“And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.” – Revelation 22 (KJV)
Every bespoke SIEGE buckle goes through an hours-long artisanal process resulting in a belt unlike anything else, with blazing fast performance and looks and comfort to match.
August 7th, 1933 The birthday of Jerry Pournelle (August 7, 1933 – September 8, 2017.) He, along with Larry Niven, authored the survivalist classic Lucifer’s Hammer.
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.
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,
Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.
Second Prize:
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.
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.
An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).
Third Prize:
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)
Siege Stoves is generously donating a SIEGE® STOVE kit, including a Titanium Gen 3 Flat-Pack Stove with titanium Cross-Members and a variety of bonus items including a Large Folding Grill, a pair of Side Toasters, a Compact Fire Poker, and an extra set of stainless steel universal Cross-Members. (In all, a $200 value.)
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!
Honorable Mention:
A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit toward the purchase of any antique or percussion replica gun from Elk Creek Company will be awarded to each Honorable Mention prize winner.
—
Round 96 ends on September 30th, 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.
FOR SALE: Self-sustaining Rural Property situated meticulously in serene locales distant from densely populated sanctuary cities. Remember…HISTORY Favors the PREPARED!
#1 Trusted Gravity Water Purification System! Start Drinking Purified Water now with a Berkey water filtration system. Find systems, replacement filters, parts and more here.
We see it all the time: photos of blue-ribbon gardens with beautiful flowers and mouth-watering tomatoes, beans and squash. Everything is neat and tidy, well groomed, and not a weed in sight. People get all excited, visions of seed-catalog covers dancing in their heads, and decide they just have to start a garden so they too can have some of that fresh produce and flowers. A month later their garden more closely resembles an advertisement for Round-Up than anything they may have seen on the cover of Organic Gardening. How, oh how, do we make our gardens look like the one on the seed-catalog cover?
In T.J. Dixon’s recent article Survival Gardening: The Most Vital Prep and J.M.’s recent Black Gold: Organic Matter, both pointed out the oft-repeated advice that you’re not going to open up that can of survival seeds on Day One of TEOTWAWKI and be able to be a successful gardener without previous experience, even with Gardening for Dummies to guide you along the way. This is probably the single-most important piece of gardening advice those preparing for TEOTWAWKI can internalize: only with lots of previous experience can you harvest enough calories to get you through Phase One of bad times.
I couldn’t agree more with these two well-written articles on Gardening and Composting, and I’d like to add a third skill to be perfecting right now: Weeding. I know, it seems like anyone with the IQ of cat food can go out and pull weeds but I hope by the end of this article you’ll see that’s not the case. I also hope you can add intelligent weeding to the other items on your list of preps to start living now.
OVERCOMING ANTI-WEEDING SENTIMENTS
The main problems with pulling weeds for most people are the sheer monotony, the physical effort, and the thought that we could be doing something way more productive with our time like organizing our sock drawer. Just the word “weed” (not that kind!) brings negative feelings to anyone who’s tried gardening, from the newbie to the old hand.
To help overcome these negative feelings which prevent us from managing weeds more intelligently, I offer the following ideas which I incorporate into my own gardening and composting programs.
Attitude
Attitude is important in most things in life and weeding is no exception. I try to remain positive by thinking of the benefits of weeds. I’m not pulling weeds, I’m harvesting compost. I’m not cutting the lawn and pasture, I’m making mulch for the garden. Both compost and mulch are indispensible to gardening so these are both very positive aspects of weeds for me.
Another plus for me is that weeding is a time to be alone with my thoughts, philosophizing as I pull weeds while pondering life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I get to be Plato in the pea patch. While weeding, I’ve written many poems, parodies, and SB articles in my head, and had solutions to come to me for problems which were ruminating in the back of my mind, waiting for just the right moment to come to the surface in that “aha!” moment.
Prevention: Mulches
The first step to winning the war on weeds is to prevent them in the first place. The single-best way to prevent weeds is with mulches. From my perspective, gardening wouldn’t even be possible without mulches.
Mulch is anything which covers the soil around garden plants. Mulches include such things as tree leaves, sawdust, hay/straw, plastic sheeting, commercial weed barriers, etc. Since I’m frugal and enjoy repurposing, one of my “super mulches” is old blankets and area rugs from estate auctions and thrift stores. The rugs in Photo 1 set me back $2 for the lot.
Photo 1
After positioning them in the garden, they’re hidden under leaves or other more attractive mulches. They last for years and allow water to pass through while preventing weeds from coming through as they germinate. These work especially well in areas such as my tall A-frame bean trellis which is difficult to get underneath for weeding (Photo 2). With these long-lasting types of mulches it’s important to pull them up at the beginning of each season to detach them from the ground, then put them back down and reapply the “pretty” mulch on top.
Photo 2
Some mulches can be put down long before planting, others right before planting, and yet others once the young plants have grown some. Only experience will tell you which plants need what.
I have access to plenty of oak and hickory leaves so I get a head start on spring by putting them in the garden as fast as I can rake them in the fall. One lesson I learned early on is that, unfortunately, the mulch does an excellent job of keeping the ground cold long after it should have warmed up from the sun. As I moved aside oak leaves to plant my potatoes in March, much to my dismay I discovered the ground was still very cold compared to bare soil. I planted anyway and even after removing some mulch so the sun could heat the soil, the crop fell behind and I lost all I had hoped to gain by mulching ahead of time. For other crops such as tomatoes and peppers planted in May, the ground was plenty warm underneath the mulch by then. Again, only this kind of experience can help you do what’s best for your own garden. In a grid-down world, losing a month’s worth of growth on potatoes would be catastrophic considering it’s one of the most productive calorie-producing plants in the entire garden.
Oak/hickory leaves are my most common mulch and I like them for several reasons. They last a long time, they’re the easiest mulch for me to get in large quantities, and by the end of the growing season the bottom layer has turned to humus and the middle layers are beginning to break down. Another benefit of thick leaf mulches is when used with sweet potatoes, small bunches of sweet potatoes form along the vines underneath the leaves but above the soil. I grate these carrot-sized ones and freeze them in 1-lb. bags to use in my chili recipe. Oak leaves are now the only compost I use with sweet potatoes. Photo 3 shows them with tomatoes.
Photo 3
Another favorite mulch is old sawdust from a local sawmill. It’s the color and texture of coffee grounds but hasn’t composted much due to lack of nitrogen (Photo 4). I use this strictly on top of the soil as mulch, never tilled in or it steals nitrogen from plants. As time passes, the layer in contact with the soil breaks down into fine compost and improves the soil. Each spring, I rake it up to move any weed seeds which may have blown on top of it during the growing season lower into the pile, then rake it all back in place, leaving fewer seeds on top. My peanut crop this year is planted in one such area and the only weeds I’ve dealt with so far are a few buckwheats from last year’s experimental crop, and the ever-present morning glories which can probably grow up through concrete if my experience is any indication. Both of these weeds make good compost and are easy to pull up.
Photo 4
What I like about grass clippings is that they tend to mat down around plants to form a tighter weed barrier and can be collected all summer long for touch-up mulching where needed.
Once you start using various mulches you’ll get to know what works and what doesn’t, experience best gained sooner than later. I used box elder leaves once and discovered they break down so quickly they’re gone by midsummer. Now they go directly to the compost pile.
Aside from weed control, mulches do wonders for conserving water in the soil. Even in my region of the country where we get lots of precipitation, July tends to be rainless so mulches greatly decrease the need for hand watering.
So, start getting this mulching experience now so you’ll know what’s workable in your particular garden, instead of beginning your learning curve on TEOTWAWKI Day One along with 613 other survival skills competing for your time. In many cases it’s difficult or impractical to live our preps but for most of us, learning to garden, compost, and weed is very doable right now.
KNOW YOUR WEEDS
A topic I don’t hear discussed much but which I think is important for both weed management and composting is to know your weeds. You don’t need to learn the scientific genus and species names, or even the common names (although they can help when trouble-shooting with other gardeners) but once you begin gardening and composting, you’ll want to start getting an understanding the various characteristics of each kind of weed you have. You’ll soon discover that all weeds are not created equal. Some are the equivalent of serial killers while others have merely rolled through a stop sign at 2:00 AM in the middle of nowhere when no one was coming. A few of my weeds are “emergency weeds” when I see them poking up through the mulch but most can go on the garden to-do list. A few of mine are “good weeds” which I let grow as long as long as they’re not obstructing sunlight or crowding out my crops.
Find your secure and sustainable home. The leading marketplace for rural, remote, and off-grid properties worldwide. Affordable ads. No commissions are charged!
To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those –or excerpts thereof — in this column, in the Odds ‘n Sods Column, and in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!
Jim Reports:
I finally completed the latest woven wire cross fence. I included a hot wire on top. The time-consuming part was constructing cedar log H-braces and hanging two new tube gates. This past week we also dropped an 80-foot dead-standing fir. I probably won’t get the chance to split that wood until the third week of August, or even later.
I’m pleased to report that the shopping cart glitches at Elk Creek Company have been fixed. Mark your calendar: On Monday, August 9th, 2021, I’m starting a special sale, in honor of the birthday of gun designer James Paris Lee. I look forward to your orders.
#1 Trusted Gravity Water Purification System! Start Drinking Purified Water now with a Berkey water filtration system. Find systems, replacement filters, parts and more here.
“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.
They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:
Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.
They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the Lord your God?
Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:
Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.
Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
Then will the Lord be jealous for his land, and pity his people.
Yea, the Lord will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:
But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.
Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things.
Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.” – Joel 2:1-22 (KJV)
Click Here --> The Civil Defense Manual... The A to Z of survival. Looks what's in it... https://civildefensemanual.com/whats-in-the-civil-defense-manual/
On August 6th, 1945 at 8:16 a.m. (Japanese time), an American B-29 bomber– the Enola Gay– dropped the world’s first war-time atom bomb over the city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 people were killed as a result of the blast, with another 35,000 injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout. History is always written by the victors, so the reasoning and justification for this will be argued for years to come. But one thing is for sure: this action officially ushered in the nuclear age in war and has generated mass fear among civilization ever since, even though the firebombing of Japanese cities caused far more damage and loss of life. An interesting side note is Tsutomu Yamaguchi was 3 kilometers from the Hiroshima blast, but survived. Along with a few other survivors, he made his way to his hometown, Nagasaki, and was again within 3 kilometers of the second blast yet also survived this one.
On 6 August 2011, a U.S. CH-47D Chinook military helicopter operating with the call sign Extortion 17 (spoken “one-seven”) was shot down while transporting an Immediate Reaction Force attempting to reinforce a Joint Special Operations Command unit of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the Tangi Valley in Maidan Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan. The resulting crash killed all 38 people on board – 25 US Navy Seals, one pilot and two crewmen of the United States Army Reserve, one pilot and one crewman of the United States Army National Guard, seven members of the Afghan National Security Forces, and one Afghan interpreter, as well as a U.S. military working dog.
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.
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,
Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.
Second Prize:
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.
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.
An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).
Third Prize:
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)
Siege Stoves is generously donating a SIEGE® STOVE kit, including a Titanium Gen 3 Flat-Pack Stove with titanium Cross-Members and a variety of bonus items including a Large Folding Grill, a pair of Side Toasters, a Compact Fire Poker, and an extra set of stainless steel universal Cross-Members. (In all, a $200 value.)
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!
Honorable Mention:
A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit toward the purchase of any antique or percussion replica gun from Elk Creek Company will be awarded to each Honorable Mention prize winner.
—
Round 96 ends on September 30th, 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.
(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.)
A couple of months ago another hen went broody, and I decided to take advantage of this to have her hatch a clutch of eggs all from these hens and rooster. Her first clutch was eight eggs. I moved her and the eggs into a temporary nest, made from a cardboard box, in the cage I had used before to separate her from the flock a bit and protect her eggs from the other hens who might try to lay in that box. She was not happy about the move and repeatedly tried to return to the original, now empty, nest box. One mistake I made was using too small a box for her. It was the same size as the one I had used earlier, but this was a larger bird and it was too small for her. She was not at all happy with that nest and it showed.
She managed to get out of the cage one night and I found her in the morning in a regular nest box in the coop. I counted those eight eggs a loss since they would have chilled overnight, put five fresh eggs in a larger temporary nest box and closed her in securely so that she couldn’t get out of the cage. I worried that all of this hassle would break her broodiness, but I thank the Lord that it didn’t and she settled on the new clutch. Then the waiting began, at least three weeks maybe a bit longer.
This summer was fairly warm and very rainy. I don’t think the humidity dropped below 85% at any time during the three plus weeks she was on the nest, and most days it was in the 90-100% range. That may explain why none of those eggs hatched, even after 25 days with her on the nest since eggs need to be kept at about 70% humidity while the embryos are developing, though that is just a guess. In any event, even though I waited four extra days, none of those eggs hatched.Continue reading“My Many Fast Failures – Part 2, by M.P.”
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 jet fuel shortage. (See the Commodities section.)
“A government is the most dangerous threat to man’s rights: it holds a legal monopoly on the use of physical force against legally disarmed victims.” – Ayn Rand
August 5th is the sad anniversary of the Mann Gulch Fire in Montana that took the lives of 13 firefighters (including 12 smokejumpers and one former smokejumper), in 1949. The intense, fast-moving forest fire took place in what later became the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. The events of that fire were chronicled in the book Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean and immortalized in the haunting lyrics of the ballad Cold Missouri Waters by James Keelaghan.
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.
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,
Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.
Second Prize:
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.
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.
An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).
Third Prize:
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)
Siege Stoves is generously donating a SIEGE® STOVE kit, including a Titanium Gen 3 Flat-Pack Stove with titanium Cross-Members and a variety of bonus items including a Large Folding Grill, a pair of Side Toasters, a Compact Fire Poker, and an extra set of stainless steel universal Cross-Members. (In all, a $200 value.)
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!
Honorable Mention:
A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit toward the purchase of any antique or percussion replica gun from Elk Creek Company will be awarded to each Honorable Mention prize winner.
—
Round 96 ends on September 30th, 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.
I just learned the hard way the truth about not counting your chickens before they are hatched. This is but one of the many failures I have experienced over the past several years as I have been trying to climb the learning curve of several different self-sufficiency skills. I wanted to share my experiences with the other readers of SurvivalBlog in hopes—not so much that you can learn from my mistakes though if that happens, wonderful!—but as much as anything to encourage you to start now making your own mistakes and learning from them if you haven’t already.
“Fail fast” is a term we don’t hear a lot of anymore, but it was big in tech circles a short while ago. It essentially means try lots of things and test often, fixing mistakes and errors along the way or learning early if a different direction needs to be undertaken. It is a practice that I think we preppers should be doing now and if we aren’t already, we need to start immediately.
If this nation and this world continue along the path we seem to be heading down faster and faster, then we are going to need to be providing for ourselves from our own resources in the near future. For most of us, this will mean having not only essential materials (seeds, animals, water, protection, etc.) but the essential skill set to use and manage these resources reliably and successfully. But the reality is that many, maybe most of us, even when our stores of essentials are deep, don’t have the skills developed to such a level that we can know that we will be able to provide for ourselves and our families in the long run. This is where implementing the concept of fail fast now—when we can afford to make our mistakes and recover from them—becomes so important.
If we wait until we must depend on our skills to get by, we are past the point of easily recovering from those inevitable mistakes. And if you can learn from my mistakes and fast failures, so much the better!
My chicken saga began several years ago, when I ordered a batch of chicks from a local feed store. I did quite a bit right, I think, at first. I had the coop and a run built by the time they were to arrive. I had all the supplies I needed on hand as well. When the chicks came, they went right into the ready brood box with a heat lamp, bedding, feed, and water. The box had to be in our breezeway (I’m not sure my wife thinks I did this part right as still years later she claims the breezeway smells like chickens) because of the cold temperatures in this region that early in the year. The box had a screened top to keep our cats away from the chicks, so that though they enjoyed sitting on top and watching them they couldn’t do them any harm. We enjoyed them, too, as did any grandkids or other children who came to visit.Continue reading“My Many Fast Failures – Part 1, by M.P.”
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 software-defined radios (SDRs).
A Primer on Software Defined Radios (SDRs)
This video is a primer on inexpensive software-defined radios (SDRs): The Coolest Radio You’ve Probably Never Heard Of. JWR’s Comment: The software to operate these radios is available for free download. At just $35, this is a great radio to give as a birthday gift to a tech-savvy kid who already owns a laptop computer. It is mind-boggling to think that a radio with both a spectrum analyzer and a waterfall display is now available at that price point.
“Cannot you see, cannot all you lecturers see, that it is we that are dying, and that down here the only thing that really lives is the Machine? We created the Machine, to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now. It has robbed us of the sense of space and of the sense of touch, it has blurred every human relation and narrowed down love to a carnal act, it has paralysed our bodies and our wills, and now it compels us to worship it. The Machine develops — but not on our lines. The Machine proceeds — but not to our goal. We only exist as the blood corpuscles that course through its arteries, and if it could work without us, it would let us die.” – E.M. Forster, The Machine Stops
On August 4th, 1944, 15-year-old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family were captured by the Nazi Gestapo. The Franks had taken shelter in a small space in a sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse along with another Jewish family and a single Jewish man. They were aided by Christian friends who brought them food and supplies. Her diary survived the war, overlooked by the Gestapo, but Anne and nearly all of the others perished in the Nazi death camps.
—
Two of my recent gun auctions at GunBroker.com ended very satisfactorily. But oddly, the third one got no bids. So, I decided to start a new auction for it with a $1 opening bid, and no reserve! It is a stainless steel Seecamp LWS .380 ACP made in Milford, Connecticut, new in box with three factory magazines, and extra factory springs. As a modern gun, it would require delivery to or through an FFL. This scarce Seecamp pistol has a current market value in excess of $1,000. Please consider bidding. Not only will you help support SurvivalBlog, but you’ll end up with a gun from my personal collection. Mark your calendar: This auction ends Sunday, 8/15/2021 at 10:03 PM, Eastern Time.
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.
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,
Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.
Second Prize:
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.
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.
An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).
Third Prize:
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)
Siege Stoves is generously donating a SIEGE® STOVE kit, including a Titanium Gen 3 Flat-Pack Stove with titanium Cross-Members and a variety of bonus items including a Large Folding Grill, a pair of Side Toasters, a Compact Fire Poker, and an extra set of stainless steel universal Cross-Members. (In all, a $200 value.)
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!
Honorable Mention:
A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit toward the purchase of any antique or percussion replica gun from Elk Creek Company will be awarded to each Honorable Mention prize winner.
—
Round 96 ends on September 30th, 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.
As an executive with a multi-billion financial institution, I am a financial insider (boo, hiss). I also believe in preparedness. I believe that I have some insights into the money side of preparedness that you might want to consider. I will not delve too deeply into the fragile nature of the global financial system, but I will share my biggest concerns without going into detail:
• The fractional reserve banking system allows your bank to create money out of thin air
• The central banks of the world are creating unprecedented amounts of money out of thin air
• Fiat currencies are not real money
• The central banking systems of the major nations only exist to prop up large commercial banks and do not care about citizens
• There is an enormous amount of leverage in the financial markets, government balance sheets, shadow banks and the average household
• Some private equity firms operate in the shadows, taking enormous leveraged bets which can shake fixed income markets when their bets go bad.
• Regulators are incapable of understanding the risks being taken by the firms that they regulate
But enough about what keeps me up at night. My primary objective of this article is to share my thoughts with you on appropriate financial preparedness strategies. I will not go into the non-financial aspects of prepping, of which you are all so familiar.
I was oblivious to the concept of prepping until the 2008 to 2009 global financial crisis. It shook my beliefs about money and the financial markets to the core. During this crisis, I became “red-pilled” and started to question everything that I believed about our government, the financial markets and money in general. I realized that many of the concepts that I thought were ridiculous conspiracy theories, were not. I was very concerned about losing my job and realized that I would be in big trouble, if I did. I had way too much debt, very little savings, no cash on hand, no silver, no gold and only enough food in the house to last about a week. But I took the bull by the horns and started my various financial and non-financial prepping efforts during the depths of the financial crisis.Continue reading“Money, Finances and Preparedness, by Mr. Zipph”
