Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — May 15, 2019

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On May 15th, 1942, gasoline rationing began in 17 Eastern states as an attempt to help the American war effort during World War II. The main concern behind the rationing scheme was conserving scarce imported rubber, rather than fuel. By the end of the year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had ensured that mandatory gasoline rationing was in effect in all 48 states.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3000 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 Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  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. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 82 ends on May 31st, 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.

Growing Shitake Mushrooms on Logs, by Dave S.

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My absolute favorite mushroom to eat is the shiitake. They are expensive to buy in the store, but the good news is that they are easy to grow at home. These flavorful and meaty delights are one of the most common mushrooms in the world and also the one with the most health benefits. Unlike any green plant, they have all of the essential amino acids. And they are  good source of vitamins. Shiitake mushrooms are great for building your immune system and are antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral. They are a powerhouse of nutrients and contain about 60% carbohydrates, 20% protein and 10% fiber. They are a good source of B and D vitamins which are tough to find in the plant world.

The word shiitake means “mushroom of the oak”, but it can be grown on several different hardwood logs like sugar maple, beech and ironwood. I have had the best success growing them on red oak logs. I have found that I get a little less production on sugar maple and the taste of the mushrooms seems to be a little more bland on that substrate.

PREPARATION

The first step in the process is to cut and prepare the logs. I look for oak logs that are 4 to 6 inches in diameter, cut from healthy, disease-free trees that have few or no branches coming from them. Thick bark is better than thin bark. I look for logs that have a wide band of sapwood (the lighter color wood between the bark and center heartwood) since this is where the shiitake spawn will colonize. If you are not a physically strong person use logs on the thinner side since they can get quite heavy. The logs must have a fairly high moisture content for the mycelium to propagate, so these logs should be cut from two weeks to two months before they are inoculated and should be cut when the trees are dormant. I cut the logs 36 to 42 inches long (the thinner pieces are cut on the longer side and the thick pieces on the shorter side) and store them in a shady place. Typically I will cut the trees in March here in the Upper Midwest and inoculate them in mid-April. I lay them on old pallets to keep them up off the ground. It is not a problem if they get covered with snow.Continue reading“Growing Shitake Mushrooms on Logs, by Dave S.”

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. This week the focus is on Mystic Monk Coffee. (See the Gear & Grub section.)

Books:

The Sovereign Individual by James Davidson and Lord Rees-Mogg

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Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America. Not surprisingly, David Horowitz has been banned by Twitter. You can hear Horowitz describe some of the main themes of his book, here.

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Unfreedom of the Press, by Mark Levin. This book won’t be released until May 21st, but with pre-orders it is already ranked #7, overall on Amazon.com!

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DIY Projects for the Self-Sufficient Homeowner: 25 Ways to Build a Self-Reliant Lifestyle

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

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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 possibly jumping back into Bitcoin. (See the Cryptos section.)

Precious Metals:

We’ll start with this: Why Is Basel III Creating A Buzz Among Gold Bugs?

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Fund Manager Reveals His Top 10 Precious Metals List

Economy & Finance:

From Wolf Richter: Fed Launches ‘Rate Peg Instead of QE’ Trial Balloon for Next Crisis. Here’s a snippet:

“During the next crisis when short-term interest rates are already at zero – for the Fed, that is still the lower bound – the Fed might not do the type of QE it did during and after the Financial Crisis when it set a target to buy a fixed amount of securities every month.

Instead, during the next crisis, when 0% short-term interest rates are no longer enough to stimulate the economy, the Fed might announce a target for slightly longer-dated interest rates, such as one-year rates…”

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At Zero Hedge: The “Muzzle” On Inflation
Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — May 14, 2019

On May 14th, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the State of Israel, reestablishing the Jewish state after 2000 years. In an afternoon ceremony at the Tel Aviv Art Museum, Ben-Gurion pronounced the words “We hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine, to be called Israel,” prompting applause and tears from the crowd gathered at the museum. Ben-Gurion became Israel’s first Prime Minister.

The British Army had withdrawn the day earlier and fighting broke out almost immediately. Egypt launched an air assault later in the evening. Despite a blackout in Tel Aviv–and the expected Arab invasion–Jews joyously celebrated the birth of their new nation, especially after word was received that the United States had recognized the Jewish state. At midnight, the State of Israel officially came into being upon termination of the British mandate in Palestine.

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Today’s feature article was written by SurvivalBlog’s founder, James Wesley, Rawles (JWR).

Un-Zeroed Rifles are Just Voodoo Talismans

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I’ve encountered an attitude and habit among some of my consulting clients that is alarming: Very few of them have properly zeroed all of their guns. Granted, many of these clients own more than 100 guns and have busy lives as doctors, lawyers, and business executives. But there is no excuse for them failing to at least zero their core defensive and hunting gun batteries. The “I’m planning to get around to that…” excuse doesn’t suffice.

I suppose that I should take a step back here, and address a more fundamental issue in family preparedness: This is the issue of “stuff” versus skills. It is all too easy to fall into the rut of piling up stuff but neglecting to develop the knowledge, experience, and hands-on skills to go along with all that stuff. The failure to have guns zeroed is a symptom of this much larger problem. Owning a plethora of guns, supplies, tools, and gadgets does not magically make you prepared. It doesn’t magically make your family safe. It doesn’t magically make you knowledgeable or skilled at arms. In essence: Un-zeroed rifles are just voodoo talismans. And any gear of nay sort that you haven’t actually practiced with is just stuff.

Having a pile of “new-in-the-box” guns may be a great investment. But unless you are confident and competent in their use, then they are only symbols of your desire to be prepared. And unless they are zeroed, there is no way that you can shoot them accurately beyond just pub darts-throwing distance. You have probably already heard the phrase: “When it all hits the fan, you won’t rise to the occasion. No, you will default to the level of your training.” Or, perhaps you’ve heard the corollary: “Your speed and accuracy on your best day in a gun fight will be worse the than your worst day at the range.” Those phrases are often repeated by gun trainers, for good reason: They are ground truth. Please take them to heart. Get out there and train, but first get those guns zeroed.

Boresight Zeroing

The process of zeroing rifles hasn’t changed much since I grew up in the 1960s. If anything, it has become easier. This is because the majority of hunting rifles are no longer pump or lever action. These days, most are bolt action. And the majority of battle rifles no longer have closed-back receivers (like M1 Garands, FN49s or M1 Carbines.) Instead, most are AR, AK, FAL, or HK pattern guns with open-backed receivers.  With both bolt actions and open-back receiver semi-autos, partial disassembly allows you to sandbag a rifle’s upper (or barreled action) and then alternately look through a scope (or iron sights) and then peer down the bore and confirm that the sights or scope line up with your bore sight. You don’t need to fire a single round of ammunition to get a pretty decent zero.

There are many primers out there in the Interwebzs about boresighting, so I won’t recount the whole process here. Oh, and unless your rifle has a closed-back receiver, you don’t need to use a fancy laser boresighting device. You can use the time-proven Mark I Human Eyeball. By boresighting first, you will save yourself a pile of ammunition and a ton of grief. I strongly recommend that you first establish a good boresight zero, and then it will only take two or three shots to confirm or dial-in a perfect zero.

First, an Appleseed Shoot

If you don’t already have a lot of training then I recommend that you attend a Project Appleseed shoot. It is good quality training, available for just a nominal fee. You will also receive some valuable American History lessons, between the shooting sessions.

Here is their mission statement:

“Project Appleseed isn’t a gun club or a militia, nor is it a historical society. Instead, we are a non-partisan group of men and women (known as the Revolutionary War Veterans Association) who are committed to upholding the values and principles of America’s founding fathers. We use rifle marksmanship instruction as a gateway to help bring our nation’s history to life and to show that many of the values that our forefathers relied on to win our independence are still very much in demand today.

Through clinics and events, we teach rifle marksmanship and early American heritage to introduce individuals of all skill levels to the knowledge that was so crucial to the success of our nation’s founders. Aside from the fun and camaraderie of these events, the designed takeaway is a renewed sense of civic responsibility that each attendee can then implement in his or her own community. If we can reconnect enough people with the selfless civic virtue of our forefathers, we as a nation will all be better off.

Our goal is to create a nation of Riflemen. We’d love for you to join us.”

Then Get Advanced Training

After you and your teen children have attended a couple of Appleseed smallbore shoots, then it is time to move on to more advanced training.  A good three day defensive handgun shooting course is a must.  Then take a two-day practical rifle course.  And then, if you can afford it, take both a long range rifle course and a team tactics course. That is all money well-spent.  In terms of budgeting, I consider it more important to own fewer guns, but spend the rest of your gun budget on learning how to confidently use that small number of guns. Sadly, most Americans instead just opt for “more guns, more guns”.

Needless to say, don’t attend any class until you’ve first established a good zero with both your planned primary gun, and your backup gun. (Always bring a backup, in case you have a mechanical problem with your primary. I’ve seen it happen, and it isn’t fun.)

With the return of warm weather to the northern Hemisphere, I encourage SurvivalBlog readers to get out and do some shooting!  Most importantly:  Zero all of your rifles and pistols! – JWR

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies of interest to preppers that are located in the region. Today, we focus on harvesting morels. (See the Idaho and Wyoming sections.)

Idaho

It’s morel mushroom pickin’ time.

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Idaho Repeals Its Regulatory Code

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Idaho Supreme Court Considers One-Punch Killing Case . Here is an excerpt:

“The Idaho Supreme Court is considering reducing the 15-year sentence of a northern Idaho man who threw a punch that killed another man.

The Coeur d’Alene Press reports in a story on Wednesday that the court asked for additional documents after defense attorneys for 23-year-old Tyler Finlay said a pre-sentence report for his sentencing hearing contained inaccuracies.

Finlay in November 2017 pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the June 2017 death of 29-year-old Jeffrey Marfice. His sentence required he serve four years before becoming eligible for parole.”

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‘Yelling, screaming, name-calling’: Assault investigation underway after heated Middleton school board meeting

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”.  Today, we look at so-called Doomsday Bunkers being constructed by ex-pat millionaires in New Zealand.

Doomsday Bunkers in New Zealand

Hunting the One Percent’s Doomsday Bunkers in New Zealand. JWR’s Comment: The documentary film maker takes 28 minutes to show about 10 minutes worth of interesting content. And there is the usual liberal hand-wringing about “the shortage of affordable housing.” Only a committed socialist would complain about  hundreds of millions of dollars invested into a local economy by mostly absentee neighbors who use hardly any public services. But this is still worth watching.

Subterranean Survival?

Reader Paul B. sent us the link to this interesting Yahoo News Australia article: The only way is down: subterranean survival warning

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“My friends, we are gathered here today to stand up for our freedom and our sovereignty. The most precious things we have. Because without a strong nation state, there is no democracy. And without democracy there are no liberties…. My friends, our countries are strong nations. Based on a Jewish-Christian and humanistic civilization. That should never change. So, we want to control our own borders again. We do not want mass immigration. And we do not want to be invaded by a tyrannical ideology.” – Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV)

Cold Steel Crawford 1, by Pat Cascio

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I’ve followed the career of custom knife maker Pat Crawford for many years. And about 20 years ago – maybe longer, his son, Wes joined his dad making custom knives – and their custom knives are always in great demand. Today, we’ll look at the Crawford 1, designed by Wes Crawford, and produced by Cold Steel, in a very affordable version of one of Crawford’s custom folders.

Its nice to see a son following in his father’s footsteps, you don’t see this very often these days, for some reason. Another thing that is getting to be a rarity are custom knife makers – period! Certainly, making hand made knives is no easy task, I tried my hand at it once, and just didn’t have the patience or talent. Oh sure, I can “design” knives, but I can’t make them. I’ve known a few custom knife makers over the years, and have always been amazed at their talents, and how much work is involved in making knives – they are artists, no doubt about it. Each knife is a work of art, as well as a work of love, you aren’t just paying for a hunk of steel, you are paying for the talent involved in making a knife – a custom knife.

Many years ago, I used to collect (and design) custom knives, and found that it was a very expensive hobby. My entire collection was sold many, many years ago, when my family and I moved back to Oregon, after traveling all around the country, always looking for greener pastures. It was a tough decision to sell all those knives, but I have no regrets at all – other than selling off some of the knives that I personally designed and commissioned custom makers to produce for me. However, you do what is right for your family’s best interests.

Cold Steel is owned by my long-time friend, Lynn Thompson, and Lynn has had a long relationship with Pat and Wes Crawford over the years. We are fortunate that Cold Steel has collaborated with the Crawfords over the years to bring us some of their designs, in a very affordable package. I know I could never personally afford to own any of their custom, hand-made knives, but owning a well-made production knife designed by this father/son team is the second best thing. And we can thank Lynn Thompson for bringing some of these designs to us.Continue reading“Cold Steel Crawford 1, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Cornbread Crumble Turkey

Reader Arlene X. kindly sent us one of her favorite recipes:

Arlene’s Cornbread Crumble Turkey (Serves Four Adults)

Ingredients:

1 C Buttermilk
1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
4 Skinless turkey fillets (about 3 oz each)
4- by 4-inch square of cooked cornbread (about 1 C of cornbbread crumbs)
1 Egg white
1 C Chicken broth
1 Tbsp Cornstarch
1 lb Frozen baby carrots
1 Tbsp Fresh sage, rinsed, dried, and chopped (or 1 tsp of dried sage)
1 Tbsp Butter

Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 ºF.
  2. Combine buttermilk and Dijon mustard. Mix well.
  3. Add turkey fillets to buttermilk mixture to marinate for 5–10 minutes while preparing cornbread.
  4. Grind cornbread in a food processor, or use your fingers to make coarse crumbs. Place breadcrumbs on a baking sheet, and dry in a 300 °F oven or toaster oven for 4–5 minutes. Do not brown.
  5. Pour breadcrumbs into a dry, shallow dish. Put egg white in a separate bowl.
  6. Remove turkey from the buttermilk, and dip each fillet first in the egg white and then in the cornbread crumbs to coat. Discard leftover buttermilk mixture and cornbread crumbs. (Our chickens love it.)
  7. Place breaded turkey fillets on a baking sheet, and bake for 10–15 minutes (to a minimum internal temperature of 165 °F).
  8. While the turkey is cooking, combine chicken broth, cornstarch, carrots, sage, and butter in a medium saucepan.
  9. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Lower temperature to a simmer.
  10. Simmer gently for about 5 minutes, or until the butter is melted, the sauce is thick, and the carrots are warm.
  11. Serve each 3-ounce turkey fillet with 1 cup of carrots and sauce mixture

Some Useful Related Links:

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 the importance of growing U.S. natural gas exports to European Union (EU) countries. (See the Commodities section.)

Precious Metals:

We’ll begin with: Seven Laws of Investing (as they relate to gold investing.)

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David Lin: Finally, Silver Prices May Have Bottomed, But What Happens Next?

Economy & Finance:

WSJ video: Why Amazon Is Gobbling Up Failed Malls

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Eric Peters: The Glut Cometh

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Zero Hedge reports: Why Trump Has All The Leverage In China Trade Negotiations, In 3 Charts

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”