Lessons Learned in Our Orchard, by C.D.

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Background: We bought our homestead in November, 2012. At the time we lived in the same area but in a neighborhood with protective covenants on a half acre lot. We found we weren’t able to do the things we needed and wanted to do in order to be resilient no matter what the economic or natural environment threw us. The property we moved to was about 5 acres with plenty of room to incorporate an orchard. I had pre-ordered a number of fruit trees and had prepared the ground to plant them in our old yard. They arrived after right before our move and we quickly needed to get them into the ground in our new property. We have learned many things in the seven years since we planted our first fruit trees. Our hope is that you may benefit from our mistakes and decide to grow a fruit tree or two — or many.

Our Homestead: Our homestead is located in a rural part of North Georgia. Agriculture and tourism are the main economic activities here. There are many orchards, vineyards, and broiler houses in the county. We are located in the foothills of the Appalachians which means lots of hardwoods and a shortage of level land. Water is abundant in rainfall, as well as the many rivers, streams and springs. Our property is shaped like a “U”. The property lines are on the high sides on the East and the West with the valley running North and South. Also much of the land is in old growth oak, hickory, and poplar.

Our First Planting: Because the new property was an “accidental” find and we weren’t planning on moving anytime soon, we had purchased bare root trees earlier in the year that were to be sent when dormant as bare root trees. Those trees arrived days before our imminent move and were one of our first projects at our new homestead. The difficulty when planting them was apparent. There just weren’t many places they could go because of the orientation of the sun (getting at least 6-to-8 hours of sun) and because the new homestead already had so many trees and not many open areas. We settled on the Eastern edge of the property on a nice slope. The trees would have good drainage, some morning sun and lots of afternoon sun. So far, so good, I thought.Continue reading“Lessons Learned in Our Orchard, by C.D.”

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 again look at the rise of YouTube censorship.

YouTube Demonetization is All About Control

Communist China & YouTube – Demonetization isn’t censorship, but it is control.  Here is a related web page, on some of YouTube’s outright bans: Channels that Have Been Recently CENSORED By Youtube, and How to Find Them.

Bunker Explosion Kills Three in Texas

Atlas Survival Shelters posted this: Bunker Explosion Kills Three in Texas. And here is a television news story on the same tragic event: Three dead following explosion in Red River County.  A quote from Atlas Shelters: “Ron has been preaching that you should not have explosive materials in your bunker. We are sad to report that three men are now dead probably because they put a propane water heater inside their bunker. At this time we do not know who built this bunker but it was not Atlas Survival Shelters!”  (A hat tip to Tim J. for the links.)

Vitamin C for Stroke Prevention

Some interesting research: Vitamin C for Stroke Prevention.

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

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — October 23, 2019

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On October 23rd, 2002, around 50 Chechen rebels stormed a Moscow theater, taking 700 hostages during a popular musical. After 57 hours, during which two hostages were killed, Soviet Special Forces pumped a powerful narcotic gas into the theater knocking the terrorists and hostages unconscious before breaking in through the walls and roof. When the dust settled, most of the rebels and 120 hostages had been killed.

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I just heard that SurvivalBlog readers can get a free radiation monitor card for just $1 shipping. Visit the KI4U web site, and look about halfway down the page. This is a limited-time offer!

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 85 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any 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 (an $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 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 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.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  6. 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).
  7. 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. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  2. 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)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 85 ends on November 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.

My Continued Handgun Search – Part 2, by The Novice

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

Anti-Flinch Measures

A search of the internet revealed a number of suggestions for combating flinch. There were three that I decided to try first.

The first of these measures was more frequent and extensive dry firing. Over the course of the following days, I set out to rack and dry fire the PPQ at least 200 times. I hoped that this might help to dampen my flinch somewhat. It should also serve to gently break in the moving parts and further smooth out the trigger.

The second involved wearing both ear plugs and ear muffs during my next range session. This would reduce the impact of noise on my flinch.

The third involved a more relaxed stance. This should help me to receive the recoil more flexibly, thus reducing its shock.Continue reading“My Continued Handgun Search – Part 2, by The Novice”

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. Since we are in the Amazon Associates program, we will earn a commission on any  Amazon sales. This week the focus is on the last few Baofeng UV-5R multi-band radios still available on the gray market in the United States. (See the Gear & Grub section.)

Books:

Mike Rowe (of Dirty Jobs fame), has a new book that is rightfully on the New York Times bestsellers list: The Way I Heard It. This book has been described as:  “…a delightfully entertaining, seriously fascinating collection of his favorite episodes from America’s #1 short-form podcast, The Way I Heard It, along with a host of personal memories, ruminations, and insights. It’s a captivating must-read.”

o  o  o

American Medical Association Guide to Your Family’s Symptoms

o  o  o

Emergency War Surgery (2014 Edition)

o  o  o

The Prepared Family Guide to Uncommon Diseases. (This was written by the editor of the great Paratus Familia blog.)

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

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — October 22, 2019

This is the birthday of painter and book illustrator N.C. Wyeth (1882–1945)

It is also the birthday of actor Jeff Goldblum (born 1952), who had unforgettable roles in Buckaroo Banzai and in the Jurassic Park and Independence Day film series.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 85 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any 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 (an $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 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 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.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  6. 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).
  7. 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. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  2. 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)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 85 ends on November 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.

My Continued Handgun Search – Part 1, by The Novice

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I have been on a quest. It is the search for my ideal handgun. The ideal handgun for me may not be the same as the ideal handgun for you. If you have not yet found your ideal handgun, then perhaps the story of my search will give you some ideas and inspiration for your own search. If you have already found your ideal handgun, you may at least find this story to be entertaining.

Most modern handguns have an intrinsic accuracy that is more than sufficient to meet my needs. The problem is that I am not a human Ransom Rest. I can take two handguns with the exact same intrinsic accuracy and fire one of them much more accurately than the other. If I practice a lot and concentrate, the difference in my accuracy between the two guns may become smaller. But in a high stress situation, I will have a natural tendency to be more accurate with the gun that fits me the best.

The anticipated use for the handgun also impacts which one is ideal for me. For example, do I want to use it for competition, plinking, hunting, home defense, concealed carry, open carry, etc.? The gun I am looking for is for both plinking and home defense. For these uses, a larger frame and longer slide and barrel may give me better results than a smaller package.

On July 27 and July 28, 2019, SurvivalBlog.com published an article describing the beginning of my search. “A Beginner’s Handgun Journey” tells about my first handgun purchase, my efforts to master basic handgun skills, and my experiences with how well various handguns worked for me. It tells how I acquired a Smith and Wesson SW22 Victory, how I could shoot that gun more accurately than any others I had tried, and my search for a handgun in a self defense caliber that I can shoot as well as I can shoot the SW22.Continue reading“My Continued Handgun Search – Part 1, by The Novice”

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 the Wolf Resurgence in Washington State. (See the Eastern Washington section.)

Region-Wide

Several of the American Redoubt states ranked well here: Ranking the States by Regulation. A brief quote:

“All told, the least regulated states are South Dakota, Alaska, Montana, Idaho, and North Dakota, while the most regulated states are California, New York, Illinois, Ohio, and Texas.”

o o o

Judge Blocks Trump Administration From Easing Energy Rules in US West

Idaho

‘He will be well cared for’: Elliot the Elk finds new home in Texas

o o o

Green Boodoggles: Idaho Power Wasting Millions

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Tim Kastning Announces Candidacy for Idaho House of Representatives

o o o

Yet another instance of Perps From Out Of The Redoubt: One dead after high-speed police chase through southern Idaho and police shooting. And here is a follow-up article, with some background on the bad guy:
Man killed by police after high-speed chase on I-84 was suspected of kidnappings in California, Nevada.Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

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 the upcoming release of the movie Radioflash.

New Survivalist Film: Radioflash

Blog reader William J. wrote to mention that a new post-EMP survivalist film called Radioflash will be released November 15th, 2019. It was made clear by the trailer that this film was not low budget. The lead actress, Brighton Sharbino, played Lizzie Samuels from 2013 to 2015 in The Walking Dead. Folks who live in the American Redoubt will probably recognize some of the locales around Spokane, Washington, Clark Fork, Idaho, and northwestern Montana. Most notably, I quickly recognized Kootenai Falls. I’ve previously dubbed this “best supporting background” scenery for The Revenant and The River Wild.

More About California’s 15 New Anti-Gun Laws

At The Federalist: Gov. Newsom Fiddles With Pointless Gun Restrictions While California Burns.   JWR’s Comments:  All of these laws are violations of the Second Amendment. The Red Flag laws also violate the 5th and 14th Amendments (the right to due process), the 4th Amendment (search and seizure), and the 6th Amendment (the right to have the representation of an attorney, the right to confront one’s accusers, and the right to cross-examine witnesses.) It is also noteworthy that the ban on the Del Mar gun show is a violation of the Bills of Attainder clause. (Article 1, Section 10, Clause 1). Our federal and state government cannot pass laws singling out just one person or one company for deprivation of property or livelihood. Yet this is precisely what that new law does, because the Del Mar gun show was operated for many years by just one gun show promoter. Shame on Governor Newsom and his minions!

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

Preparedness Notes for Monday — October 21, 2019

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On this day in 1950, Chinese forces invaded Tibet, beginning a brutal occupation that still continues. For some insight on Tibet in the late 1940s and early 1950s, I highly recommend the book Seven Years in Tibet.

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A Special Note From JWR:  We just had an banner ad spot open up on SurvivalBlog. If someone you know owns a business with a product or service that would appeal to SurvivalBlog readers, then please encourage them to advertise. Our text ads (between articles) are just $100 per month and our banner ads start at just $232 per month. Thanks!

Zero Tolerance ZT 0452CF, by Pat Cascio

“Proudly Overbuilt In The USA!” That’s what is written on every Zero Tolerance product box that leaves their factory.

A longtime friend, and fellow gun writer, once told me that, you have to catch the reader’s attention in your first couple of sentences or first paragraph of an article, or the readers won’t read any further. I certainly hope I caught your attention. I know a lot of our readers are like me, they love Zero Tolerance (ZT) knives, for several reasons, one is that they are built in the USA, right here in my home state of Oregon. Secondly, when you unbox a ZT knife, and inspect it, you will find no flaws in the manufacture and design of the knife —ZT truly means “zero tolerance” and they won’t put up with anything but perfection in all their products. I’ve had a lot of ZT knives go through my hands and have yet to find any flaws or imperfections in any of their products.

I won’t bore our readers with this, because I’ve mentioned it before, but I still do some knife designing, and had many of those knives built by custom knife makers. And, the ZT line is the equal to the best knives that many custom knife makers turn out! Today, many custom knife makers make use of modern equipment, like CNC machines to mill out their knife blades, and even the handle scales. For a time, we called those knives “mid-tech”. That meant: not quite hand made, but not fully machine made, either. I’ve toured the Kershaw Knives factory — where ZT knives are made — a division of KAI Corporation, and have watched knives being produced from the knife blanks, to the CNC machines, to the assembly and final fit, plus the sharpening of the blades, its quite the process to watch.

Zero Tolerance knives are always in great demand. Quite often, I have to wait for a newly-released folder to get into my hands, because they get sold out just that fast. I don’t mind waiting in the least, either. It is always a welcome sight when I know UPS is bringing me something from ZT. And, I’m never disappointed, when I unbox a new design. Many readers ask me to review higher-end knives, and I do my best to accompany those requests, but there are only so many knives that fall into this category. I  do review a lot of regular production knives from Kershaw, and they produce some outstanding knives, that are more than affordable, and will get the job done, no doubt about it.Continue reading“Zero Tolerance ZT 0452CF, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Avalanche Lily’s Fried Potato Apple ‘n Onion

Here is a new variation of Almanzo Wilder’s favorite side-dish of fried Apples ‘n Onions which is great for fall breakfasts.  Almanzo Wilder is the husband of Laura Ingalls Wilder who wrote the Little House on the Prairie series.  In the book “Farmer Boy”  Laura mentions how much Almanzo loved Fried Apples ‘n Onions.

This week, for breakfast I started to fry up potatoes and onions and thought of Almanzo’s Fried Apples and Onions and thought, “Why not add Apples?”  I had never tried Fried Apples and Onions. So I did.  It was a hit with the family, and very yummy.  So, here is the recipe:

Ingredients
  • 8 medium potatoes peeled and cut to 1/2″ cubes
  • 3 large apples peeled and cut to 1/2″ cubes or slices
  • 3 medium onions, diced
  • Cooking oil (I prefer olive oil)
  • Himalayan Salt (to taste)
Directions
  1. Heat a large fry pan and coat with oil.
  2. Brown the desired quantity of chopped onion
  3. Pour in the potatoes and apples, simultaneously
  4. Cook, stirring often, until the potatoes and apples are soft and slightly browned.

SERVING

Serve with any other breakfast dishes.

STORAGE

Best is eaten immediately, while still hot. Will not store well regrigerated, especially if the potatoes were pre-cooked.

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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!