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.

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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”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on an ancient grizzly bear.   (See the Wyoming section.)

Idaho

Taking a Stand: Sheriffs, Local Officials, and Rule of Law VS. Covid Dictators.  And here is a report on the same sheriff from the left-wing propagandists at Spokane’s major newspaper: New Kootenai County sheriff latest law enforcement leader to refuse to enforce mask mandate as cases and deaths mount

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‘I can’t afford to live here’: People moving to North Idaho see increasing housing prices

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Farragut focus of logging concerns

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

Preparedness Notes for Monday — January 25, 2021

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Today is the birthday of celebrated Scottish poet Robert “Bobby” Burns. He was born on January 25, 1759.

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An USB stick update: There has been a technical glitch, because we have so much bonus material and almost 40,000 posts and columns lined up for our waterproof 2005-2015 Special 15th Anniversary Archive USB stick. It looks like it might have to be a 32 GB stick!

We should have a pre-order announcement by about February 5th. Thanks for your patience.

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Fellow blogger Commander Zero of the great Notes From The Bunker blog posted news that his namesake, Edén Pastora — the original Commander Zero, passed away in Managua, at age 83.
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It is our pleasure today, to present another review by our Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio.

Only One Gun?, by Pat Cascio

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I get a lot of questions asked of me, all the time, but many of them are really one in the same question, just phrased a little differently. Over my lifetime, I’ve been asked, literally hundreds of times: “What is your favorite gun…?” or, “If you could only own one gun, what would it be…?” and other similar questions from those seeking a truth or “the” truth about firearms. And, I can’t give a pat answer to these questions and no one else can, either. I can only reply based on my own experiences, the facts and my finding over a lifetime of being a gun owner.

I don’t have a “favorite” gun, if I do, it would be whatever I’m carrying at the time. And, when it comes down to owning one gun, to what end are you referring to? I look at things differently than most people, and heaven forbid that we ever have to make a decision about owning just one gun. Of course, it also depends on where you are standing at the time. If I were living in Alaska, out in the bush, then I’d elect to have some kind of .44 Magnum revolver – since there are some dangerous four-legged creatures living then. I’d pick a handgun over a rifle for the fact, that it is more easily carried regularly, compared to a rifle of some type.

There are so many different scenarios that one can play out in their minds, that it will drive you crazy, just trying to pick one gun for all your needs. I tend to look at things through the eyes of a Prepper, and towards the end of the world scenarios, and make my choices based on that. For many, many years, my choice for a one and only firearm was a .357 Magnum revolver of some sort, with a 4-inch barrel, made out of stainless steel – to help prevent rust and weather conditions from taking a toll on the gun. And, of course, you can load a .357 Magnum with a large variety of ammo, including .38 Special ammo, or the heaviest .357 Mag loads for dangerous times, or added penetration. Add a nice holster and several speed loaders, and you would be good to go. However, these days, the world is much different than it was when I made that choice.

I’m a life-long fan of the grand old 1911 handgun, in .45 ACP and it served our military for a lot of years, and even now, some Special Ops Units still carry a full-sized Government Model 1911 in .45 ACP for some missions. No doubt about it, the .45 ACP will get the job done – very quickly. Still, I had to rethink this choice not too long ago. I don’t feel that a magazine holding 7 or 8 rounds in a single stack form, is enough ammo on-hand, to take care of things, these days.Continue reading“Only One Gun?, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Chicken Hash

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The following recipe for chicken hash is from The New Butterick Cook Book, by Flora Rose, co-head of the School of Home Economics at Cornell University. It was published in 1924. A professional scan of that 724-page out-of-copyright book will be one of the many bonus items included in the next edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. This special 15th Anniversary Edition USB stick should be available for pre-order on or about February 5, 2021. The 14th Edition sold out quickly, so place a reminder in your calendar, if you want one.

Ingredients
  • 1-1/2 cup chopped chicken
  • 1 tablespoon parsley
  • 1 cup diced boiled potatoes
  • 2 tablespoons butter or butter substitute
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 1/2 cup stock or water
Directions

Mix the chicken and the potatoes lightly together. Melt the butter or butter substitute in the blazer, add lhe potato and meat, parsley, seasoning, and stock, and cook until heated, browning if desired. Heat directly over the flame.

If desired, one-fourth cup of chopped green peppers may be added.

This recipe will serve four to six persons.

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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven and slow cooker recipes, and any that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

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 ups and downs of the classic car market. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

First up is this, over at Zero Hedge: Massive Silver Bets as Treasury Wants More Trillions

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Erik Lytikainen: The Gold Bull Market Is Just Getting Started

Economy & Finance:

National debt grew 39 percent under Trump

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Yellen Gets Wall Street Buzzing About 50-Year U.S. Treasuries. JWR’s Comment: Seriously, does anyone not recognize that the purchasing power of the U.S. Dollar will decline by at least 70% in the next 50 years? Anyone who buys a 50-year bond is an idiotic contrapreneur.

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Why Biden Wants to Win the Fight for $15

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An in related news: CBO: Biden’s $15 minimum wage could kill 3.7 million jobs

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Video: Ron Paul on the next economic collapse, America’s future, and universal basic income (Pt. 1/2)

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Inflation Is Spreading Broadly into the Economy. Amid Surging Costs, Companies Raise Prices, and Customers Pay them, Despite Weak Economy, 10 Million Missing Jobs

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Liberalism is really piecemeal socialism, and socialism always attacks three basic social institutions: religion, the family, and private property. Religion, because it offers a rival authority to the state; the family, because it means a rival loyalty to the state; and property, because it means material independence of the state.” – Joseph Sobran

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — January 24, 2021

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January 24th is the birthday of René Barjavel (born 1911, died November 24, 1985). This prescient French science fiction author wrote several books with survivalist themes, including Ravage, which was titled Ashes, Ashes in its English translation. It is also the birthday of Tamara K., the editor of the long-running View From The Porch blog.

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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.

Pirate Radio for Sea and Land, by Tunnel Rabbit

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Editor’s Introductory Note: The following lengthy article is being posted in one piece, for the sake of continuity.  I recommend printing a hard copy for your radio reference binder. Note that some of the methods described are illegal outside of disaster situations, and are presented for educational purposes only.

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If our country ever becomes Balkanized or collapsed, boat owners could at some point just sail away to calmer waters, sandy beaches, and palm trees. In a WROL situation, they could use their VHF and HF Marine transceiver sets to good effect, much like how Amateur Radio operators can use their equipment. In international waters, the rules are different. And in foreign waters, the consequences for breaking their laws could be severe.

The advantage of VHF Marine band radio is that they already come programmed and channelized, and are generally very easy to use.  Many of them are also built to be very weather resistant and have handsets that are designed for rugged use. Note that there are repeaters used on some channels, and these channels cannot be used for our purposes.  Choose channels designated for ship-to-ship, inter-ship, noncommercial that are simplex frequencies in the 156 to 157 MHz range.  Marine repeaters talk back to VHF Marine radios in the 160 to 161 MHz range.  Do not use these frequencies unless near a port. However as we might now become pirate radio operators at sea, we should also endeavor to use off the beaten path techniques and frequencies to avoid being captured.

Continue reading“Pirate Radio for Sea and Land, by Tunnel Rabbit”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:

And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,

The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.

And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.

And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.

And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.” – Revelation 14 (KJV)