Editors’ Prepping Progress

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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 the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

I’ve been keeping the home fires burning, this past week. With the help of our eldest daughter, I packed a few Elk Creek Company orders. And I’ve been trying to catch up on getting our incoming gun inventory cataloged. In addition to my usual blog writing, I’ve had a few consulting calls. Those are always fun and interesting. And I’ve also been doing a bit more hedging into full capacity magazines, in anticipation of Federal legislation. The only thing more frightening than congress being in session is a Monopoly of Power situation where one party controls both houses of congress and the presidency. That is where we were in October of 1984, when the Assualt Weapons Ban and Magazine Ban was enacted.

My sincere thanks to the many readers who bought SurvivalBog Ten Cent Challenge subscriptions, in response to my recent post about quitting Amazon and Amazon Associates. I really appreciate your support!  That will really help make up the lost revenue from Amazon Associates. I’ve also been motivated to add more companies to our roster of Affiliate Advertisers. For example, we just added:

Silver Gold Bull

(A precious metals company in Canada.  I’ve done some business with them personally, by mail.  I found them to be very reliable, and their prices are competitive.  In doing some research for a consulting client, they were the only coin company that I could find that would accept Bitcoin directly from a personal crypto wallet, in payment.

and,

Titan Fitness /Titan Great Outdoors.

They make tractor attachments, fitness equipment, ATV-ramps and outdoor products like grill pits — all made in USA. Check them out.

Next week, I have a couple of specific barnyard projects planned. But this past week, it was just the usual manure hauling, livestock feeding, and firewood chores. Now, over to Lily:

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

1

“Now it came to pass, when Adonizedec king of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them;

That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty.

Wherefore Adonizedec king of Jerusalem, sent unto Hoham king of Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king of Lachish, and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying,

Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.

Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their hosts, and encamped before Gibeon, and made war against it.

And the men of Gibeon sent unto Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants; come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us: for all the kings of the Amorites that dwell in the mountains are gathered together against us.

So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour.

And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.

Joshua therefore came unto them suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all night.

And the Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Bethhoron, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.

And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.

Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.” – Joshua 10:1-12 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — January 29, 2021

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Today is also the birthday of journalist and inventor Thomas Paine (1737–1809.)

This is also the birthday of actor Tom Selleck (born 1945), best known for playing the title role of Magnum, P.I.. He is an avid shooter and quite pro-gun.

On this day in 1845 Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” was published.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 92 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 92 ends on January 31, 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.

Gear Review: Coast FL19 Headlamp, by The Novice

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Headlamps were first developed primarily for mining. Most other occupations could depend on natural light for at least part of each day, but deep pit mining was always carried out far from the friendly light of the sun. For millennia, miners had carried a source of artificial light like a torch, candle or lamp into the mines. They would fasten their light-source somehow to the wall of the shaft and set to work. About 1850 or so, someone in Scotland got the brilliant idea of attaching a small oil wick lamp above the brim of a cap, and the headlamp was born.

The early oil wick headlamps were smoky, sooty and did not give much light. In the early 1900s they were largely replaced by the carbide lamp, which used a cleaner and brighter acetylene flame. The problem was that both oil wick lamps and carbide lamps used an open flame, which could ignite explosive gases like methane which collected in the mines. Several major mine explosions in the early 1900s led to the development of the electric incandescent cap lamp, which came into wide use by the mid 20th century. The electric incandescent headlamp faced competition from florescent technology beginning in the 1970s, and then LED technology beginning in the 1990s.

During this time, there were also significant developments in battery technology. Lighter batteries were able to be installed directly in the headlamp rather than carried on the miner’s belt and attached by a cord to the lamp. In subsequent years, this improving technology has trickled down to the consumer level as well.

Headlamps for Missionaries?

Our church buys birthday presents each year for all of the missionaries whom we support. For many years, I have been the designated buyer. I consider myself to be a somewhat quirky buyer. I feel especially sorry for the missionary wives (they have, for example, received pink Swiss army knives in the past). But I do my best, and always try to keep an eye out for things that the missionaries might find to be useful.

Recently, I was in a hardware store and noticed a display of Coast FL19 headlamps on an end-cap near the checkout. The FL19 looked interesting. Most of our missionaries find themselves working outdoors at night from time to time. I knew from my own experience how useful a headlamp can be in such settings.Continue reading“Gear Review: Coast FL19 Headlamp, by The Novice”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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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 recent GameStop stock fiasco. (See the Equities section.)

Precious Metals:

Peter Krauth: Gold Bull Will Run For Years – Here’s Why

o  o  o

Gold to push above $2,000 as Saxo Bank sees 2021 as the start of broad commodity bull market

o  o  o

Inflation or deflation? Markets most likely to see ‘extremes,’ but gold price benefits, says WGC

Economy & Finance:

Will Biden’s Policies Lead to Job Losses? Here Are Possible Economic Impacts of Four of Them.

o  o  o

At Zero Hedge: US Economy Set To Overheat As Households Are Flooded With $2 Trillion In Excess Savings

o  o  o

H.L. sent us this link: In 2020 US Treasury Federal Revenue dropped by -34.7% which was the 2nd largest drop in history just behind 1929…

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“By placing discretion in the hands of an official to grant or deny a license, such a statute creates a threat of censorship that by its very existence chills free speech.” – Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — January 28, 2021

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January 28th is the anniversary of the rescue of General James L. Dozier from his Italian Red Brigades kidnappers. Tangentially, Colonel Jeff Cooper created a shooting drill in honor of the men who freed him– The Dozier Drill.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 92 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 92 ends on January 31, 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.

Garden Lessons – Part 2, by Greenthumb in the West

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

Grapes are a relatively fast maturing plant as far as fruit production (compared to trees) but even for them the vines that bear fruit grow off of last year’s vines. Unless you are already growing or purchase “primacane” variety berries, most of them are the same way. Asparagus and rhubarb need to be established a year or two before they can be harvested. You have time to deal with that year of start up time now, so take advantage of it.

Established fruit trees and plants can produce excessive amounts of fruit. New trees don’t. Plant now.

Pay attention to the varietals you are planting. It matters. Choose ones that match your growing season, climate, and challenges. If you have a shorter growing season, choose early harvest varietals. With a longer season, you might be able to fit in two harvests. Disease resistance, number of frost hours required, etc all can be important factors to plant survival and production. Outside of the plant and growing characteristics, fruit type matters too. If you are planning on making sauce from tomatoes, cherry tomatoes may not be the best for you! Are you choosing heirloom varietals?

Not to contradict myself, but while varietals matter, local knowledge and plant stock also matter. Don’t reinvent the wheel. If your neighbor has amazing fruit trees or a great garden, go talk to them. See what they are growing. See how often they water them. See what their fertilizer regimen is. Learn what you can. There is no need to repeat mistakes someone else has already learned from! Some gardeners don’t like to give up secrets, but most will help a neighbor out, especially if the interest is genuine. We have had good luck, not coming empty-handed. If they have iris growing somewhere, we have brought a few bulbs of a different color flower and a dozen eggs from the hens to help break the ice. In our neck of the woods, people are not only neighborly but happy to help and have other self-sufficient families around. When we run into them later, we have always made it a point to tell them how the garden was doing and let them know that their advice paid off.

Our berry cuttings came from a nearby farm. The owners were out by the fence one day and we stopped to ask them about the huge blackberry thicket they had growing on a creek drainage. An hour of conversation later, we had new friends and permission to make cuttings from the berries when we wanted. They had no idea what varietal they were but the berries love the local climate and you can’t argue with that. This may not always be possible, but take advantage of local plants when you can. If your garden zone is supposed to grow apples and peaches, but no one is growing peaches, ask around! There may be a good reason why not!

Our garden has a gradual slope, so that the northeast corner is the highest and the southwest corner is the lowest. One of the things we noticed was that we tended to have water drainage towards the western fence, and then south. Because of the natural water flow, this was where we established our berries. They love it.

Try to take advantage of the natural layout of your garden. We have made a habit of tossing a few seeds of whatever is left in any area that has water drainage after watering and the plants have almost always done well. Pay attention to what direction your sun comes from and don’t put tall plants in front of short plants. Likewise, If you have grapes, hops, or other plants of a similar vine form, plant them on the furthest fence from the sun (North for us), not the nearest, so the sun isn’t blocked. Plan the garden so things with a similar watering schedule are near each other. Make your life easier.

Try not to mix annuals and perennials in the same bed. This helps with prep for next year, as well as watering. We have a bed of rhubarb, asparagus, and all of our perennial herbs. This way, we aren’t trying to dig around established plants to prep the rest of the bed for planting. Let your garden be your guide. Work with what your garden wants to do, not against it. One side of our orchard gradually becomes more rocky and clay. The trees on that side of the yard didn’t drain and died. We replaced them with blueberries that do great in the spot. Likewise with the blackberries in the drainage, taking advantage of the natural run off.Continue reading“Garden Lessons – Part 2, by Greenthumb in the West”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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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’ll start with an article about the oxygen shortages at hospitals.

Oxygen Scarcity Swells Covid-19’s Death Toll

To file under “I told you so”: Oxygen Scarcity Swells Covid-19’s Death Toll. JWR’s Comments: I stand by my advice from March, 2020 for SurvivaBlog-reading families: Find a used oxygen concentrator. The next coronavirus (COVID-21, or whatever) may put many millions of acute patients on oxygen therapy.

Judge Blocks Enforcement of 100-Day Deportation Moratorium

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Judge blocks enforcement of 100-day deportation moratorium.

New Listing on SurvivalRealty Near Tonasket

A new listing at SurvivalRealty.com caught my eye: 150 acres near Tonasket, Washington.

Bill Whittle Breaks Down How The Social Media Giants Won

Bill Whittle: Terms of Service.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion.” – Henry Steele Commager

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — January 27, 2021

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Today is the birthday of singer-songwriter Kate Wolf. (Born 1942, died December 10, 1986.)  Her untimely death at age 44 cut short an amazing career and robbed America of a great songwriting talent.

This is also the birthday of the late Helen Chenoweth (born, 1938, died October 2, 2006). She was a controversial Republican congresswoman from Orofino, Idaho.

—

Note that since we’ve very recently quit the Amazon Associates program, the Recommendations of the Week column may only be appearing on occasional Wednesdays, henceforth. That will all depend on how many books, tools, and other products are suggested to us by readers, via e-mail. Thanks, – JWR.

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 92 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 92 ends on January 31, 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.

Garden Lessons – Part 1, by Greenthumb in the West

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There is an old saying:

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.”

We had this proverb in mind when we bought our retreat property five years ago, and started work on the garden and orchard immediately, even before we started on the house. The past five years have been a steep learning curve of lessons in taking raw land to (semi!)-productive land. We have had the blessing of not needing to rely on our garden for sustenance during this time.

I wanted to pass on what we’ve learned and purchased along the way in the hope you can benefit during this time of plenty when mistakes and lessons learned are not life-threatening. If you think the #10 can of magic survival seeds that you stored will just need to be sprinkled in the dirt for instant food, you are mistaken.

For some background, we were not new to gardening. In our hometown, there is a community garden named after my grandmother. We moved from a warmer climate where we had numerous citrus and avocado trees, as well as yearly vegetable gardens. My grandmother and mother ran a mail-order iris business in the pre-Internet days. I tell you this so you understand we had fair reason to believe we knew what we were doing. Like many others reading this, to us, a garden and orchard are a cornerstone of our long-term plan for success and survival — both every day and post-SHTF. Here, in no particular order, are some of the lessons we learned:

One of the most important things is to learn and write down your frost dates, both latest and earliest, as well as your garden climate zone. Our latest frost date is May 27th. Our earliest is October 11th. We are around 5,200-foot elevation. After having two gardens freeze in two years from Memorial Day weekend frosts, we learned our lesson and now respect this. Both of those years, the weather was perfect, skies were blue, and days were warm. The cottonwoods on the nearby creek had greened out, which was a long time local guide to planting dates. We were wrong, and it cost us another few days of work, seed, and plants. Luckily we had all to spare.

Now, we are more strategic about planting. Some plants are more frost resistant than others. Those go in before the frost dates, usually mid to late March. All the rest wait till after the frost date.

Keep in mind, your micro-climate will be unique depending on exposure and the layout of your property. Our garden and orchard are fairly exposed to maximize sunlight. The trade-off for the sun exposure is that frost hits us hard. Our nearest neighbor keeps a smaller, more protected garden that’s sheltered fairly well between two buildings. He has weathered some frosts much better than we did. Keep this in mind when deciding where to plant.Continue reading“Garden Lessons – Part 1, by Greenthumb in the West”

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — January 26, 2021

January 26th, 1945 is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet Army. Established in 1941 Auschwitz was a complex of three large camps and 40 smaller camps used for slave labor, unethical medical experiments, and monstrous killing grounds where prisoners were gassed and cremated. As the Soviets headed for Auschwitz, the German Gestapo began a murder spree and began destroying the facility in an attempt to hide the evidence of their crimes. When the Soviets arrived, they encountered 648 corpses and more than 7000 starving camp survivors along with storehouses filled with hundreds of thousands of dresses, suits and shoes that the Germans did not have time to burn.

—

Today, an important announcement about why I’m severing all of my ties with Amazon.com.

Why I Left Amazon — And How You Can Help Starve The Beast

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(Updated, July, 2023.)

I feel clean, leaving the brown-tinged waters of the Amazon behind.

Let me begin by explaining that I joined the Amazon Associates program in 2007. At that time, Amazon’s corporate management was already liberal, but their politics didn’t influence the way that Amazon.com was operated to any great extent. And Amazon was not yet a provider of web/cloud computing services. I found Amazon to be a handy place to shop for books, DVDs, and various merchandise. They offered commission-earning links that never expired. By becoming an Amazon Associate, I earned an average of about 7% on any items that SurvivalBlog readers ordered, by clicking through from any of our links. Because I have so many readers, that equated to about $60,000 in income for the blog, in the first few years.

Then, in March of 2017, Amazon reduced their commissions by an average of 40%. And then, in April of 2020, they made a further reduction.  That brought my Amazon Associates income down to about $30,000 per year. But it was still worth the time and trouble to create Amazon product links.

Fast forward to January of 2021: Amazon.com became very heavily involved in providing web storage space  — controlling around 45% of the international market. And, in fact, the largest single portion of their revenue comes from web services—even more than from selling their books, bangles, and yoga pants. They now had huge server farms, hidden all over the country that are used for hosting Amazon Prime movies and leased out to a huge variety of corporate and government customers.

Starting in 2019, Amazon began censoring books and documentary films that were critical of vaccination. That was followed by bans on books that were critical of face mask mandates. They even had the temerity to censor the “Killing Free Speech” documentary about censorship. So much “Freedom of Press.” And it is also noteworthy that Amazon has mistreated outside vendors that sell through their Amazon store. Amazon’s management refers to them as “internal competitors.”

After the November presidential election, but before the January 20th inauguration, Amazon let loose their inner “political activist.” In conspiracy with Apple and Google, Amazon actively targeted the conservative social media service Parler–booting them off of their cloud servers. Because they had used some proprietary Amazon Web Services software, it took weeks for Parler to get fully back in business. In my opinion, Amazon’s takedown of Parler was a reprehensible form of censorship and prior restraint on alternative media that depends on free access to social media platforms. I considered this the “last straw”. I could no longer in good conscience ally myself in any way with Amazon.com.

In addition to quitting the Amazon Associates program, I canceled my own Amazon Prime membership in January 2021 I canceled my Amazon account, and stopped making any new blog links to Amazon products. (We now have more than 37,700 archived articles, columns, and letters.)

Instead of $30 Amazon gift cards, winners of Honorable Mention prizes in our nonfiction writing contest now receive $100 purchase credits for my spin-off sideline business, Elk Creek Company. Continue reading“Why I Left Amazon — And How You Can Help Starve The Beast”