Some Thoughts About COVID-19, by The Novice

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Introduction

COVID-19 has a big impact on each of our lives. We make decisions daily regarding COVID-19 that influence the lives and futures of those we love and care for. As a result, I have been giving COVID-19 a lot of attention and thought for many months now. I would like to share some thoughts, opinions, and speculations about COVID-19 that may spur your thinking. I invite you to share your thoughts, opinions and speculations as well, in case they may be helpful to me.

The Bottom Line

COVID-19 is a new virus, to which none of us has prior resistance. It has become endemic throughout the world. The combination of extensive spread and little resistance means that the vast majority of the population of the world will probably become infected sooner or later. Pandora’s box is open, and there is no going back. To some extent, our efforts to stop the disease resemble a child building a sandcastle to try to stop a tidal wave. The primary question is not, “How effective will our countermeasures be?” The primary question is, “How big is the wave?”

When the early results of antibody testing began to become available, I concluded that roughly 350,000 people in the United States would probably die of COVID-19 by the time the first wave of the disease had run its course (the first wave being here defined as about 70% of the population becoming infected with COVID-19 for the first time). I concluded that there were steps that could be taken to influence how quickly people died, but that those steps would not have a large influence on how many people actually died of COVID-19 in the end.

I do not say this lightly. I do not want 350,000 people to die. I may be among the people who die. People I love may be among the people who die. But saying or pretending that we can have a significant impact on the number who die of the infection will not make it true. Sometimes the power of fallen nature dwarfs our puny human efforts.

However, in my initial calculations, I may have underestimated the foolishness of certain public officials. By placing active COVID-19 patients in nursing homes with the most vulnerable portion of the population, some state governors managed to create an even higher death rate than I anticipated for their states. These types of counterproductive actions could conceivably raise the death toll for the first wave as high as 500,000.

On the other hand, the death rate in recent weeks has been lower than I anticipated. I am not sure if medical professionals are developing more effective treatment protocols, if the virus has mutated to a less deadly strain, or if some other factor is at work. In any case, I rejoice, and hope that this development may keep the total initial death toll to as low as 250,000.Continue reading“Some Thoughts About COVID-19, by The Novice”

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. Note that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

The High Summer flurry of activity at the Rawles Ranch is continuing. The weather has mostly been dry, so we’ve had to resort to doing some watering of fruit and ornamental trees. We’ve also have been watering the wood lots around the house and guest cabin to lessen potential forest fire hazards.

With God’s Providence, plenty of hard work, and some well-aged manure, Lily’s gardens have been producing in tremendous abundance. We feel blessed to have those gardens and I feel blessed to have Lily as my wife for life.

This week I concentrated on some more firewood log gang cutting, chucking, and splitting the larger rounds. I’m now nearly done with this for the year. Our daughters have done an admirable job of getting all that wood stacked. Meanwhile, I’m trying to keep up with the blog and handle my mailorder business. Miss Eloise has been handling most of the order padding and packing. And our younger daughter has been photographing the guns.

I’ve been very busy writing descriptions for cataloging the new items (like this rare gem), cropping gun photographs, and taking orders for Elk Creek Company. I’m seeking quality pre-1899 gun inventory as quickly as I can, but I’m not keeping up with the demand. At the current rate, I will be nearly out of stock before the November election.

As I’ve mentioned before, I have travel planned for the month of September. This trip is in part to gather inventory. Therefore, I will be temporarily putting Elk Creek Company on hiatus. So if you’d like to place an order, then please get your order in by this coming Wednesday, August 26th. The order-taking hiatus begins on August 27, 2020, Thanks!

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

1

“Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired;

Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord‘s anger come upon you.

Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord‘s anger.

For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up.

Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the Lord is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.

And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks.

And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the Lord their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity.

I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border.

Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.

This shall they have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord of hosts.

The Lord will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.

Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword.

And he will stretch out his hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness.

And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations: both the cormorant and the bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be in the thresholds; for he shall uncover the cedar work.

This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.” – Zephaniah 2 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — August 21, 2020

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In 1986, Lake Nyos in Cameroon erupted with an estimated billion cubic yards of carbon dioxide gas. The gas had apparently been accumulating in the crater lake, held down by the weight of the water. When it finally erupted, the gas cloud smothered and killed every living animal, including insects, in its path until it dissipated. Outsiders learned of the disaster when they approached the villages and found animal and human bodies on the ground. The best estimate is that 1,700 people and thousands of cattle died.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 90 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  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 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. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. 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).
  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. 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.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. 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 90 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.

Lessons Learned From a Decade of Food Storage, by Sandi

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The pandemic lockdown of 2020 has led to a re-evaluation of my family’s food storage. This is  a food storage that began more than ten years ago. We began actively storing food in large quantities in 2009 and have continued intermittently since then. Where we have failed, however, is in not eating what we stored and not rotating our stock. Our experience with what lasted and what did not may be of some benefit to others as they consider what and how much of certain foods they should store. Overall, I have been pleasantly surprised at how long our food has lasted.

With the presidency of Barack Obama in 2009 and the uncertainty that it caused, my family decided to start preparing. We have a farming background and a self-sufficiency mindset, so preparing came somewhat naturally. For me, food security was of utmost importance. We invested in many mylar-sealed buckets of beans, wheat, oats, sugar, rice, and honey, as well as number 10 cans of dried milk, granola, brown sugar, baking soda, buttermilk powder, etc. We looked at those as long-term food preps, and for the most part, we did not open any of them until recently.

In 2009, we also ramped up our gardening and home canning. We sought out fruit trees that no one was harvesting, berry bushes and grapevines that no one cared about, and we canned the produce. In a two year span, we canned more than 1,000 quarts of fruits and vegetables. We also began canning meats; turkey, chicken, beef meatballs, and shredded pork all found their way into our jars.

My mother started making soups and canned many jars of those. In addition, we began storing bags of store-bought pasta, jars of JIF peanut butter, cans of tuna, jugs of oil, large cans of white Crisco, and many condiments, beverage powders, spices, and candies. All of the food was stored in a climate-controlled environment that stayed between 50 and 75 degrees. As the years went on, we continued to do some home canning but never as avidly as we did the first two or three years, although recent world events have reignited our zeal.Continue reading“Lessons Learned From a Decade of Food Storage, by Sandi”

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 galloping prices for AR-15 lower receivers. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

Long time reader and contributor H.L. sent this news: “Credit Suisse just raised their gold target price to $2,600.  Looming higher taxes (especially if the Dems sweep the elections), US monetary policy (not good), debt, and inflation sooner rather than later.”

o  o  o

A six-minute video: “We are all in trouble” PREPARE NOW! (Robert Kiyosaki). Like me, Kiyosaki prefers silver over gold.  And I found this recent interview: Robert Kiyosaki: America headed for totalitarianism, will flee country with gold

Economy & Finance:

Wolf Street reports: Ecommerce Sales Blow Out, Spike 44% in Q2: Even Groceries, Building Materials, Garden Supplies, and Furniture

o  o  o

At Zero Hedge: Apple Hits $2 Trillion Market Cap

o  o  o

“Massively Compromised” – Corporate Debt Issuance Soars To Record Highs

o  o  o

Ghost Town: Just 8% of Employees in NYC Are Back in Their Offices

o  o  o

Another at Wolf Street: How Negative Interest Rates Sap Consumer Spending by an Ever Larger Part of Consumers

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“I never, ever have seen media this way. It’s almost indescribable. Making up stories, refusing to run real stories. It’s making themselves look like utter fools. There’s no journalism, there is no media. There’s pure, full-fledged advocacy here.” – Rush Limbaugh

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — August 20, 2020

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20 August 1935 was the birthday of former Congressman Ron Paul. Dr. Paul is to be commended for fighting the good fight for many years.

—

August 20th, 1866 is also the day that President Andrew Johnson formally declared the Civil War over.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 90 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  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 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. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. 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).
  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. 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.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. 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 90 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.

The Secret Salad Garden – Part 3, by D.G.

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(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.)

Microgreens That I Have Grown

What follows are descriptions of some of the greens I have grown so far with a few observations I’ve made along the way. If you are planting trays several times a week, you’ll have overlapping harvest periods, and this gives you flexibility in terms of the different combinations you can make at dinner time.

Basil
Figure 15

Basil grows more slowly, at least initially, but is well worth the wait. I sowed a couple 1020 trays more sparsely than I would normally, and let them grow for a full month. They went well beyond the microgreen stage and put on two to three sets of ‘true’ leaves (see Figure 15). I remain impressed that they were able to thrive for so long in only about ¾ inch of soil. We harvested both trays at once, and my wife made more than a quart of pesto from the foliage. That’s a real treasure if you can’t get to a grocery store.

Black Oil Sunflower

Sunflower could have been a contender for our favorite but, so far, we haven’t had any good seed. Both trays I grew had to be thrown out due to mold. The germination rate was abysmal. But my curiosity wouldn’t let me give up right away. I beat the mold back with a spayed mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water, then allowed the couple dozen plants which germinated to reach the harvest stage. They are robust in terms of size with thick stems and thick, waxy leaves, and the flavor is nutty and very similar to the flavor of sunflower seeds.

Reading reviews online from several sunflower seed vendors I noticed that there were several negative reviews for sunflowers in the spring of this year and, knowing that most Black Oil Sunflower comes from Italy, my guess is that there was a bubble somewhere in the supply line. It’s likely that huge quantities of this seed had to sit somewhere in suboptimal environmental conditions for much longer than normal, and that this led to the mold.

Like me, you may be tempted to purchase the Black Oil seeds sold as bird feed. Proceed with caution. The seed may be treated to prevent sprouting.Continue reading“The Secret Salad Garden – Part 3, by D.G.”

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 look at Antifa Threat Spirals.

The Antifa Threat Spiral Takes a Turn

Matt Bracken, over at American Partisan: ABR SIT-REP 2: ANTIFA/BLM/REVCOM TACTICS ARE EVOLVING AND ESCALATING. JWR’s Comment:  I warned SurvivalBlog readers about Antifa threat spirals, back in 2017. It looks like this prediction was correct. Oh, by the way, I also recommend the commentary video that Matt Bracken recently made with Fernando “FerFAL” Aguirre.

Does China Control the South China Sea?

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site comes this piece posted by The National Interest: Does China Already Control the South China Sea Militarily? Here is an excerpt:

“Does this mean that U.S influence and activity in the area is constrained? At risk? Or merely challenged when it comes to operating in the area to assert freedom of navigation and counter China’s controversial and provocative territorial claims?

Taken individually and collectively, each of the factors may not seem to fully restrict U.S. missions, patrols, training exercises or interoperability maneuvers with allied platforms. U.S. stealth fighters and bombers are built to operate in high-risk or contested areas by relying upon speed, altitude and stealth to elude detection from enemy air defenses.

Navy surface ships travel with integrated layered defenses engineered to find and knock out incoming ballistic missiles or anti-ship cruise missiles and the presence of Chinese fighter jets in contested areas by no means ensures Chinese air supremacy in the region.”

A Yahoo Anti-Prepper Rant

This article posted by Yahoo qualifies as some of the worst advice that I’ve ever read!  It is essentially an anti-preparedness rant:  Guns and 32 Other Things You Definitely Do NOT Need To Buy During the Coronavirus Pandemic. ( A hat tip to D.S. for the link.)

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers, “just men who will rule in the fear of God.” The preservation of government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty; if the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws.” – Noah Webster, History of the United States

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — August 19, 2020

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August 19th is the birthday of Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1906-1971). Farnsworth was an American inventor who is best known for his image pickup device that formed the basis for the fully functional and complete all-electronic television system. Among his many other inventions was the Farnsworth-Hirsch fusor, a small nuclear fusion device that remains a viable source of neutrons. At his death, he held over 300 patents, mostly in radio and television.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 90 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  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 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. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. 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).
  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. 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.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. 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 90 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.

The Secret Salad Garden – Part 2, by D.G.

7

(Continued from Part 1.)


Gear and Materials:
Soil

The first trays I grew using ordinary Central Texas yard dirt and the results were good. But dirt from outdoors can introduce mold, gnats, and other insects, so I have been using potting soil ever since. Professional growers will use various mixtures which might include perlite, vermiculite, compost, or coconut coir. Some grow hydroponically. Some add fertilizers and nutrients. It’s very likely that, by following their recommendations, or through experimentation, I might increase yield or see other benefits. But I’m satisfied with the results I’m seeing for now, and I suspect in any case that, during the short period between germination and harvest, the grow medium doesn’t matter too much, and that, apart from water, warmth, and light, most of what the plant needs is in the seed.

 

Trays
Figure 7

Special trays are absolutely unnecessary. Had I read Burke’s book in time I would not have initially purchased any 1020 trays. Burke uses tin foil baking pans and a variety of bowls. Really, any fairly shallow dish will work, in a height range of one to three inches (see Figures 7 and 8). I chose the 1020 shallow trays for two reasons. It is easier to get in close to the soil to harvest with scissors or a knife if you don’t have a tall rim in the way of your hand and, secondly, a high rim impedes airflow and this can foster mold.

Figure 8

I was concerned initially that with a shallow tray I wouldn’t have sufficient soil depth to sustain some of the plants that have a longer time until harvest, but this concern passed after I grew a couple trays of basil to a height of 4-5 inches over a four week period in only about ¾ inch of soil. And regarding drainage holes, the trays I use have none. I was concerned about this, too. Many growers, particularly the pros, prefer the trays with holes because they like to water with a technique called ‘bottom watering,’ i.e., setting the planted tray, with holes, into another tray, with water, and allowing the water to soak up into the root system from the underside.

One important advantage of this is that it prevents the development of mold. Microgreens tend to be grown densely, especially by the pros, who aim to maximize profit. Moisture is easily trapped under the ‘canopy’ when watering is done top-down. But I’ve been careful with how I water, as will be described later, and this has only rarely been a problem.

But I don’t regret the 1020’s I bought at all. I spent a little extra and got the heavy-duty variety. Barring their ad hoc use as tennis rackets I don’t expect they’ll ever crack, particularly as they are not spending any time out under our brutal Texas sun.Continue reading“The Secret Salad Garden – Part 2, by D.G.”

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 are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This week the focus is on guitarist and singer Molly Tuttle. (See the Music section.)

Books:

The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge

o  o  o

Spain in Arms: A Military History of the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

o  o  o

Homage to Catalonia. (George Orwell wrote more than just fiction.)

o  o  o

Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler’s Defeat

o  o  o

James Herriot’s Treasury for Children: Warm and Joyful Tales by the Author of All Creatures Great and Small

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“I took a train from Berlin to Vienna on a certain date, close to the first of April, 1933. The train was empty. The same train the next day was overcrowded, was stopped at the frontier, the people had to get out, and everybody was interrogated by the Nazis. This just goes to show that if you want to succeed in this world you don’t have to be much cleverer than other people, you just have to be one day earlier.” – Leo Szilard, a Jewish Hungarian physicist and father of nuclear physics, as quoted in The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes.
SurvivalBlog reader S.H. in Texas sent us this quote and notes: “This provides a lesson on Bugging Out. Interestingly, Szilard had been pessimistic about the German political scene for quite some time, and lived with his suitcases packed! He decided to leave around April 1, 1933, when a national boycott of Jewish businesses was organized. Dr. Szilard made it to America, where he became a primary researcher in unlocking the power of the atom. Interestingly, he drafted the famous letter from Albert Einstein to President Roosevelt, warning him of advancements in nuclear physics which had drawn the attention of Hitler’s regime, and was the spark that lit the Manhattan Project.”