Some seeds are best to start under lights indoors, or in the greenhouse, and others can be directly planted in the garden.
• The amount of produce you can expect to harvest and the length of the season will be shown.
• The date you should expect each plant to start delivering a harvest will be estimated as well as the date when the harvest will be finished producing.

Before getting into the details, let’s discuss weather, temperature, and light. This garden is in Zone 7, located in the Pacific Northwest. Here, the last frost ends about March 31st. The first frost of the season is Oct. 15th or later. Nighttime temperatures never rise above 55 degrees. During summer days, the temperature will reach low 70’s in mid-July through the end of August with only an occasional day rising to the high 70’s. Being close to the Canadian border means days are long with lots of light. Storms of wind and rain are rare from May first thorough mid-September. The weather at this location allows for growing vegetables from mid-March to the end of October. So let’s get started.

Here are the fourteen plants:
1. Beets
2. Broccoli
3. Cabbage
4. Cauliflower
5. Carrots
6. Cucumbers
7. Garlic
8. Hubbard squash
9. Onions
10. Peas
11. Potatoes
12. String beans
13. Tomatoes
14. ZucchiniContinue reading“Volume Vegetable Gardening – Part 1, by J.T.”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly column is a collection of short snippets: practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. We may select some longer e-mails for posting as separate letters.

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Digital Health Pass: IBM and Moderna Partner up in New York  for Digital Passport

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Reader Tom in South Dakota wrote:

“H.R. 8 breezed through the House of Non-Representatives. I think they’ll also squeak it through the Senate.  So I’m stocking up, BIG-time. A high-cap magazine ban is also coming. I’ll be hitting all the [in-state] gun shows and I’m watching the local newspaper ads for private sales. It’s kinda tough to find your whole family’s supply-for-life in just a couple months, but I’m going to give it max effort, and max budget. I’m also trying to find some pre-1899ers. I’m mainly looking for 7mm Mausers like Tunnel Rabbit talked about.”

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Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”