Adventures in Beekeeping by K. in Tennessee

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I’ve been a regular reader of SurvivalBlog.com for years and had developed an interest in keeping bees. I started researching online, got a book or two from the library, and after a few years felt I was ready to give it a try. Then we moved 800 miles away, bought some land, built a house, and started a little hobby farm in southern Appalachia. Life has funny ways of getting in the way, but I’m much happier for it, and now I have a great place to try out the hobby of beekeeping.

I was quite daunted with all of the information I found, but after reading a few different books, and lots of time spent online reading even more, and talking with fellow “beeks” (beekeepers), I got a general picture of how things were supposed to work. This took several years, I found it quite my head around the bigger picture challenging. As a new-to-me hobby I only dedicated a minimum of free time to learning about it. Once you decide to jump-in, make sure you are prepared to offer more than just the minimum: I’ve had a couple adventures. I found going to local beekeeper clubs and group meetings in the area to be very useful. Knowledge, information, good deals, and general well wishes were in abundance every time I took the time to attend. Eventually I got my hive and some minimal protective gear. I ordered a package of bees for the spring through a local club, and began the adventure I am about to describe. So far it has been rewarding, I am looking forward to continuing the journey.Continue reading“Adventures in Beekeeping by K. in Tennessee”

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 Boise State’s leftists. (See the Idaho section.)

Idaho

I just heard about a fairly new gun maker called Genesis Arms, in Coeur d’Alene. They are producing a great 12 gauge semi-auto shotgun called the GEN-12, using a standard off-the shelf AR-10 lower receiver and their own proprietary upper. They are now taking pre-orders for a 14-inch barreled “Firearm”” version with an SB Tactical arm brace that doe NOT require a $200 short-barreled shotgun (SBS) registration! They are also now taking pre-orders for 10-round magazines. Check them out!

o o o

Boise State rewards students for ‘unpacking white identity,’ ‘recognizing their privilege’. JWR”s Comments:  This illustrates how nearly all of academia is infected by radical leftist thought, even in a “conservative” state like Idaho. And it is also evidence that the acronym expansion that I predicted in my novel Land Of Promise is coming about. 20 years ago, they just said “Gay and Lesbian”. Then it was “Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual”. Then it was “LGBT”. Then it was “LGBTQ”. Now it is LGBTQIA+.  Just wait a few years, and we will be expected to memorize something like: LGBTT2QQAAIIPDPPANGNAA. That stands for Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Transsexual Two-Spirit Queer Questioning Intersex Intergender Asexual Allies Pansexual Demisexual Polysexual Polyamorous Androgynous Neutrois Gender Neutral and Animal Amorous.  It is also noteworthy that they proudly now call themselves “queer.”  But if I were to call one of them queer, then that would be an insult or perhaps even a prosecutable Thought Crime, in some countries. We are on the slippery slope toward having our own language becoming a weapon of cultural self-immolation.

o o o

Terry in Idaho sent this:  The Dismantling of Micron a Boise Icon.

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

Preparedness Notes for Monday — September 30, 2019

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B-Day!

Today, September 30th, 2019, is “B Day”: Baofeng Day. The U.S. sales ban on multi-band Baofeng UV-5R handie-talkies takes effect at midnight tonight. As of October 1st, 2019, it will be illegal to advertise or sell them. But they will still be legal to operate. Only licensed amateurs can operate on their ham bands. However, unlicensed folks can operate with them on their FRS, and MURS bands, if set to low power. Stock up! I recommend getting at least a six pack, ASAP! If those cases of six radios are sold out, then look for other UV-5R variants from the many sellers on Amazon.com, or on eBay.

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On this day in 1938, the Treaty of Munich was signed by Hitler, Mussolini, Daladier, and Chamberlain. This treaty forced Czechoslovakia to cede territory to Germany.

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Today, we’re posting another product review by Pat Cascio, our Field Gear Editior.

Springfield Armory XD-S Mod.2, by Pat Cascio

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Compact and sub-compact handguns are all the rage the past couple of years, and we have them in 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP these days. In a sub-compact, I believe it is best to stick with one in 9mm, because you get one or two more rounds in some of the magazines, and it is controllable – more so than the .40 S&W and the .45 ACP. If you can’t control your firearm for follow-up shots, what good is it? I received my Springfield Armory XD-S Mod.2 several months, before they were released to the public, and have enjoyed testing it so much, I just flat out forgot to do an article on it. I was just having too much fun shooting it.

I don’t want to second-guess the powers-that-be at Springfield Armory, but in the case of the XD-S Mod.2 – I believe they should have give it a different designation – there are so many changes on the Mod.2 version, that it really isn’t much of a brother, sister or cousin, from the original XD-S model, if you ask me. It is a substantially  different gun – it even looks different than the original XD-S. It is more stream-lined and much easier to hold and shoot – more on this, shortly.

Springfield Armory XD-S Mod.2The XD-S Mod.2 is a single-stack 9mm sub-compact handgun, that is just begging to be concealed – deeply concealed because of its small and compact size.  It is actually less than an inch wide, and with the 3.3-inch barrel, it is as small as you can go, and still have a functioning semi-auto pistol, that is accurate and easy to shoot. The Mod.2 has some really great upgrades over the original XD-S. To start with, there are the AmeriGlo fiber optic front  sights – the big green front sight is easy to see, and mine has the upgraded Pro-Glow front sight. This has a Tritium insert for day and night use – excellent. The rear sight is also new, compared to the original XD-S – it has the tactical rack design so you can rack the slide against any surface that has an edge on it – if for some reason you can’t use two hands to chamber a round.Continue reading“Springfield Armory XD-S Mod.2, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: L.M.’s Sweet Potato Soup

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Reader L.M. kindly sent us her Sweet Potato Soup recipe, one of her fall favorites.

Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion
  • 1 cup roughly chopped carrots
  • 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
  • 3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 2 pounds yellow potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt (can be reduced for low-salt diets)
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper (or less, to taste)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or less, to taste)
  • 7 cups chicken stock
  • 2 tablespoons salted butter
Toppings
  • 1 cup finely chopped pecans
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
Directions
  1. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high.
  2. Add onion and carrots, and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes.
  3. Add garlic, and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 minute.
  4. Add sweet potatoes, yellow potatoes, salt, black pepper, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper, and cook, stirring, 1 minute.
  5. Add stock; bring to a boil.
  6. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until potatoes are very tender, about 30 minutes.
  7. Melt butter in a skillet over medium-high.
  8. Add pecans, and cook, stirring often, until toasted, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.
  9. Transfer potato mixture, in batches, to a blender. Process in blender until smooth. (Or you may process the soup in your Dutch oven, with an immersion blender.)

SERVING

Top each serving bowl with 1 tablespoon of yogurt, 2 tablespoons of chopped pecans, and 1/2 tablespoon of parsley.

STORAGE

Can be stored in your refrigerator for up to three days and either re-heated (once), or individual bowls can be he-heated in your microwave oven.

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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. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at investing in Japanese swords. (See the Tangibles Investing section.

Precious Metals:

Niels Christensen: Gold’s summer rally is just the start – UBS

o  o  o

About 30 Killed in Landslide at Chad Gold Mine

Economy & Finance:

At Zero Hedge: The Collapse In Germany Is Real… And Accelerating

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Stashing Cash: Ultra-wealthy Americans are preparing for an impending recession

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These Are The Banks Where The Fed’s $1.4 Trillion In Reserves Are Parked

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Food Storage: The Basics, by Pete Thorsen

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More and more people are seeing the common sense in having some stored food on hand in case of emergencies. Many of these people are not preppers but just want to have the peace of mind knowing they have some extra food on hand for “just in case.”

The only problem for some is the question of “Where to start?” With food it is an easy start. Well, then again, maybe not so easy after all. If you decide to have food on hand for an emergency then you should think just that one line through some. What kind of an emergency? Does it even matter? If the emergency is the power being out and you live in an all-electric house you would either need food that could be eaten without cooking or you would have to have an alternate way to cook the food instead of your microwave or electric range.

Most canned goods can be eaten right from the can with no heating. They might not be as tasty that way but they would be safe to eat and would provide the same nutrition whether hot or cold. Or you could use your gas or charcoal grill to heat up or cook your food as long as you had the fuel on hand for the grill. Or you could use your fire pit for cooking as long as you had fuel on hand for that too. The fire pit might require some pre-emergency test runs so you learn how to cook over that open fire. And maybe buy some cast iron fry pans and cooking pots.

Or a very easy method of cooking your food in a power down situation is to use a camp stove. If you buy a propane model using common one pound tanks, it can be safely used inside your house on your kitchen counter to cook your meals. It would be almost as easy as cooking on your normal range. Many say using a propane camp stove is unsafe inside a home. But with a window cracked open, the propane camp stove is safe. It is the same as the gas ranges found in half the homes in America (and nearly every restaurant).Continue reading“Food Storage: The Basics, by Pete Thorsen”

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 Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus.

Zimbabwe’s Capitol City Cuts Off Water Supply

Reader Tim J. spotted this: Zimbabwe’s capital city cuts off water supply, 2M residents affected.

New Oxygen-Tight Food Packaging Developed by WSU

C.B.  suggested this article: Getting mac and cheese to Mars. A snippet:

“Currently, can keep food safe at room temperature for up to twelve months. The WSU researchers demonstrated in a recent paper in the journal Food and Bioprocess Technology they could keep ready-to-eat macaroni and cheese safe and edible with selected nutrients for up to three years.

“We need a better barrier to keep oxygen away from the food and provide longer similar to aluminum foil and plastic laminate pouches,” said Shyam Sablani, who is leading the team working to create a better protective film.”

Earth-Bermed Retreat in Idaho

I noticed a couple of interesting new listings over at SurvivalRealty:  An earth-bermed retreat in Idaho, and a nice property in Washington that set up for cattle and horses.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;

That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;

Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.” – Titus 3:5-11(KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — September 28, 2019

On September 28, 1066, William The Conqueror invaded England, landing at Pevensey Bay, Sussex.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 84  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 Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. 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).
  6. 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 84 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.

Still Prepping After All These Years, by Tony T.

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I have written this to encourage others that may be getting weary with the never-ending labors of preparation.

I have divided this into four parts:

1. Learning from my family.
2. Adjusting to my own family.
3. Persevering through the years
4. Where we are now.

Learning From My Family

I’ll start by describing my father and his family. I was raised in a family that by modern standards would be considered preppers, at least by some. Prepping is not universally defined, to my knowledge. Be that as it may, I say we were preppers, but were unaware.

It started with my father. He was seven when the Great Depression struck and put the farm in jeopardy. He turned 18 six weeks before Pearl Harbor was attacked. Soon drafted and quickly put through basic training, he was off to Africa to face Rommel. Then it was on to Italy where he would be captured and sent to a camp, eventually being held 16 months as a POW. He went from 180 to 90 pounds from the lack of food and being forced to work while he was able. He came home with a commitment that he and his family would never go hungry.Continue reading“Still Prepping After All These Years, by Tony T.”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

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To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

This week I’ve been traveling out of state, helping an ailing elderly relative. So my prepping has been limited to just physical exercise, helping relatives to prepare, and placing a few mail orders. Most notably, I placed an order with Palmetto State Armory, for a few extra complete AR uppers, to add to my barter stock. It is amazing to see that they’ve resisted the urge to raise their prices. That is a commendable. I intend to swap those uppers for some pre-1899 guns when I’m at guns shows, in the next few months.

Although President Trump appears to backing off from his previous position on criminalizing private party sales (“Universal Background Checks”), there is still a risk that he will acquiesce to the demands of the Leftists and RINOs. I am also quite concerned that there will be serious economic trouble in the next year, leading to the Democrats prevailing in the November 2020 Federal election. The prospect of new gun restrictions — either sooner or later — is not appealing. So I’m consciously and deliberately doing some hedging.

My dear wife Avalanche Lily has been very busy in her garden, so I’ll ask her round out this column.

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”