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, some advice on storing clarified butter.

Are Your Smart Phone Apps Tracking You?

Peter sent this from The Wall Street Journal: Homeland Security Watchdog to Probe Department’s Use of Phone Location Data

Patrice Lewis on the ‘Great Reset’

Our friend and fellow blogger Patrice Lewis recently penned this great essay: Here’s my game plan for the ‘Great (Dystopian) Reset’

Some Advice on Clarifying Butter

Reader T.R,. wrote to mention:

“Butter is a commodity that many of us consider essential. It has a long shelf life but as I have recently discovered how easy it is to clarify butter, you can make it last even much longer. The first several times I made clarified butter, also called ghee, I made it in the Instant Pot, a digital programmable multi-function pressure cooker; which is a very good appliance, but not the best for clarifying butter. Why do you want to do this? 1St, it improves the flavor, 2nd, it improves the shelf life. Let’s get started; what do you need? One pound of butter, salted or unsalted, a thermometer, and a saucepan and duh, a stove.

Set a very low heat for the saucepan with the butter in it until it melts. Turn up the heat until it just sneaks above 212F. It will appear to boil and eventually stop. The bottom of the pan will turn brown, stir it up for the sake of the pan. Let it boil until it comes to rest, which means the water has been removed. About that time, usually about 20 minutes turn off the heat and pour the liquid through a sieve to strain out the crumbly milk solids. One pound of butter will fill one pint jar. You can leave it on the shelf and use as is or put it in the refrigerator, but if you keep it in the refrigerator it will need to be set one the shelf overnight before it will be usable as it will be as hard as cheese.

Once you’ve done that several times you might want to experiment. Try heating up enough olive oil to saute garlic before you add the butter. As the butter melts add spices, such as oregano, thyme, caraway seeds and maybe cayenne. Suit yourself. You can also add more olive oil after it has been strained to make it softer. You can keep this on the shelf for a long time, but if green mold develops it means you did not cook out all the water, but all you have to do is to reheat it and keep it in the refrigerator.”Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — December 9, 2020

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December 9th, 1914 was the birthday of Maximo Guillermo “Max” Manus. He was one of the few Norwegians who put his life on the line, fighting the Nazi occupiers. (There surely would have been more active resistance fighters, but fearing widespread reprisal executions by the Germans, King H7 asked the civilian populace to stand down.) Max Manus passed away in 1996. I would have liked to have met him. His exploits are fairly accurately shown in the movie Max Manus: Man of War.

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Wood-Fired Coffee Roasting – Part 2, by J.P.

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Preparation for Roasting

Besides gathering all your equipment together, two skills need to be developed:

1.) Maintaining just the right amount of fire and

2.) “Nurturing” the beans with masterful strokes of the paddles.

First, the fire. If you are blessed to be a master of the wood fire then this part will come easy. Most effective wood cooking fires are long on a good bed of coals and short on actual flame. Flame delivers short-lived heat and then it dies. You don’t want to be rebuilding your fire in the middle of a roast.

Now let’s talk about what I refer to as “nurturing” the beans – stirring. I’m convinced proper stirring is the secret to a magnificent wood-fired coffee roast.

Remember, we’re not looking for speed. If your fire is right then slow and steady is very productive. Too much speed and you will be pushing and flipping the beans out of the pan. If a smoking hot pan is tempting you to stir faster what you really need to do is reduce the heat under the pan.

I’ve found two paddle strokes that work well. One, the “sweep stroke” which is used to move beans away from the edge of the pan. And, the second stroke, which I call the “over and under,” is a double paddle stroke that starts with the paddles on opposite sides of the pan, draw the paddles toward each other while pushing beans toward the center, and before the paddles collide one stays on the pan and the other rises, pushing beans up and over the top of the other paddle.

You’re off and running, and you’ll soon develop your own personal style. Simply keep in mind that your goal is to keep the beans moving, never leaving a bean on the hot, cast-iron surface, more than 10-15 seconds so the roast is slow and even. Now you’re beginning to understand “nurturing” beans!”

Time to Roast

What I intend to do is share our first roasting experience, followed by some improvements in subsequent roasts.

After breakfast on roasting day, I grabbed one of the sets of roasting instructions I’d pulled off the Internet, quickly reread them, and hoped I’d be able to maneuver the beans through the ten stages of roasting and somehow bring them right up to the fine line of a dark roast, black but not burned. I got the beans, picked out a cast iron frying pan, pulled a few spatulas and a large serving spoon from the kitchen and headed for the backyard of our cabin.

Several years ago I’d built what we call our culvert cooker. It is a 3’ long heavy corrugated piece of culvert, 3’ in diameter, and stood it on end. Filled nearly to the top with gravel, it has served as our go-to outdoor cooking facility. On it we regularly grill meat and fish, do open fire roasting, and prepare slow-cooked dutch oven meals. Today we intend to roast coffee beans for the first time. I’ve got a good pile of short split chunks of birch ready to go and in a half hour the fire is mostly a bed of hot coals with a reasonable amount of low flame. Additional wood is ready if I need it. It’s obvious I’m going to need a cooking glove and a squirt bottle of water so I put the fry pan on the grill and make a quick trip into the cabin, grab the glove and water, and ask my wife if she’d bring out the colander we brought for cooling the roasted coffee beans.Continue reading“Wood-Fired Coffee Roasting – Part 2, by J.P.”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books, and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how-to” self-sufficiency videos. There is also an emphasis on links to sources for storage food and a variety of storage and caching containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This week we have some recommendations for Hanukkah and Christmas gifts that will help your relatives and friends get better-prepared.

Books:

Mine Were of Trouble: A Nationalist Account of the Spanish Civil War

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Good Call: Reflections on Faith, Family, and Fowl, by Jase Robertson

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I’m admittedly biased, but I believe that you will enjoy reading this newly-released nonfiction book that I co-authored with my #1 Son: Survival Retreats & Relocation: A Guide to Finding Your Secure and Sustainable Home. (It is available in softcover, in Kindle format, and PDF.)

o  o  o

The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon

Continue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“If we buy into the notion that somehow property rights are less important, or are in conflict with, human or civil rights, we give the socialists a freer hand to attack our property.” – The late Dr. Walter E. Williams

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — December 8, 2020

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I just heard that General Chuck Yeager passed away, at age 97. He was quite a guy. Yeager will be greatly missed.

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Today is the birthday of Eli Whitney, (1765–1825) the inventor of the labor-saving cotton gin, several firearms, and dozens of other mechanical devices. He was the first to demonstrate the advantages of fully interchangeable parts, in firearms manufacture.

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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.

Wood-Fired Coffee Roasting – Part 1, by J.P.

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The following is a tale of friendship, beating the lockdowns, going head to head with the challenges, and coffee!

Introduction

If your primary interest in reading this post is to learn the intricacies of roasting coffee, then I’m confident you would do well to go online and learn from the experts. As well, exquisite coffee roasting probably doesn’t happen over an outdoor wood fire where inconsistencies abound. However, you may be intrigued to discover a host of other worthy reasons to indulge in this somewhat adventurous outdoor pursuit.

Coffee roasting emerged as an afterthought to the boredom and separation resulting from the mid-March executive orders from Anchorage’s mayor. Without knowing many details of the expanse and dangers of the CCP virus most of us cautiously complied as we didn’t want to advance the seeming high morbidity rates coming out of China, Italy, and other highly affected countries.

It wasn’t long before we began questioning the numbers, held up alongside the executive orders, and we began looking for ways to beat the isolation and come together to wrestle with the serious questions of the day.

I’m rather a novice at this coffee roasting, but don’t let that dissuade you. You may find my short journey to success more than interesting. Know from the start that my primary goal here is to get you to try wood fired coffee roasting, and in the process discover a host of reasons to continue this rich and rewarding pursuit.

My personal assumption has long been that coffee roasting is a complex process and success is not easily attained. I still think that’s partially true, if, you insist on identifying all ten stages of taking a bean from pale green – to khaki tan, lite brown, “snap”, medium brown, flying husks, dark brown, “crackle”, more husks, final “pop” – to the rich oily dark roasted black. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to master all of that. Just give me a hearty cup of dark roasted coffee.

I think the other half of that assumption is that the successful coffee roaster will end up being able to produce at least three, maybe four identifiable roasts that will keep all your unique friends, male and female, sophisticated and not so, satisfied that their tastes have been met. Personally, that’s not my goal, but I have an Alaskan back-country solution for that which I’ll come back to later in the article.

Backstory

But I’m getting ahead of myself. There is a backstory and we can thank covid for that. Yes, there are at least one or two blessings from the virus “disaster”, but credit those to innovative and determined people, not the CCP.
Somewhere around early April I tired of, no, I became totally fed up with the idea of some faceless persons ordering me to stay indoors and quarantined for my own protection (which I never complied with), and one morning I wandered back to our sizable firewood pile and began pulling off the less choice pieces. Time to cycle through this resource.

We live on the edge of Alaska’s largest city where there’s nearly unlimited wood sources from either construction site prep or regular 60 – 80 mph winds coming off Cook Inlet. Previous owners of our home were gatherers and when we arrived in our neighborhood, four years ago, they had accumulated nearly 15 cords of firewood. Time for some occasional friendly fires. Great for preppers, even better for folks determined to come together; appropriately distanced of course.

Small Talk/Hard Questions

Friendly fires meant getting back to some regular relationships, and due to weeks of restrictions I soon found a few friends who were as ready as I was to gather and wrestle with our current situation.

Okay, I’m not much of a small talker, and after a half cup of coffee I’m done with chit chat and ready to push into something meaningful. Why do I store so much wood and am I thinking Armageddon? A few of our close friends know the answer to those questions. Others were just starting to know us.

Do you gather and store firewood? Well, why not? Don’t you have a way to heat with wood? What if this lockdown thing becomes a way of life? Who’s going to pay for the economic mess? Awe, I don’t think it’ll ever get dealt with. Yah, but if it really does hit the fan. . . . And the conversation goes silent. I don’t think you can hear those questions for the first time and not squirm a bit.

About that time my wife emerged from the house carrying a tray ladened with a french press of hot coffee and bread fresh from the oven – not an exaggeration. She has the gift of hospitality and it doesn’t quit. On top of that 90% of what she bakes is from home ground flour made from grain we’ve had in storage for 20 years. Oh, I should mention the blueberry jam picked and processed at our wilderness cabin, a good part of a day’s travel to the north.

It didn’t take two weeks for our discussion fires to grow and increase in frequency. Curiosity brought neighbors, which often included kids who love hot chocolate and surprisingly enjoyed just sitting and listening to adults. With that we eventually noted a subtle lifting of the “covid haze”, most likely the result of what we know as true fellowship, the “sharing of all things in common.”Continue reading“Wood-Fired Coffee Roasting – Part 1, by J.P.”

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 wild horse herd management (See the Central & Eastern Oregon section.)

Idaho

Bull moose poached in game management area south of Twin Falls

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Idaho cold case murder shook town; suspect’s arrest causes aftershocks

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Chad Daybell files for change of venue

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

Preparedness Notes for Monday — December 7, 2020

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Some sad news: I just heard of the death of economist Dr. Walter E. Williams. He was always my favorite fill-in radio host when Rush Limbaugh was traveling. The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) has posted 30 of his best quotes on Liberty, Rights, Property, and Coercions. Rest in Peace, Walter Williams. Our condolences to his family.

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On December 7, 1941, America was caught sleeping. Then there was that September morning, in 2001. Please pray that nothing like those days ever happens again. – JWR

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Today we are presenting another product review by our Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio.

Taurus G3 Versus G3C, by Pat Cascio

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I recently covered the Taurus G2C in a product review article, and it was an outstanding little gun. Unfortunately, Taurus didn’t manufacture a G2 full-sized version. This has been corrected with the all-new Taurus G3 full-sized pistol, and their new G3C. While these two guns appear to be identical to the G2 with a quick glance at the guns side-by-side. But in fact they are really two different models. They just appear to be similar.

Let’s start way back when – when I was the Investigations Manager for a big private detective agency, back in Chicago, Illinois – I was also the company armorer, maintaining all the revolvers that the uniformed security guards used, that were issued to them by the company. The company’s inventory was mainly Taurus Model 65 .38 Special revolvers, with 4-inch barrels. There were a few S&W revolvers, but those weren’t normally issued to the rank and file. Back then, in the early 1980s, Taurus revolvers weren’t known to be all that durable, and then when issued to security guards, who totally abused those guns – I was kept busy repairing those guns all the time. I kept a good inventory of spare parts on-hand at all times. So, I know the workings of Taurus revolvers very well, and what parts would break, and what wouldn’t break.

Over the years, Taurus has updated and upgraded their entire line of handguns, and I’ll put many (not all) of them up against some of the best in the business. I do have reservations about some of their 1911-style pistols – it just seems to be hit or miss with them. You either get an outstanding 1911 that was actually fitted, or one that was simply assembled. Wish Taurus would get their act together on this grand ol’ pistol, and do them all up “right.”

The Full-Size G3

Let’s take a look at the all-new Taurus G3 full-sized model first. It has a 4-inch barrel, and only weighs in at 24.83 ounces. It has fixed sights, with the usual 3-dot white sights – two in the rear sight and one on the front sight – and to be sure, this ear sight is only adjustable for windage – not elevation. The good news is that, the sights were dead-on at 25-yards – in the past, many of the Taurus polymer-framed handguns I tested had their rear sight shooting too low. Plus, it is my understanding that, you can replace these sights with the same sights used on a GLOCK model 17 or 19 – that’s great news, if you want night sights or just a better sight picture. The slide is made out of carbon steel, with a Tenifer finish on it – and the G3 version comes in various colors – and you can even get a stainless steel slide. The frame is black polymer, and has one of the best “feels” or grip you will find. The slightly aggressive roughness is just the right “grit” for a sure hold under all weather conditions.Continue reading“Taurus G3 Versus G3C, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Hillbilly Collard Greens, by Animal House

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The following recipe for Hillbilly Collard Greens was kindly submitted by SurvivalBlog reader Animal House.

Ingredients
  • 2 qts of beef broth
  • 1 clove of garlic diced
  • 1 medium onion diced
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 or 2 cans of diced tomatoes and green chilies
  • 5 to 6 pounds of fresh collard greens, stemmed and cut into bite size pieces
  • 1 TBS brown sugar (optional, for children)
  • 1 pound of sliced polish sausage
Directions

The following are directions for cooking this for a dinner, as well as those for pressure canning

With either, use a large dutch oven (or slow cooker) to simmer collards.

Directions For Dinner:

Add beef broth, diced garlic and onion and tomatoes and green chilies to the dutch oven and bring to boil. Taste broth before adding salt and pepper to your taste.

Add the collards a bit at a time to allow for wilting. Stir collards to immerse in the broth. Broth should cover collards; add more broth or water as needed.

Let simmer about 4-5 hours. If using a dutch oven, stir occasionally so that they don’t burn.

After collards have simmered for 3 or 4 hours, taste to determine if additional spices need to be added, but don’t over spice if you are using these for canning.

Add the sliced polish sausage to the collards and let simmer another hour, stirring occasionally.

If you have young children you may want to add a tablespoon of brown sugar, stir well before serving for dinner.

Directions for Pressure Canning Collards:

If you are only making for pressure canning, add all ingredients to dutch oven, but do not add brown sugar, and simmer for 1 hour before placing in canning jars and pressure canning. Pressure can pints for 60 min at 10/11 pound pressure for lower elevations or longer at higher pressure based on your elevation.

SERVING

Serve with jalapeno corn bread.

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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 predictions for crude oil prices. (See the Commodities section.)

Precious Metals:

Platinum Begins A New Rally – Gold And Silver Will Follow

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CME Lowers Silver Margins $1000, Shorts Covering?

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JP Morgan Is “Dominating” Gold And Silver Prices

Economy & Finance:

There’s a New $908 Billion Stimulus Proposal on the Table. Here’s What’s Inside

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At Zero Hedge: The State of the American Office: Suddenly Emptying Out Again Under the Second Wave

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A D.K. interview:  Fed to BUY IT ALL with Devalued Dollars — Lyn Alden

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At Wolf Street: Junk Bond Yields Hit Record Low: Most Distorted Markets Ever

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Mankind soon learn to make interested uses of every right and power which they possess, or may assume. The public money and public liberty, intended to have been deposited with three branches of magistracy, but found inadvertently to be in the hands of one only, will soon be discovered to be sources of wealth and dominion to those who hold them… They [the assembly] should look forward to a time, and that not a distant one, when a corruption in this, as in the country from which we derive our origin, will have seized the heads of government, and be spread by them through the body of the people; when they will purchase the voices of the people, and make them pay the price. Human nature is the same on every side of the Atlantic, and will be alike influenced by the same causes. The time to guard against corruption and tyranny, is before they shall have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold, than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered.” – Thomas Jefferson